Helix 150cc Belt Problems

[Katzinger]

I have a Helix 150cc buggy that keeps eating up belts. The belt will last a hour and then its gone. Shredded into pieces. I have upgrades done to it. (listed below) Thought it might have been cheap belts, then I got a Kevlar one and it did same thing. Everything is tight and straight, not sure what to do next. Any suggestions?

[SYCARMS]

When did the problem of eating belts start. Be specific.

TOM

[Katzinger]

All 3 times so far have been when I was trail riding through sanding areas. They break when I am going full speed. 1 broke before the upgrades done to it and the other 2 after. The 1 before was the original belt. Is that what you were looking for?

[SYCARMS]

Yes, now assuming the 1st belt also shreaded. Did you seperate the clutch pully halves making sure of no belt trash between or wedged in pulley? This would restrict pulley from completely opening which would cause belt to slip when belt moves up variator. Are the slidders installed correctly? ( yes they can easily be installed incorrectly). The cvt cover has a pilot bearing to support the final drive shaft the clutch mounts to, was it checked as well as the roller bearings in the clutch assembly. Is the intake in the cvt cover unrestricted allowing for cool air to pass. Most will when a belt shreads not check for trash caught in clutch assembly or install the slidders wrong. I have in some cases in the past had to totally disassemble the clutch pulley assembly to remove belt material. You can with the cvt cover off and rear wheels off the ground throttle the engine and observe the cvt for proper observation. Chances are it is something simple missed. Hope this has helped.

TOM

[Katzinger]

Thanks I will check it out. There were shreds of belt in clutch, removed it but might not have got it all. Will take clutch apart and and do a good inspection on it. Will also check out rollers.

[SYCARMS]

You will have to remove the torque spring. Once the spring is removed you will remove the sleeve the spring slides over to expose the pins. Once the pins are removed you can completely seperate the pulley halves to inspect. While your at it you can clean out the old grease and regrease with a quality molly grease. You should be able to tell of any belt debris when torque spring is removed. Just operate the pully in and out paying attention for any binding. I have told you how to totally disassemble since once the torque spring is removed you can completely tear down in about 30 seconds.

TOM

[Katzinger]

Thanks. Got all that taken apart and cleaned. But I ran into another problem. Put it back together and went to start it up and just clicked. Tested battery and was good, cleaned all connections and they were good and tight, even took starter off and tested that and it was working. The cylanoid was making the click when you turned key, just wasn't giving juice to the starter. So I am assuming that the cylanoid must be junk? Wasn't sure though sense it was clicking. Any ideas?

[metalstudman1]

Clicking soleniod usually indicates low power source- try jumping the soleniod terminals to test it for low power source or malfunctioning soleniod.Go from the battery side of the soleniod to the starter side with a jumper wire to test it,if the starter works it's a bad soleniod or wires not connected properly from the ignition.

[GX150]

Did you reinstall the ground strap to the case after you were in the transmission?

Sand requires much more torque than any other kind of driving. You need to go down in diameter of your rear tires, use a tire with less aggressive tread or get a larger axle sprocket. Otherwise, expect premature belt failures.

[SYCARMS]

Agree sounds like a ground problem.
TOM

[Katzinger]

I don't believe its a ground problem. Everything seemed to be getting good spark. My lights still work to full power to. But will look into more.
I haven't had a chance to go out and test the solenoid yet but will as soon as I can.
I have the stock tires that came on the Helix, are those small enough in diameter GX150?

[GX150]

Take jumper cables from the the battery directly to the starter while it is mounted to the engine. If it starts fine, it is your solenoid or connections between battery, solenoid and starter. If it still labors when trying jumping off a different battery, your starter is weak, starter clutch is failing or engine/transmission is seizing.

As long as you are not sinking too much with the stock rear tires, they should be OK for sand. I went with 22x8-10 front tires to get better flotation in the front because my front end would drag the buggy down and cause the rear to dig. It's not like a rail, where you can stab the throttle to pick up the front end.

A 39t axle sprocket will do wonders for your gearing and take quite a bit of load off the transmission. You can then go with an A11 or A12 cam to get better low end torque out of the GY6.

[SYCARMS]

Your lights ground to the chasis the engine will ground to both the chasis and engine itself. The acessories use a different ground then the engine. The Chinese have a weird way of wiring these buggies. Now if the solenoid is clicking this tells you the contacts are pulling in. Since the solenoid has a fulltime hot and is activated with the ignition switch by completeing a ground, if that ground is weak you will hear the contacts click as the coil pulls them in but the coil may not due to a weak ground hold them in. Also the contacts can be burned or corroded not allowing the current to pass to the starter.

TOM

[Katzinger]

Update!! Solenoid and starter are good and still just have the clicking noise. All connections are good. Don't know what to do now. Any other suggestions.

[metalstudman1]

I re-read the posts and all the possibilities are listed-Since the original issue was the belt, is it possible that you've re-installed something in the CVT wrong and the motor is just hung up?I know it's some work but I'd try pulling the CVT cover again and see if you can turn the crank, verify all the components are installed properly and work backwards from there.

[SYCARMS]

Sounds like what it is to me since everything is good. Pull the right side fan cover to see if you can turn by hand, if not pull the cvt to see what is wrong.

TOM

[Katzinger]

Problem has been fixed and not sure how. I pulled the CVT cover off and then it started right up. Not sure if something was in way or what. By it starts up now. Thanks for all the help.

[metalstudman1]

Too bad you couldn't pinpoint the issue-but at least it's working!!!!