Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's ATV Drive Belt ???

This Spring when it warms up some. I want to replace the Drive Belt on my 2007 450 Suzuki King Quad.
and clean the Clutch.

I see a bunch of different Brands of Drive Belts.
Is there one that is better than the rest ?.
or are they all about the same ?.

Thanks
Kevin

I would pull it apart & clean the clutchs 1st. I seriously doubt the belt will show any indication of wear unless your mudding in high gear or something else extremely stupid. Suz CVT drive system, like Yam are very belt friendly, I've pulled Yams apart with 12-15k on them & the belt measures close to new specs.
Go to a Suz forum & someone should have belt width spec tolerances, my bet is yours is good to go.

OEM stuff is so well matched to the requirements of the machine that, unless you are doing something extraordinary with your machine on a regular basis, I would just buy OEM. If you have never replaced it before this, 6-7 years is more than enough time on a belt.

As senior mentioned, the belt may not show any significant dimensional changes, but the compounds do break down over time.



0 miles vs. 7000 miles.



The used belt was showing significant compound break down in 20 months of use however. Treat the belt like you would the oil; it needs to be changed periodically when it reaches a time or miles interval.

I am a older guy, and pretty easy on my Quad.
and it only has 1800 miles on it.

but this Spring, I was going to open it up and clean the Clutch.
So I thought that I may as well change the Drive Belt too.
just to be on the safe side, as long as it is apart anyway.
I am more concerned about the age of it, then wear.

Kevin

Replace it and keep the old one for emergency use.

Yep, that sounds right to me. You probably won't see any dimensional differences, but there may be some cracking on the inside of the belt; that's where it tends to begin to show its age first. I was once an aftermarket fan when it came to parts on ATVs and snowmachines, but except for some of the commonly expendable bearings used in the suspensions of snowmachines, and tires on quads, the OEM parts have gotten so good for the most part over the past 20 years that I don't even look to save nickels on aftermarket parts. I readily get 5000 miles out of OEM belts whether they be for Polaris, Arctic Cat, or Yamaha. (Our 'zukis are manuals.) That's good service and I've not seen AM stuff do better even when spending equal or more.