[jeffjeney]

I had a Polaris with over 12000 miles and never had an issue with the belt. Replaced when first bought with a Gates and kept original as a spare. Now that I sold the Polaris and bought a X3 Turbo RR, my friends that have Polaris keep saying they switched from CanAm because they kept going thru belts. Now starting to wonder if made correct choice. I love the new Maverick but do not want a lot of issues when out riding trails, I do not do anything real extreme, just nice rides that have lot of washboard roads and some large rocks. Is there any maintenance to the clutches I need to be doing in order to sav3e the belts? Never had to touch clutch on Polaris but thinking maybe there is something with CanAm that needs to be done.

 

[sand shark]

For the type of riding you are doing the belt should not be an issue. After trips/rides I usually take the clutch cover off and take an air compressor to blow out all the dust. Did the same thing when I had my XP1000.

Only times I have a blown a belt on my X3 is hauling ass across a dry lake bed and in the dunes. The belts had over 1000 miles on them when it happen.

 

[Hollywood X3]

Your friends are morons. Blowing belts are 100% on the driver. If you haven’t on the PoPo, doubt you will on the Can Am. Keep driving the way you are, you should be fine.

 

[HPnMORE4J]

Can Am clutches are not all made equally.

One person/machine can go through a belt every 100 miles or less where a different machine can last 1500 miles or more with the same driving style and conditions.
I'm more referring to dune riding experiences, trail riders can get many more miles, but still the same situation no matter.

There are several factors involved with this, mostly alignment which creates heat build up and premature wear.
Some think just checking alignment at stop or idle is enough, while they go out of alignment at higher rpms.

The cure to this is to get your clutches reworked, preferably by KWI with a kit, sheaves trued, and full float secondary.
My 100 mile blown belt issues went away.

Yes you need to check them periodically and blow them out well with compressed air.

 

[JDBPFLYER]

What Hollywood said above is the absolute truth. The new P-Drive has been pretty good so far for me. 1500 miles on my 2022 and no issues. My riding buddy has a 2019 that had almost 8000 miles on it before he smoked it on a road between trails doing about 45 mph. Minor maintenance is all that’s needed and is spelled out in the owner’s manual. I order to grease the bearing you will need a tool kit. It’s not difficult with the right tools and will help you be familiar with how they work. Without sounding harsh, you’re misinformed about the Can Am clutches and worried about nothing if you ride as you stated in your post. On my 2018 I always inspected the belt every 1000 miles and replaced it around 3000 just as insurance. I never blew a belt and that car had just under 10K miles.

 

[SUPERSMITH]

You can get a belt temp gage so you can keep an eye on the temp. Unless you're doing Dune hill climbs, running deep mud, or running at very high speeds for long periods of time you shouldn't have a belt issue unless you have a clutch not adjusted correctly.

 

[Sandman_73]

You had a Polaris what? Are we comparing apples to oranges?

 

[Hollywood X3]

You had a Polaris what? Are we comparing apples to oranges?

LMAO!

 

[Sublimeshooter]

I'm averaging a little over 1k miles/belt.. My X3 is treated like its a Rock Bouncer that dabbles in the trophy truck life.

General Clutch maintenance. I blow the clutches out often and I grease the primary bearing 1 or 2x a year.

My dad's X3... Some of his usage stemmed from clutch alignment problems, but he's also hard on belts (forgets low range exists sometimes) and is averaging 500 miles a belt. That number is going up with the clutches right and finally getting him to understand belts get expensive. He's come around to the idea that if you're trying to climb a rock, LOW might not be a bad idea.

 

[MO_Hacker]

A friend of mine bought a RZR off another friends dad cheap because the guy said it kept smoking belts, like 4 or 5 in less than 1000 miles. I’d tried telling him a couple of times to run it in low but he wouldn’t listen. The guy that bought it hasn’t replaced a belt yet and he’s put another 1000 miles on it.

 

[X3 Poor]

Dunes, weight, and HP are hell on belts. If you're not in the dunes, and leave your car stock, your belts will last a very long time (especially if trail riding). Even if you bump you HP's a bit you will still be fine. My belts generally last 1000 miles before I replace them (before they fail) and I'm 100% in the dunes running just under 200HP,,, but I'm pretty smooth on the throttle and run a VERY light car. In my experience the gents that run the sand in a 2200lb car, treating the skinny pedal like a switch on the dashboard have a harder time keeping belts on their cars than those that treat it like the analog device it is intended to be.

A few on the forum have just had bad luck with their clutches and had to have some work done on them to correct it. (see HP's post above) But those are not the norm in my experience.

The group I ride with most in the Dunes has several Sand Cars, several X3's, and several Po's. We are stopping 5 times to 1 for the Po's to replace belts to the X3's over the last few years. I've seen how they all drive,,, and I'd attribute this ratio to driving style and how they modify their cars over car manufacture. A couple of the X3's have never stopped for a belt issue (I'm one of those), one of the Po's has never stopped for a belt issue, yet we are all running the same pace. The lady in the Po that has never stopped is a VERY good driver, she is plenty fast, but very smooth.

One of the other guys and I are always comparing belt temps when we stop since we drive similarly, have similar 2 seat cars, and we are generally following one another in the group. (he is a bit harder on the throttle than I am, and I have a bit more HP than he does). My belt temps are always significantly lower than his, but his paddles are a bit more aggressive than mine, (his dig more, mine float more) and his car is quite a bit heavier than mine with mods/passengers. He's probably running about 400-500lbs more than me final weight. Even with these differences, we are generally the two that make it through a trip with no belt issues.

If you're running trails in your X3 and end up going through belts, you have an issue with the clutch specific to that machine,,, not the X3 in general. You made a good choice,,, I bet you'll be just fine.

 

[Kalifornia Kenn]

Agree with all the above. I am only a dune rider with 205 hp tune and will hammer down and have over 1500 miles on my belt, no issues. These guys have good info and are commical as well. Seems like they get gear sent to them and try to break it which I appreicate, saves me the money.

 

[jeffjeney]

Thanks everyone, was a little worried there thinking made mistake. Good info on the bearing, never had to grease the Polaris so now I know to grease it couple times a year. Love having those with knowledge to fall back on. Thanks

 

[X3 Poor]

Good info on the bearing, never had to grease the Polaris so now I know to grease it couple times a year.

Can Am says every 500 miles for the clutch maintenance. (bearing greasing included) I did my first at 500 miles, all was good. Did my second at 1600 miles, and again, all was good.

I'm sure this number can be adjusted up/down depending on how/where you ride and the level of maintenance you do regularly on your car. I will do mine every 1k miles now that I've been through a few maintenance cycles and seen what I've seen. 500 miles is excessive for the way I treat my car. YMMV

 

[Hambone3182]

Thanks everyone, was a little worried there thinking made mistake. Good info on the bearing, never had to grease the Polaris so now I know to grease it couple times a year. Love having those with knowledge to fall back on. Thanks

If you aren't riding hard, as others have said you will be fine.
I change mine about every 3K miles just for fun.
Not much on clutch maintenance. Think that bearing has been greased once.
No wide open from start, keep belt engaged, you will be fine