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Catastrophic drive belt failure!

4merMP

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We'd just finished installing the SDi E-Link sway bar kit and decided to drive it down the road to see if I could tell any difference. I was running about 60 mph when the drive belt broke. All kinds of noise and clunk. It stunk and smoked as I was stopping. We towed it back home about 2 miles.

When we removed the clutch cover to change the belt, I found the belt wadded up at the bottom of the secondary clutch and my inner clutch case had a couple big holes in it where it had blown out. I knew changing the case was going to be a pain it the butt...and it is. It's definitely a two-man job because it's physically impossible to do by yourself.

We had to remove the shock, the new sway bar E-Link shock, the motor mount and the air intake elbow by the air filter box. We tried to remove all the bolts visible inside the case, and discovered all the ones that are Torx head had nuts on the back of them that are literally a pain to get to. You need a man on the other side with a socket and long extensions. On one of those, it took a crow's foot to get to it. After we finally got all those out, we tried to get the case out, and discovered it had 9 different bolts that went into from the left and back sides that you literally cannot see at all. It took a while to figure out and even longer to get them all removed.

I looked around online and never did find any detailed instructions or YouTube videos. so we were doing all this like being in the dark with a blindfold on.

I ordered a new inner clutch case from my dealer. $300 + tax and it's about a week away. No one had it in stock within 500 miles. So now we just site and wait for parts.

I've burnt a few belts over the years, but never had one actually snap in two. I hope this never happens again. It was bad enough getting the case out. And I think it's going to be worse trying to get everything on the back side of it attached again
 

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How many miles on the belt? We do a lot of high speed riding and I have had 2 belts go over 3500 miles. Just wondering if I'm pushing the envelope.
 
How many miles on the belt? We do a lot of high speed riding and I have had 2 belts go over 3500 miles. Just wondering if I'm pushing the envelope.
I don't think it was a matter or miles on the belt. I noticed it was just slightly jerky when taking off in high gear the other day. No jerk at all taking off in low gear. So I didn't think that much of it then. We didn't have any rides planned, and would have waited until it showed more signs of a bad belt. Now I know the belt should have been changed.

No more expensive that belts are, I'd just recommend not risking it. If your running belts that long, I'd at least regularly inspect them.

After I get this all put back together, I won't hesitate to change a belt the first sign of an issue.

I just wanted to show what can happen and let others know what's involved if it does. It's more work than I wanted to do. That's for sure.
 
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