Side kick CVT issues

[Rafter Hook Ranch]

My XG850 side kick has experience 4 major CVT belt failures in the 600 hours I have owned it. The first occurred at 300 hrs, the second at 350 hours, the third at 450 hrs and the last at 600.
In every case Kubota said it was due to a faulty CVT belt drive part.

Yes, we use the unit on our ranch. Its dusty and dirty conditions. Sometimes in below freezing weather. We treat it no differently the we do our Polaris side by sides, and have no issues with their CVT belts.

Is this normal and typical of a side kick?

 

[lugbolt]

the cvt is a little bit different design on the sidekicks than it is on the Polaris. It's important to use low gear when you're below about 15mph on the Polaris, but it's absolutely critical on the Sidekick. I felt that worth mentioning, in case you didn't already know.

aside from that I'd like to know what part is actually failing?

It's really the same design as the Yamaha "Ultramatic" system with a few minor differences. Downside to that design is that they are NOT maintenance free, not at all actually. And they're nowhere near as easy to do maintenance on as any of the Polaris stuff is (nor as easy to change a belt).

on any belt driven cvt, using low gear allows the driven (and drive) sheave to run at a faster speed, which reduces slippage and the biggest thing is that it allows the fan that's built into the driven clutch to run faster, which promotes more airflow through the cvt cover, which reduces temperature of the sheaves and belt. Real important, and that's the major reason they tell ya to run low gear as much as possible at low speeds. It also reduces loading and slippage on the belt. Running at lower speeds in high gear slips the belt which eventually leads to heat and belt failure.

 

[Rafter Hook Ranch]

the cvt is a little bit different design on the sidekicks than it is on the Polaris. It's important to use low gear when you're below about 15mph on the Polaris, but it's absolutely critical on the Sidekick. I felt that worth mentioning, in case you didn't already know.

aside from that I'd like to know what part is actually failing?

It's really the same design as the Yamaha "Ultramatic" system with a few minor differences. Downside to that design is that they are NOT maintenance free, not at all actually. And they're nowhere near as easy to do maintenance on as any of the Polaris stuff is (nor as easy to change a belt).

on any belt driven cvt, using low gear allows the driven (and drive) sheave to run at a faster speed, which reduces slippage and the biggest thing is that it allows the fan that's built into the driven clutch to run faster, which promotes more airflow through the cvt cover, which reduces temperature of the sheaves and belt. Real important, and that's the major reason they tell ya to run low gear as much as possible at low speeds. It also reduces loading and slippage on the belt. Running at lower speeds in high gear slips the belt which eventually leads to heat and belt failure.

I appreciate your reply. In regards to maintenance, you say they are not maintenance free. So what kind of maintenance should I be doing?

 

[Tughill Tom]

Just heads up on belts, I saw on another site that there are a lot of counterfeit belts being sold as OEM out there now. I bought one for my Can-am as a spare and paid about 20% less than a dealer, low and behold it was a fake.
Packaging looked like OEM but the belt was crap and didn't have any lot#'s on it. Send it back and got a full refund.

 

[lugbolt]

Just heads up on belts, I saw on another site that there are a lot of counterfeit belts being sold as OEM out there now. I bought one for my Can-am as a spare and paid about 20% less than a dealer, low and behold it was a fake.
Packaging looked like OEM but the belt was crap and didn't have any lot#'s on it. Send it back and got a full refund.

yes there has been a lot of this going on. We've had customer show up at work buying Polaris OEM belts and said "Well I bought the same belt at the other dealer for $125 why is yours $200?????"

probably because the shop across town is selling chincanese Polaris belts, because $125 is less than dealer cost in most cases.

this has been a BIG problem for a lot of people in a lot of different industries.