I have an 09' Sportsman Touring 800 with roughly 375 miles and 61 hours on it.

Of those hours I have about 32 hours plowing snow at less than 7 mph and about 4 hours of heavy towing at steady speed around 10 mph. All of the hard hours are in low gear.

The rest of hours and miles are trail riding. My trail riding usually averages about 14+ mph and is mostly in high gear.

When should I change my CVT belt based on how I use my atv? I was thinking at around 1000 miles or 150 hours. Is that reasonable for how I use my quad?

Maybe a poll would be in order for this thread?

 

I bet you'll get more than 3000 miles out of that belt based upon other comments I've read recently. I believe using low range for hard pulling/slow speed as you stated is the best thing you can do for long belt life.

 

unless it's slipping or acting funny in any way why would you want to change it. as mentioned alot of people has thousands of miles on thiers. low range is the key for sure. imo

 

367 hrs on mine. Summer, winter, tires and tracks and it is still in great shape.

 

Twice I smoked a belt and both times they broke about 100 miles later. But if you don't abuse it like that they can last several years.

 

Thanks for the information. I have had several quads in the past without issues, but was wondering if I have been asking for trouble by not changing the cvt belt.

There are lots of threads about belts, but not many on what people are getting out of them. I hear so many nightmare stories about people having to replace belts every few hundred miles. I feel better knowing that these can last a long time. This is my first Polaris and have heard so many issues with these and belts...

 

And on the other end of the spectrum I know a guy with a new RZR 800 that just spat out it's first belt after 770 miles... But he rides HARD!!!!

 

You are doing things the right way if you keep it in low gear going slow. It cools the belt more and keeps it from wearing prematurely. I had over 3200 miles and about 300+ hours on my original belt driving this way. After 6 years the belt had some weather cracking in it so I decided to have it changed. It probably would have gone at least another 1000 miles or more.

 

There is no exact answer because everyone drives different. Using low range will help extend the belt life. Most people under "normal" riding can get over 2000 + miles on a belt. Most of the time even after 1000 miles of normal riding you will be losing some performance from normal belt ware. Belts ware two different ways (at the same time usually) they will get stretched out and the will get skinnier. Both conditions will hurt performance, but usually it will show very gradually so you dont notice as much until you put a new belt on. Some models you can adjust the belt but most of the newer models once the belt is strectched the only way to fix it is to replace it,

 

if you smell it, hear it, and feel it slipping then replace it- other then that, leave it alone!

I've owned atv's that had well over 3000 miles on the cvt belt.

unless you own a can-am... in which case, if it's slipping and it smells then change it. Can-Am cvt's are noisey by nature and always whine.

btw- I've never ever had to replace a worn or broken cvt belt. fwiw.
When I sold my polaris sp800 a while back- it had over 3k on the belt. I plowed with it, ran it in mud, water & rough trails- not a single slip or squeal.