It there a way to seal up the belt cover to prevent water from entering and making the belt slip. I pulled the plug and drained it but it was a pain and didn;t give the polaris a good name with all the hondas around waiting for me...

Thanks,

Flip

 

Oh yeah, it is a 2006 700 Twin sportsman

 

Pull the cover and check the gasket.

 

Same happened here a few weeks ago on our ride at a friends house. He has a stream
that is about 4ft plus deep. We had to drain our covers but GUESS WHAT? So did the
host of the property's son-in-law who rides a YAMAHA, LOL.

I too would like to have the info for a permanent seal. Can you just add some type of
kitchen/bath silicone sealant around the cover seam or in it? What do the SNORKLERS
do to button up those parts and gaps?

R'

 

I'd imagine siliconing it would work. Polaris needs to put some type of steel band around the cover flange to make it more ridgid with a better seal so water can't seep through the spaces between the screws. Also remember to keep your pull cord on tight. My housing was full one day because of that reason.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: RandyL

I'd imagine siliconing it would work. Polaris needs to put some type of steel band around the cover flange to make it more ridgid with a better seal so water can't seep through the spaces between the screws. Also remember to keep your pull cord on tight. My housing was full one day because of that reason.</end quote></div>

I was going to suggest the same thing but I don't think he has a pull starter.

 

Yea,

I knew about the pull starter. And your right JF,
not on my 800, but I do on my SP450 (wifey).

I still would like to read a step by step process
of to make our Sportsman's watertight along with
Snorkel info. Yes I do know that alot of that info
is around on Highlifter web site but to be quite honest
its a pain in the tail when you have to piece-meal all
of it together and many of those posts are on different
makes and models. While most of the principals are the
same (intake, tranny, exhaust, belt cover, carb etc.)
I need to know what exactly are the pitfalls of the Sportsmans
when doing the Snorkeling project.

NOTE: No I do not plan to become a Submarine Capt. but if
there are areas that I can button up for just those occasions to further
protect I would like to.

R'

 

The housing itself is pretty water tight. If you happen to get over the belt vent tube on the side panel there is no amount of silicon that will help you then. I think one of the two snorkels you see on submarines is for the belt vent, the other for the intake.

I just looked at my '08 and it looks like the moved the belt vent from where it was on my '03. I can't see the end of it but it is tucked up under the fuel tank. Does yours vent out the side or, like mine, up near the top of the fuel tank? I wonder if you hit some water going pretty fast if it would get in that way?

 

I've been wondering about that. I've been through somewhat deep puddles, but don't seem to get water in, but on the times I fly through sme small puddles and soak myself I seem to get little water in. Definetly comes in my airbox.

 

The first step should be figuring out where the water is coming from!
If you are getting a wet belt while just putzing through fairly shallow water that is just above the foot wells, you either have a leaking cover gasket, or one of your vent fittings is loose/leaking.
Fixing the cover gasket is pretty simple, just replace the gasket taking extra care not to warp the cover by over tightening the cover bolts. If you do feel you have to add silicone sealant, use the "easy strip" type or it will be a REAL pain to remove the cover next time you have to service the clutches/belt
Fixing the intake fittings is usually just a case of tightening the clamps, but the rubber boots can crack and should be replaced if they look worn.

IF you are getting a wet belt from hitting shallow water at speed and don't otherwise, it is probably splashing up under the machine and being sucked into the vent intake. Polaris has added better baffles to the newer Sportsmans to try to prevent this but it isn't always effective.
An old mudder trick to stop water from slashing up around the vent intake and airbox intake is to place foam rubber strips, (open cell foam available at Walmart or fabric stores) between the body and the fuel tank to stop the water, the foam "breaths" but stops the water splash...Polaris actually puts a foam gasket around the neck of the airbox snorkel for this purpose.

If your problem comes only in very deep water, (top of the fenders and higher), you are probably just in deeper then the factory snorkels can handle! The Polaris factory snorkels are considered some of the best in the business, but even they have their limits!
At this point, you can either remove some front plastic and get a mental picture of just how high the stock snorkels go and keep that point above the water OR you can install a set of snorkels to give you more water clearance.
This can be a fairly simple deal but keep in mind,
#1 you have to maintain enough airflow in and out of the CVT, or you will overheat the belt causing premature failure!
#2 you have to maintain proper clearance to frame/body/engine/exhaust with the vent hose to prevent wear/damage to the hose causing failure/leakage
#3 the way you route the vent hose will directly affect the access to servicing your machine
#4 if you snorkel the CVT, you should also snorkel the airbox AND all of the carb, gearbox, crankcase, gas tank, and transmission vents you may have
#5 if you do snorkel the airbox, this pretty much always calls for rejetting a carbed bike and in some cases requires remapping the ECM/ECU on EFI engines
#6 in most cases, if you are still under warrantee, the dealer will void the warrantee on sight of the snorkel!

Although both of our bikes spend a lot of time in deep water/mud every week, and still have the stock snorkels, I have only soaked the CVT once and that ended up being the plastic drain plug on the bottom of the cover that I some how sheared off.
Always keeping a high water mark in mind when going deep and ALWAYS keeping the front end up above that level will help a lot.
Check out my icon and it will give you an idea of what I mean...