Belts and other BS ?'s...

[acme]

So now that we have a dog in the fight I have look at all the threads/sites and have a few questions for the racers:

1) Which belt are the racers having the best success with: Gates/Dayco/Polaris??? ours is a 2014 XP4 NA car with an STM clutch

2) What are you guys running for Ft diff fluids?

3) Which belt temp gauge do you find holding up to race use?

4) Anyone using a Racepack dash, I'll buy ya a beer to pick your brain?

Gracias!

 

[facteryfmf]

LoL. These questions have cost us a couple hundred thousands of dollars to answer and you wanna buy a beer!

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[ironworks]

So now that we have a dog in the fight I have look at all the threads/sites and have a few questions for the racers:

1) Which belt are the racers having the best success with: Gates/Dayco/Polaris??? ours is a 2014 XP4 NA car with an STM clutch

2) What are you guys running for Ft diff fluids?

3) Which belt temp gauge do you find holding up to race use?

4) Anyone using a Racepack dash, I'll buy ya a beer to pick your brain?

Gracias!

1 - Yes
2 - Gear oil
3 - none
4 - no

Corona please

 

[Kalop]

1. OEM if racing, gates is ok if on budget or as backup.
2. Polaris oem oil
3. Razorback is best.
4. No idea what that is .

PS) I DON'T RACE ... so take it for what its worth, nothing much.

 

[Rynomx785]

I've heard the factory Polaris belts hold up better. I got 1250 miles out of my factory belt and just switched to a Gates so I can't personally back that up yet. Gates are supposed to be faster to change as they don't have cords in them so they don't get tangled in the clutches.

Front diff oil, based on everything I have read, has been OEM oil across the board. Heard a couple guys say hydraulic oil but no reason to switch from Polaris oil IMO.

The Razorback gauge has pretty good reviews.

Was Racepak the dash Anderson was running in XP1K3? That's only time I have ever seen one.

As stated above, I'm not a racer but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Lol I have done a fair amount of reading belts and oil....

 

[Rynomx785]

I was looking forward to hearing the racers opinions on this.... Guess I don't blame them for not talking. Lol

 

[Bajaxp]

FWIIW...my 2 pesos. Maybe I don't know chit, but here goes.
1-OEM belt is best from what I have seen. Just be sure to wash the new belt in warm soapy water before install, and rinse thoroughly. Really. Then break in for 40+ easy miles before racing. Any sub 15 mph running should ALWAYS be done in low range including driving onto a trailer. Lots of blown belts while racing have occurred due to starting a race with a 'hurt' belt due to a high range trailer loading.
2-The Polaris front 'diff' isn't a differential. It is a Hilliard clutch and is very sensitive to what fluid it is put into it. Go OEM, the stuff isn't that expensive and W O R K S. Buy the aluminum Holz front Hilliard cage because plastic OEM cage is junk for racing applications.
3.-Belt temp gauge is helpful. No clue on the best one. Just remember if you see sustained 200 + deg F belt off temps you are going to have a bad day.
4. Racepak dashes are amazing. Totally love what they do.

 

[george.felix]

The Gates belt won't ball up on the clutch when it goes like the OEM belt so if you change your OEM belt every 250- 500 miles you probably won't have belt issues and you'll end up with plenty of "play" belts.

 

[megadesertdiesel]

i would put //Airdam on the payroll and ask him all the clutch questions. seems like he has his hands in alot of race programs and knows what works and what does not. One catch though, you have to purchase a batman style beacon, burn patchouli oil incense and only call him when the blue speckled tortise runs north, and then he MIGHT answer the phone.

really //Airdam is worth the hassle.
http://airdamclutches.com

 

[Rynomx785]

One catch though, you have to purchase a batman style beacon, burn patchouli oil incense and only call him when the blue speckled tortise runs north, and then he MIGHT answer the phone.

That actually made me lol.

 

[JoeyD23]

So now that we have a dog in the fight I have look at all the threads/sites and have a few questions for the racers:

1) Which belt are the racers having the best success with: Gates/Dayco/Polaris??? ours is a 2014 XP4 NA car with an STM clutch

2) What are you guys running for Ft diff fluids?

3) Which belt temp gauge do you find holding up to race use?

4) Anyone using a Racepack dash, I'll buy ya a beer to pick your brain?

Gracias!

1) Polaris Factory Belts
2) Not sure but we definitely upgraded from the factory fluid.
3) We are running the Razorback Technology gauge and it is great. Reads well since its digital and not analog.
4) Yes we are running the Racepak and its bad ass. We have yet to install some of the additional sensors that would allow for more read outs but so far we love it. I installed them in both of our XP1K3 video cars, our UTVUG / CageWRX desert race car and my new Turbo sand RZR.

 

[acme]

LoL. These questions have cost us a couple hundred thousands of dollars to answer and you wanna buy a beer!

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

1 - Yes
2 - Gear oil
3 - none
4 - no

Corona please

Thanks for the input guys and to the "brain trust" for the constructive comments! I pay on my offers so Ironworks, I guess I owe you a beer? Do you drink beer or just Corona?

As an observation: If it took you a couple hundred grand to figure those 3 things out, you have too much money and maybe you need to ask more questions...

As for asking questions: We have always answered basic questions from racers in the various classes we've had experience in and most of the racers don't mind. Ironically you would be amazed at who and how many have "asked questions" via PM or email about the B1K course from the post I made and trip I took a couple of weeks ago or for additional input based on having raced in Mexico a number of times. Maybe I need to be more selective in answering questions or posting insights as it's all top secret racing stuff? But then we're just simple desert racers and Ex Buggy Dorks and not B.A.'s like some. We'll figure it out and I'll try not to be in your way out there!

FYI Matt: Were the ones that raced the 4 seater in SCORE & BITD and spoke at San Felipe in staging. Going to give the UTV class a shot despite the drama, thanks for all the info! Also Thanks to Adam, Reid-BAM, Suspended Fab, Cory S and Joey D and any I missed for all their insight and info on the class while we considered it: IMHO you guys are the class of the class!

One last question: In UTV's do we call the co driver a caddy? Cheers!

 

[Johnny]

1) Polaris Factory Belts
2) Not sure but we definitely upgraded from the factory fluid.
3) We are running the Razorback Technology gauge and it is great. Reads well since its digital and not analog.
4) Yes we are running the Racepak and its bad ass. We have yet to install some of the additional sensors that would allow for more read outs but so far we love it. I installed them in both of our XP1K3 video cars, our UTVUG / CageWRX desert race car and my new Turbo sand RZR.

are you fucking serious ? how many race miles has you car raced ? we we we come on .. Back to the side lines wana be racer ...

 

[george.felix]

What about this diff fluid?

 

[Old509cc]

For what it's worth I have an Alba Racing water temp gauge on my 99 sportsman and I ride it hard. I'm surprised I have not rattled the guts out of them yet. 1,100 miles and 220 hours later the Alba and VDO gauges are still working fine.

 

[BiggJim]

we used to use the alba belt temp gauge. it seems to work really well, but when we would blow a belt the belt would hit the cover so hard that it would blow our plug to pieces. So after a dozen or so new harnesses we ditched it all together.

 

[Rynomx785]

So I take it you were never able to catch the high temps in time to keep from blowing the belt?

 

[BiggJim]

So I take it you were never able to catch the high temps in time to keep from blowing the belt?

High temps were not our gremlin

 

[ironworks]

High temps were not our gremlin

Belts don't always blow cuz their hot. If you get them hot enough yeah they will. But that is not very often unless you have no idea what your doing.

 

[ALBANATE]

we used to use the alba belt temp gauge. it seems to work really well, but when we would blow a belt the belt would hit the cover so hard that it would blow our plug to pieces. So after a dozen or so new harnesses we ditched it all together.

I was always curious where you guys mounted the sensor? You guys were, and still are our record holder(by about 10) on how many sensors you went through... lol.

Nate
Alba Racing