CVT Belt replacement

[otlski]

Just in case someone has a similar UTV, I thought I would ask here. At the very least this post might be found by the next guy trying to do the same. I have a Bush Hog Trailhand 4400 side by side. I am replacing the CTV belt. The CVT belt cover is located between the engine and transaxle under the bed. Before I started, it looked like the rear trailing arm would be in the way. It was. I had removed the ten or so bolts attaching the cover and because of the shaft lengths of both the fixed pulley and the active pulley, could not come close to removing it with the rear suspension trailing arm in place.

So I removed the lower bolt of the coil over shock to drop the trailing arm lower, no luck. In fact, the chassis frame where the trailing arm attached looked like a potentially bigger issue. Next I removed the coil over in its entirety, no better. Unable to lower the trailing arm further I removed the axle nut so the spline could slide out. The arm dropped more but not enough. Next removed the brake line and e-brake cable. More travel but not enough. So I removed the whole trailing arm. Still no joy.

At this point it was clear that no amount of twisting and turning would allow the cover to come off because of the aforementioned frame clearance issue. I crawled under and removed four 15/16 bolts holding the engine and transaxle subframe from the chassis frame. After removing the air cleaner the subframe was able to be lowered about half the distance it needed to go to allow the cover to scoot under the chassis frame.

Currently it is hung up from further progress by the exhaust system. After taking care of that it may drop further, enough to work. So is this normal? Have any of you done this on a Bush Hog UTV? Did I miss something obvious? Do other machines require so much gymnastics?

 

[groundcover]

Sure glad my RTV doesn’t have a belt ! Good luck, hope you don’t have to take up drinking heavily before you’re done !

 

[DK35vince]

Sure glad my RTV doesn’t have a belt ! Good luck, hope you don’t have to take up drinking heavily before you’re done !

Not all UTV's are difficult to change a belt. Personally I like the CVT transmissions for trail riding.
Takes 10 minutes to change a belt on my Polaris RZR. Changed the original belt at 2600 miles just to be on the safe side. (Original belt still looked good, keep it in my tool kit for a spare)
Pull the cover, open secondary clutch with clutch tool, switch belts, put the cover back on. Easy, 10 minutes.

 

[ArlyA]

Silly question. Why not take it your dealer? All our machines are CTV drive and what we do is quite hard on there belts, so we change them yearly at the dealership. Hydrostatic transmissions do not work for us.....

 

[RickB]

Drop the whole engine/ transmission skid out of the UTV.

 

[otlski]

I ended up dropping the engine/tranny subframe which did the trick. The spark arrester had to come off the muffler to clear everything. I did a careful inspection of the rollers and weights which looked okay. Weird thing was that the moving pulley was fairly tight and felt ridged in places. I polished the shaft just until it ran a bit smoother because I did not want to go too far.

The belt is on, the cover in place, and the subframe is back and bolted in place. That part took a good hour. All that's left is the misc cables, half axle, etc.

 

[RickB]

Silly question. Why not take it your dealer? All our machines are CTV drive and what we do is quite hard on there belts, so we change them yearly at the dealership. Hydrostatic transmissions do not work for us.....

Probably something to do with $80-120 per hour for something that the OP appears to be able to accomplish with a little guidance.

 

[otlski]

Yes, the hourly rates would have been an issue. The belt was only $65 and I took my time diagnosing and tuning the spider and weights. Also I don't have a trailer (keeps people from asking if they can borrow the tractor or backhoe).

Anyway, it is all back together and works just fine. I think the sliding pulley assembly was getting wonky because before I was constantly working the throttle. Now it is much smoother in transition.

So for the 0.0001% of you out there with a Trailhand, here are my thoughts. If I were to do it again. I would start by removing the tire, axle half shaft, and by dropping the engine/tranny subframe. If the cover comes off then great. If not, then the coil over would be next. If still not, then the trailing arm, brake, e-brake, etc.

 

[MountainGeek]

I have a 2006 TH4400 TrailHand. This was SUPER helpful info -- thanks everyone for posting. I can confirm the only way to do this is dropping the engine/tranny subframe. You don't have to remove the trailing arm, brake, e-brake, etc. -- just use a ratchet strap to pull the trailing arm up out of the way enough to remove the cover.

However, now I'm into ANOTHER problem -- the primary clutch is shot, and there's no availability from the dealer (besides it listing at $1250). Anyone know what the equivalent replacement is? I pulled all the numbers -- TEAM makes the primary and secondary set. TEAM won't help, none of their suggested vendors have any idea.....is this basically the same clutch used on the 2006 Polaris Rangers?

Bush Hog PRIMARY BELT CLUTCH: 50046629 ** OBSOLETE **
Primary clutch number on face: 420931-060905-00617
Numbers on primary clutch components: 240160, 240114, 240279
1.085" shaft (27.54mm)
Team Tied is clutch manufacturer
Secondary clutch: Rapid Reaction 240133

 

[Gator6x4]

I have a 2006 TH4400 TrailHand. This was SUPER helpful info -- thanks everyone for posting. I can confirm the only way to do this is dropping the engine/tranny subframe. You don't have to remove the trailing arm, brake, e-brake, etc. -- just use a ratchet strap to pull the trailing arm up out of the way enough to remove the cover.

However, now I'm into ANOTHER problem -- the primary clutch is shot, and there's no availability from the dealer (besides it listing at $1250). Anyone know what the equivalent replacement is? I pulled all the numbers -- TEAM makes the primary and secondary set. TEAM won't help, none of their suggested vendors have any idea.....is this basically the same clutch used on the 2006 Polaris Rangers?

Bush Hog PRIMARY BELT CLUTCH: 50046629 ** OBSOLETE **
Primary clutch number on face: 420931-060905-00617
Numbers on primary clutch components: 240160, 240114, 240279
1.085" shaft (27.54mm)
Team Tied is clutch manufacturer
Secondary clutch: Rapid Reaction 240133

Messicks says they have the primary clutch belt. Check your credit card before you call they are asking, $1257.22.

Bush Hog #50046629 PRIMARY BELT CLU

PRIMARY BELT CLU

www.messicks.com