3 Products That Make Blowing a Belt a Little Bit Less of a Headache..
Story & Photos: Brandon Bunch
To me, one of the most surprising issues that’s been found with the Can-Am Maverick X3 is that when you blow a belt, there’s a good chance that your clutch housing will also shatter due to belt shrapnel impacting the inside of the housing. Obviously it’s not fun having to spend $170 on a new belt, and it hurts even worse if you have to spend an additional $200+ and the time required to install a new OEM housing and clutch cover when you blow a belt. Luckily we have the aftermarket industry to develop solutions to strengthen the weaknesses on our favorite machines, and Alba Racing has done just that with their Clutch Cover Shield, Transmission Seal Guard, and Quick Release Pin Kit for the Maverick X3. All of these parts were designed to work together to make the process of blowing and changing a belt easier and less time consuming, by granting tool-less access to the belt, and also by providing protection to components vulnerable to shredded belt fragments. As stated above, the Shield protects the housing, and the Seal Guard provides protection to the exposed transmission input shaft seal behind the secondary clutch. While you may be able to replace a blown belt on the trail and continue on with a broken cover, a torn transmission input shaft seal will be a day ender.
Installation is somewhat involved as it requires removing both the primary and secondary clutches to remove and install the housing and the Seal Guard. However, with the correct tools, this process is not very difficult. Start by removing the clutch cover and the belt (use the OEM tool for spreading the secondary clutch sheaves). Once this is done, remove the secondary clutch from the transmission input shaft using either an impact wrench, or a breaker bar if you’re equipped with a clutch holding tool. The primary clutch is next for removal. This requires either disconnecting the sway bar link and moving it out of the way, or, we were able to jack up the back of the car to gain clearance for removing the bolt that holds the primary clutch to the output shaft, and for installing the primary clutch removal tool. After removing the bolt, thread in the primary tool in its place until it bottoms out (ours was included with Alba’s Clutch Multi-Tool Kit – we highly recommend purchasing this as an add-on. Look for more info on this tool in the future). Tighten the primary tool until it pops the primary clutch free from the output shaft.
At this point we are able to remove the busted housing. Before installing the new one, we set out to install Alba’s inner Shield in the brand new, unbroken housing. The Clutch Cover Shield kit comes with the two CNC laser cut and drilled halves, manufactured from .080” aluminum, and zinc plated hardware to fasten it in place. We started the installation by clamping in one half of the shield (use as many clamps as you need). We double checked to make sure the large cutout lined up with the opening in the housing. Once it was tightly fitted to the housing, we drilled the holes in place and installed the necessary hardware. The bolt holes in the Shield are countersunk so that the hardware sits flush with the surface, and the nylock nuts are designed to keep things from rattling loose. After we had this side installed, we repeated the process with the other half of the shield. After that was complete, the housing was ready to install in the car. We installed the posts for the Quick Release Pin Kit prior to mounting the housing in the car, as it’s easier to thread them in and adjust the pressure on the cover with it on the bench, however you would be able to install this kit with the housing in the car if you choose to do so. The pin depth can be adjusted to your preference; obviously you want the cover to fit tight, but not so tight that you can’t push it on far enough to place the clips through the holes.
With the housing bolted onto the car, we installed the Seal Guard. This very simple piece of machined aluminum installs over the transmission input shaft using the four included longer bolts, and protects the fragile and exposed input shaft seal. We made sure to torque these bolts to the manufacturer specifications. From here, we were able to reinstall the clutches, starting with the primary and then the secondary, again torquing everything to manufacturer specs as we went. Tip for everyone: be sure to clean the clutch sheaves on both clutches with rubbing alcohol, wash the belt in warm soapy water (we use Dawn dish soap), and let air dry before installing. Once we had the clean belt installed, the cover was put in place with the quick release clips. (Note: We did not install the clip tether cables as we found the cover was also broken, but these will be installed with the included rivets by drilling holes and fastening them to the new cover.)
Having all of these parts installed on our X3 gives us great peace of mind for the future. The Quick Release Pin Kit makes it much easier to access the belt if needed, and the Shield and Seal Guard will enable us to keep the adventures rolling even if we have a belt come apart when driving. We’d definitely recommend installing these items all at once, (preferably before a belt blows holes in your clutch housing), since you do have to remove the clutches to install everything. For more information, and to purchase these products, head over to www.teamalbaracing.com.
