Helix destroyed belt...need help.

[SilverDuck]

My son's Helix finally destroyed the belt. I have the side cover off, and I already destroyed the front driver pulley trying to remove the 17mm nut that holds it on. I have no impact gun. Is there another way to remove this nut?

Also...while I am in there, what upgrades should I do? Do I need to mess with the rear driven unit? I just want this thing to last a while, and some performance increases are welcomed. I do not plan to drag race or hill climb, just want to make it more durable for my son to ride around the yard with.

I do want to replace the rollers. Dr Pulley? What weight?
Performance CDI - Which one and where to buy?

GoKartsRus has the belt for $54. Is there a better belt option? I don't want to have to replace it once a year.

Thanks!

[EJ Mac]

The belt size is 743-20-30 I like the Gates brand personally. I have always used an impact and highly recommend the DeWalt 18v DW059 cordless. I would be advisable to go ahead and replace the rollers while you are in there. You also nee to make sure you get all of the old belt out of there so pulling the clutch off would be wise. Pieces of the old belt will get down inside of the clutch pulley as well. Disassembling the clutch/pulley assembly and replacing the main spring and cleaning everything would be advisable as well, but w/o an impact it won't happen. On a side note if you do the main spring use extreme caution and research how to do it right to avoid injury. I'd post a link on a tutorial but I'm not sure it is allowed. Good Luck. BTW that belt price is way off. I've never paid over $30 for a Gates 150cc belt.

[olderthan]

if you don't use a impact wrench you will have to use a strap wrench to hold varitor &
clutch housings both can be used together or by themselves. $54 for the belt is way to
high

[kliff]

The belt size is 743-20-30 I like the Gates brand personally. I have always used an impact and highly recommend the DeWalt 18v DW059 cordless. I would be advisable to go ahead and replace the rollers while you are in there. You also nee to make sure you get all of the old belt out of there so pulling the clutch off would be wise. Pieces of the old belt will get down inside of the clutch pulley as well. Disassembling the clutch/pulley assembly and replacing the main spring and cleaning everything would be advisable as well, but w/o an impact it won't happen. On a side note if you do the main spring use extreme caution and research how to do it right to avoid injury. I'd post a link on a tutorial but I'm not sure it is allowed. Good Luck. BTW that belt price is way off. I've never paid over $30 for a Gates 150cc belt.

Yup, EJ is right, link posting is a touchy subject, especially for tutorial assistance, or lower pricing...

But an impact, DRPulley sliders, some springs, gates belt.... You'll find Tom SYC your only approved source of parts here, I beleive, whereas other places have lists of approveees, of such good will, you'll even finf them recommending one another. Shoot me an E mail.

[BuggyMaster]

If you don't have an impact wrench, you'll need the strap wrench as advised. They are pretty cheap though at Sears.

That seems very high for one of those belts. Here is a vid on how to change it out:

Part one:

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Part two:

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To the comments about the linking, we support vendors that support us which is why we favor Tom at SYCPowersports. Doesn't make sense to give any vendor free advertising if they are not willing to support our little world. Casual mentions are fine though as we want to provide the users within our community good information. The first year linking restrictions are over with as of last month. We've built a fine community.

[SilverDuck]

I already destroyed the outer fan housing on the variator, and I still don't have it off. I am taking it to a friend's place tomorrow who has an impact gun.

Since I need a variator fan + sliders, should I just buy the complete Dr. Pulley variator with sliders pre-installed?

What weight sliders do we want? Our lawn is sloped slightly, but not really any hills. We can get to top gear pretty easily now. Heavier sliders put you in high range faster, right? Is 12 grams too heavy?

[BuggyMaster]

We have tried both 13's and 12's and the 13g sliders were the ticket for us. The 12's seemed to take too much away of the top end for our taste.

[SilverDuck]

What is the recommended option for exhaust and intake on these Helix buggies? I have no neighbors, so sound is a non-issue. We race oval karts, and we often test fire those, and they are LOUD.

Anyway...what do you recommend for exhaust, intake, and jetting? Is jetting hard on these things?

[BuggyMaster]

We did some testing on intakes and the Uni filter showed notable improvements across the board. We haven't done much testing on the exhaust side but we did have a fairly modded buggy last year and put an FMF universal slip-on on and loved the sound.

Take a look at this vid below. It is our stock buggy verses our modded buggy with Uni, FMF, 13g sliders, and A-9 cam.

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[SilverDuck]

If I go with a UNI and a more open exhaust, will I want to re-jet? Can I rejet with the carb on the engine?

[olderthan]

you can rejet on the engine but i feel a lot safer with the carb on my work bench i like to
work over a white rag makes it easier to find dropped parts a good jet selection to work with and a new plug for wot runs i keep 110 thru 135 jets at hand at all times i run at
5500ft elev and up so my jets will run smaller than you 122.5 in my 30 cv pumper
stock carb 125 my other 30cv non pumper 125

[SYCARMS]

13 grm rollers sound right for your riding. Give me a call and we'll get you going within your budget. TOM

[SilverDuck]

The large washer on the rear clutch....the one on the outside of the bell. Is it a spacer, or just a normal thickness washer? I lost it somehow.

[SYCARMS]

Just a normal thickness washer.Why is it needed? The reason it is there is to protect the splines in the drum and on the shaft for when you tighten the nut down. So just replace with another washer that fits the shaft. TOM

[SilverDuck]

The inside of my variator / clutch housing is coated in grease and greasy belt chunks. Everything is slimy with this goo. It's like the belt turned too a greasy, soft substance and just disintegrated. What is the most likely cause? A leaky seal at one of the shafts? If so, which is most likely? Variator shaft, or clutch shaft? Should I clean it out with brake cleaner and put everything back together?

I am NOT going to open the crankcase on this thing. I'd never get it back together correctly. Would I be ok just cleaning everything up good, putting a new belt on, and checking it every few weeks?

[SYCARMS]

Clean it up with some break clean than put a new belt on leaving the cover off and run it to see if you can determine where the leak is comming from. I would first check that the vent to the final drive is not plugged up with a dobber or spider nest and also check the vent off the valve cover with engine running and you should feel a sucking blowing out it. Either of these will cause a leak at the seal. It could also be that someone overfilled the final drive and depending where the vent hose is run if on the cvt cover it could have seeped in . TOM

[SilverDuck]

Has anyone tried the Dr. Pulley complete variator? I just got mine today, and it comes with 3 very thin washers to tune the variator. The washers go in between the halves of the pulley, to add or remove distance between the inner and outer pulley walls. How much of a difference can these 3 washers make? I assume 0 washers shifts into high gear fastest, and 3 washers sinks the belt lower in the pulley, shifting slower?

[SYCARMS]

Adding the 3 shims will give you more low end but will slightly suffer at top end. TOM