[NMKawierider]

Because I elected to filter my CVT air intake and the fact that it's overheating that takes out most belts, I decided to take Chuddly's recommendation and put a temp gage on my CVT exhaust. The last thing I need is to waste a belt in the high mountains, 60+ miles from anywhere.. and have my friend with a Polaris tow me back to camp...not when a little warning might keep it from happening. Besides, I need to know when I need to service that filter.

I did decide to go with the Trail Tech TTO because my history with their Voyager on my Brute has been very good and I trust the brand. They make two types- one surface mount and one panel mount..like a rocker switch. I decided on the Panel mount as it will be a permanent install in the Z. I'll post pics when I get it in. This is the one I bought.

http://www.trailtech.net/digital-gauges/tto/panel-mount/732-es3

[Gory]

Sounds good , here in north Mexico in summer we ride at 40o degrees  the most of the time . But at what temperature you must stop the engine ..

[NMKawierider]

Sounds good , here in north Mexico in summer we ride at 40o degrees  the most of the time . But at what temperature you must stop the engine ..

Well, actually you would want to just stop, put it in neutral and run it up a little to run some air through it without any load long enough to bring the temp down. As for temperature, I always thought it would be higher then this but I saw a chart the said normal operating range is between 60 and 100F. Well see. I can set the warning to any temp I want. Think I'll run it a while and see what my norm actually is first.

[chuddly]

Yeah normal temp is MUCH higher than that.  I have always been told to keep the belt temp below 200F (as in that is the MAX you want to go) and of course lower is better.  I plan to run mine hard this weekend as its race weekend so we will see how it goes.  Im glad I could help recommend something that may save you some trouble out on the trail.  The thing I like about that unit is its battery operated.  I may have to buy a battery every couple years.  But that is a SMALL price to pay for not running extra wires and all that.

[NMKawierider]

You got me thinking that..I would have no idea when the filter was starting to be restrictive and/or the heat go up until it was too late. One of the places we ride in the high mountains increases from 9200 feet to over 11,000 feet in about a mile. Much is low range crawling and I always thought.."this would be a bad bad place to loose a belt". Now at least I have something to monitor it.

[chuddly]

I agree.  I would rather sit on the side of the trail for 10 min waiting for stuff to cool (if I had to). Than have a belt blow and walk how ever many miles down or be towed back which can take MUCH MUCH longer.  I am the kind of person that will take risks and push things beyond what they should be.  But at least with the belt I will be making an educated decision to push harder or to let up and let it cool.  Without the CVT temp monitor you are guessing with 0 information.  To me its the same as people setting an EJK up without and A/F gauge.  You are only guessing at what you THINK the motor is doing in there.

[Wheels]

Getttrrrrr done!

[NMKawierider]

I agree.  I would rather sit on the side of the trail for 10 min waiting for stuff to cool (if I had to). Than have a belt blow and walk how ever many miles down or be towed back which can take MUCH MUCH longer.  I am the kind of person that will take risks and push things beyond what they should be.  But at least with the belt I will be making an educated decision to push harder or to let up and let it cool.  Without the CVT temp monitor you are guessing with 0 information.  To me its the same as people setting an EJK up without and A/F gauge.  You are only guessing at what you THINK the motor is doing in there.

Really interested in seeing what your readings are.

[hardware5434]

Do you have any photos of where you installed the temp probe?

[chuddly]

I can take some when i get home tonight.  I put mine in the CVT exhaust tube about 6" after it goes to the rubber hose part.  I just drilled a hole slightly smaller than the probe and then used some silicone around it after that.  That is Trailtechs exact installation suggestion on a Polaris CVT so I figured it would work on a CF Moto also LOL.  It took longer to route the wire where i wanted the display than to put the probe in.

[NMKawierider]

I can take some when i get home tonight.  I put mine in the CVT exhaust tube about 6" after it goes to the rubber hose part.  I just drilled a hole slightly smaller than the probe and then used some silicone around it after that.  That is Trailtechs exact installation suggestion on a Polaris CVT so I figured it would work on a CF Moto also LOL.  It took longer to route the wire where i wanted the display than to put the probe in.

Did you rout the probe wire through the center console/cover or...somewhere else?

[chuddly]

I went through the center console area and then up the outside area of the firewall and i put mine on face of the cluster.  With the extension wire it was just about the perfect length.  I will also get you some temp numbers this weekend and let you know what temps im running at.

[NMKawierider]

I went through the center console area and then up the outside area of the firewall and i put mine on face of the cluster.  With the extension wire it was just about the perfect length.  I will also get you some temp numbers this weekend and let you know what temps im running at.

Cool..

[NMKawierider]

According to this ALBA gage, it starts to be a problem above 190. May be setting the alarm to go off about 195-200.

[glenlivet]

I had a digital temp gauge on my King Quad CVT case, similar to this one:

Gauge link

 and I found to my surprize that the highest readings (80 C (176 F.) was the highest I ever saw) were not at high RPM high load like long steep climbs at speed but rather were at low RPM trail crawling. When RPMs go up that fan gets quite efficient at getting rid of the heat.
In any event the CVT never got as hot as the motor's stock thermostat closing temperature of 92 degrees C.
I didn't have snorkels and extra piping on the CVT air path which can make a big difference in the flow of air through the CVT.