Very interesting guys. Remember only 500 miles on this clutch before hard shifting issue started. If it is not caused by dust then Polaris sure missed the setup and if that is the case why is not everyone having this issue at 500 miles? Seems Powermaxx relates this to dust as well.
We are working on this problem too.
As my dealer stated, those grooves are not unusual but after thousands of miles of normal use, not 500. Again the shifting issue started on the same extremely dirty ride, the dirtiest I have every been on, that was the final straw for engine failure. I know for sure when the hard sifting started and it has not gone away with idle adjustment and other normal checks. Something happened on that ride to cause the hard shifting. The groove is the result and cause. I removed a couple of hands full of larger particles that the pre-filter stopped from the air filter box. The clutch was not protected and had to have lots and lots of dust ingestion. Must have been like sand blasting. The belt is softer then the metal so what did the abrasive dust do to the belt? Cause and effect. There is just not doubt in my mind of cause and effect on this one. It has taken time for me to fully understand what happened.
When it comes to dust, this is extremely fine, very abrasive pumice dust from volcanic activity that is layered over Eastern Oregon.