Hi all,
New member here. I recently purchased a 2007 850D that needed lots of work to get it up to working condition. Some details to give you the complete picture - the machine wouldn't start unless the block heater was plugged in, plastics were bashed in but the seller had new fenders, machine came with hydraulic 6' plow and full glass cab.

I replaced the fenders and hood, replaced the glow plugs, relay, and 30 amp fuse (which was blown). Now, the motor starts like it should. It started right up at 20 degrees this morning.

We had 6" of snow last night so I thought I'd see how the machine did at plowing snow. Here's my problem. It started right up but the machine moved really slow. By that I mean in H I could easily keep up with it at a brisk walk at full throttle. In L it was even slower. Reverse the same. The machine didn't seem to slow down with a load (by that I mean when pushing snow) it just didn't go more than 5-10 mph.

Any idea what I'm facing here? Drive belt? Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

I believe your CVT belt needs to be replaced, also throughly clean both clutch’s with hot soapy water and or non chlorinated brake cleaner followed by compressed air. As a FYI do not use any lubricants on the clutch’s or belt, doing so will cause dirt and grime to quickly foul up the components.

 

Bradhill, thanks for responding. That was my suspicion, as well. I'm not familiar with Gators at all but am working my way through it. Do you happen to know the part number for the belt, or is it easily looked up? How difficult is the procedure? I don't have a service manual for the machine but is it something that can be figured out by a mechanically inclined person? For reference it's a 2007 850D. Thanks for any additional help

 

Update on my slow Gator - so I got the new belt and installed it. I also cleaned the clutches as advised by Bradhill. I was excited to get it going, then crushed to find out the new belt didn't solve the problem. It still is super slow and won't maintain speed going up a small hill in High.

While I had the belt cover off I removed the primary clutch cover to be able to clean the clutch and checked that the outer pulley side would slide smoothly. Not really knowing what to look for, everything looked OK in there.

Any thoughts on what could be the problem? I'm open to all hints, tips, or help. Thanks

 

Final update:

Thought I'd give a final update on my problem with the slow moving Gator. After I received the service manual I spent many hours reading it to familiarize with the workings of the Gator. I researched and performed many of the diognostic procedures in the manual. All with no success in discovering a problem. I was stumped! The motor started and idled fine. It just didn't seem to be able to propel the Gator to anything more than walking speed. So...I broke down and took it to an ATV dealer in the next little town closest to me. He started it and drove it and commented that the motor seemed really loud - louder than a normal diesel - and didn't seem to be getting to max RPM. I left it with him thinking "great, now I'm going to have to spent big bucks for motor work".

The next day he called. FIXED! It turns out someone had crammed a piece of crimped up pipe into the end of the tailpipe. Sort of like a baffle. It was almost completely blocking the exhaust. Once he got that out the motor ran much quieter and revved up like it should. I moves out fine now and seems to have gobs of power.

No idea why that "baffle" was there and I would have never thought to check the exhaust but I'm glad the issue is fixed. Thanks to everyone who responded with tips and advice.

 

Internals of the muffler could be coming apart or there was a spark arrester gone bad.

thankd for updating.