Grooves in my weights.

[Big Bertha]

My weights have these west grooves in them. Are the trashed? Is this too much wear? What will this do to the performance of the clutch. The rest of the surface is smooth.

 

[Big Bertha]

 

[Big Bertha]

 

[maim]

got a set once that where ground like that for drag racing. the rollers hang in the grove until the clutch is spinning fast enough to get them out of groove causing the belt to engage suddenly. this causes sled to have a jerky take off and is more prone to spinning the track on takeoff when trying for gentle when moving. i would reccomend replacement unless the weight was made that way from factory.

 

[DennyTuna]

I'm not an expert and I agree with maim but, they look to be a factory cut and style.

 

[STAIN]

How many miles? In my experience, the stock weight on the 3 cylinder will start to see wear @5 -5500 miles. Some aftermarket weights dont go that far, some farther.
The 3 cylinder 4 stroke is tough on weights. The wear on your weight indicates to me a lot of low speed/idle time.
The 3 cylinder will pound out the weight in the area is ridden most after some time.
I have taken weights with a groove worn in them and smoothed them out to get some people by, do all 3 at once and make a jig if you don't have one.

 

[Big Bertha]

It’s has 10000 km. I am replacing it with an almost new clutch out of a 2017 Sidewinder. I looked at the part numbers for the weights and rollers and the number almost identical. Is there a big difference in the weights from a 2018 VK and the Winder?

 

[maim]

sidewinder primary is totally different clutch from the one on the vk as guys are putting the older style one (vk) onto the winders. weights might be able to work but i would check the weight chart in the tec pages to be sure.

 

[Big Bertha]

Oh crap, I was told they are all the same. Will it work?

 

[Stubbs]

You’d be much better off with the right clutch, but at only 10k you can likely just rebuild what you have with some new parts and be good to go for many more k’s.

 

[Big Bertha]

Mine is all cracked up. Has chunks of aluminum missing from those 3 protruding arms that the slides slides in. Cheeks are grooved and when you let off the gas it snaps back really abruptly and makes a clunking sound. To me this whole clutch business is the most mysterious part of the whole sled.

 

[maim]

it can be made to work with some adjustments. you might be fine with the lower power of the vk. most of the guys with issues are riding tuned winders (200 + hp). as the vk is only 130 hp, it should work fine if engagement and peak rpm are at stock settings.

 

[Big Bertha]

Ok, a sigh of relief here. Lol. I will run the VK spring in it and probably the weights. That should do it right?

 

[STAIN]

Call Thunder products and get an estimate on a rebuild....

 

[twyztid]

When using the older Japan model clutches on the Sidewinder, the weights need to be heavier. I installed a 2012 Vector clutch on my 2017 Sidewinder and had to add 4.5 grams to each weight. If you are trying to install a Sidewinder clutch on your VK, you'll have to do the opposite and make the weights lighter. The reason for this is the position of the roller in relation to the weight, if I remember right. For more/better information about this, contact Thunder Products Clutching.