Broken clutch ramps any insight?

Clutching gurus:

I was going to change belts this morning for basically my first ride this year so I was giving my clutches a once over. I'm still kind of a novice when it comes to the yamaha clutches so I'm just not sure whats going on here..
The ramps on the clutch that hold the "buttons" that ride against the helix are all part way broken off! 2 are about 1/2 gone & one is cracked & on it's way.. Has anyone ran into this before?? What causes this?? I'm posting a picture but it's not very clear so hopfully I descriped it well enough. I'm sure I'll have to get a different clutch but there has to be a cause... I don't have anything out of the ordinary with the clutching.. Supertips/green dalton front & white warrior in the commonly used holes (as per Ted/Ulmer etc..) Do I need to change over to a Team clutch, I know they hold up...

The only thing I can think of is last year I had a track full of chisels & at couple of radar runs on the lake there was a combo of snow & ice so it would bite, break loose, bite...

Thanks Tony

I had the same problem. the stock Yami secondary lasted about 800 miles, the bushings wear and my hub was all cracked up. I put a TEAM tss-4 on with the 58-46,46-36 58-44,44-34 pt #520105 ramp and 140-260 spring just call Team at Detroit Lakes ask for Jason Kostela tell him what you have and he'll fix you up

Check out this post. It gives part numbers for updated clutch. Also info on Ted's clutch.

http://www.ty4stroke.com/viewtopic.php? ... dary+ramps

Check the PTO jackshaft bearing. If it is gone, or on it's way out it will allow serious loads on your secondary that it isn't designed to take.

WANT MY ADVICE.? GET RID OF THE CLUTCH .!
PUT A PARAGON CLUTCH ON IT , YOU WILL BLESS THE DAY YOU DID.

100 % BETTER THAN I HAVE FOUND IN 35 YEARS OF RIDING AND FIXING.

Bearings seem to be fine.

Hmm... Now I'm not sure if I should replace w/Yami secondary, Paragon, Team or the clutch Ted is selling...

I don't know much about the Paragon or the one Ted is selling, I am familier with the Team, could probably get one much cheaper & have several helixes & springs sitting around...

I was under the impression that the Team did not work so well for Drag Racing and/or Top speed. Is there anyone who who can shed some light on this? If you rather PM or email thats cool too..
Thanks Tony

tocrko@yahoo.com

PARAGON CLUTCH

I HAVE THIS CLUTCH ON TWO OF MY SLEDS , THE 83 V-MAX AND THE 03 RX1.
THE CLUTCH , WHEN SET UP WILL NOT HEAT UP AND BURN YOUR BELT NO MATTER HOW MUCH POWER YOU PUT TO IT.
THIS CLUTCH DOES NOT TWIST LIKE OTHER SECONDARY CLUTCHES DO.

ARCTIC CAT HAD ONE THAT WORKED LIKE THIS IN 1968 (THEY HAD IT RIGHT) SOME ONE TALKED THEM OUT OF IT AND WE BURNED BELTS EVER SINCE.

NOT SO WITH THE PARAGON, MINE NEVER EVEN GETS WARM , EVEN AFTER REPEATED TRIPS DOWN THE DRAG STRIP.

I HAVE TRIED MOST OTHER SECONDARY CLUTCHES AND MY MONEY IS ON THE PARAGON.

WEB SITE FOR PARAGON IS : HITECHPERFORMANCE.COM

OR YOU CAN CALL THEM AT 320-693-9289

THEY ARE THE ONES THAT MADE THE QUICK SHIFT DRIVE CLUTCH FOR TRAIL SLEDS , FOR SNO-STUFF IN THE 80'S.

STILL USE ON ON MY GRANDDAUGHTERS 79 KAW. DRIFTER.

Thanks for the info.

I don't know much about the Paragon, going by what I've read it seems like a great clutch. they may be a bit rich for my blood though..

I tried out my buddies Team yesterday, just threw it on, didn't change anything else. think it was a 58/44-.46. It seemed to work ok, rpms were down to 10000 at launch, pulled down to 9600-9700 then up to 10000 or maybe just a touch under w/12psi boost. But I could work with the primary to bring the rpms up.
It seemed to pull hard on acceleration, I'm just not sure about top speed.

What has been your experience with the Team verses the stock??

Thats funny the Paragon has come up I spent more money on that thing trying to get it to work properly then any other clutch I have ever owned. IMO it was total junk and the creator Duane was not much help in setup.

Thanks for the input.

TurboJamie, If I remember correctly I read in some of your old post that you tried the Team secondary & lost top speed. do you still feel that way? What kind of speed loss? 2-3-mph? 5-7mph?
Do you think I should just try to find a good stock secondary & stick with that?

I think I read somewhere you can put a roller kit on your clutch if you end up with the broken button mounts like mine, anyone know anymore one this?

stock secondary clutch

I've run the stock secondary clutch with no problems on ice and asphalt run after run. I have tried cat's clutch and went back to yamaha's. Nothing wrong with the cat just prefer yamahas clutch. I am putting well over 400 horses through stock secondary clutch with no problems. I would look at your clutching before purchasing a different clutch. I have run 150mph in 1000 feet and it is a full body sled. I don't know if you can put anymore stress on it than that.

Thanks for the help guys, I decided to stick with the stock clutch, one is on the way should be good to go by the weekend
tk

Has anyone ran into this before?? What causes this??

Click to expand...

Yes I have, on my 2005 RX-1 the same thing happened, to the T.
When the secondary was designed the strongest common spring in use on the stockers were the green, in the SX700R, it was far away from beeing tork or HP monster. The most powerful Yamaha those days were the SRX700 running the wimpy red spring at 70 deg stock. With the 4strokers we went up 3 secondary spring sizes from the SRX pulling a little more HP and way more tork spesially at lower rpms.

Here's an example on one possible way for the button towers to get cracked. If you go up an incline the secondary backshift winding up the spring in the process, if you now suddenly let off throttle, break hard, now the buttons will leave the helix cam, when you go on the trottle hard again, the secondary buttons will slam into the helix ramp very hard. You can hear it happen, it has a "clang" sound to it. Over time this clang will case metal fatigue in the button ramps and they eventually fails. A secondary with an encapsulated roller design will not have this problem as the rollers will not leave the helix ramps at all.