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Any Thoughts or Suggestions? Possible Clutch Issue? RS

Berlin

Newbie
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Messages
19
Location
New Hampshire
Any thoughts or insight would be greatly appreciated. Sled is an 06 Vector GT with close to 7000miles. All on same belt and plugs. Has had regular service and greasing etc. Sled has been flawless with only two idlers failing.

Current symptoms is a chug, chug, chug sensation when taking off slowly and it disappears when up and moving. The slower you accelerate the more obvious it is. All seems normal when cruising.

Here is what I have done. First move was to swap the belt out for a new one (it was time anyway) and there was no change. Pulled the sled in the garage and then pulled the belt and blasted out the clutches with compressed air. Used some fine sandpaper and scotchbrite to smooth out the clutch sheeves and remove some of the grooving at the base of the primary. Cleaned the clutches and belt with some alcohol. While I was there I pulled the secondary and greased the jackshaft and driveshaft bearings. I rotated the track with the secondary and everything seemed smooth and loose in the drive line. No roughness or grinding, no play in driveshaft. I also adjusted the chaincase. None of this made any difference.

Right now I am thinking there is an issue in the primary clutch causing some hang up on engagement. There is nothing obvious when looking from the outside. (rollers are free and round, some wear) Or possible that the secondary is not completely closing and the belt is sitting low at take off. When running on the stand they seemed to shift ok with no load but I did notice that occasionally the secondary was leaving the belt a bit low.

Any thoughts? I really have not messed with cluthes much and would like to eliminate any other possiblilities before I get a full rebuild. The plan was to take care of them over the summer with a rebuild and new springs.

Thanks
Berlin
 

Belt only has about 20 miles on it and has no hour glassing or obvious wear. I ran some 400 grit paper over it to ensure there was no glasing and wiped with alcohol. There was no difference at all with the belt swap. I may still try a brand new one or swap the one from my rage that is relatively new and working perfectly.
 
You mentioned the belt might be a "little low" in the secondary. Did you check that it was still within spec? If it's too low you need to shim the back side of the secondary to raise belt height back within spec.

Other than that I would suggest checking the primary weights for grooves on the surface of them......caused by running the same speed too much. If the clutch sheaves had small grooves in them the weights might also.
 
Remove the primary clutch. Take the primary cover & spring off & see if sliding shive moves up & down the inner shaft freely.
 
Yes the belt is within spec. The secondary wasn't closing 100% on the stand some of the time. With the clutch closed it sits proud of the clutch and is new so it is squaling at idle as I have not removed the three shims.

The groove on the primary was low in the clutch from idle and engagement. Would there be groves on the weights from idle and start up? There were no grooves further up the sheaves.
 
What are your snow conditions like? I had a warrior that did exactly what you just decribed when it was a little warm out with melting snow. A buddy wanted to try out the sled to get the feel of a 4-stroke and as he drove away I could see the track jumping at the front of the curve of the hy-fax. What I found to be the problem was the rubber from the closed windows was sticking to the hyfax at that point and causing the track to jump. Kinda like how a wet sneaker will grip better on say a wooden floor. I ended up adding SLP anti wear pads in the closed windows and it never did it again. I find it hard to believe that in 7,000 miles you never experianced it before but it's worth a look if the primary and drive bearings look good.
 
I did check the drive bearing and greased the pto sides. All seems to spin fine with not ratchet or play. Conditions are not a factor. Has been going on for a period of time. Figured it was a baked belt. Was suprised when the belt swap and clutch clean up did not solve the problem.

Can I easily remove the clutch cover and spring without anything going "jack in the box" in my face?

I appreciate all your ideas and help
 
Mighty said:
Berlin said:
Can I easily remove the clutch cover and spring without anything going "jack in the box" in my face?
Yes

Ulmer had me mark the primary cover and the clutch to ensure it goes on the same way it came off. I have no idea why, but I took his advice. Ya might want to follow that advice.
 
I believe there are index marks (X) on the inside of the cover and the spider of the clutch.

Progress...
I pulled the clutch cover and spring and gave the insides a good look and cleaned what I could. Arms and rollers look good. However there appears to be some hesitation in the movement of the moveable sheave as there is some wear to the synthetic glide blocks that guide the moveable over the spider. They have enough wear that they are getting a bit crooked in the space. Some light wear is evident on the U shaped channel on the spider. There also seems to be some wear on the fiber bushing siting in the clutch cover.

It appears that these glides are about the only part that needs the spider pulled to change???

I did some side by side comparison with my rage and could see that the clutch was hanging up and not engaging smoothly and evenly from stopped.

I am guessing that I will get all the parts for a rebuild together and see if I can mooch a spider puller. Can I leave the clutch on the sled and pull the spider from the outside?

Should I just replace everything or only those that appear worn? Anyone have a list of exactly what I will need. I will do the secondary as well.

Thanks for all the great help.
I haven't been able to find a picture thread showing this process anywhere??

Berlin
 


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