Breaking Secondary Springs

[smitty_j25]

Can anyone tell me what would cause a sled to break secondary clutch springs? I just broke my second one of the year. First one I believe was the stock spring, the second one was the midnight blue spring from my big venom kit. I have a spare spring to install but I'd like to find out what's causing it to keep breaking springs first.

 

[Studroes144]

I’d start by putting your secondary clutch together but without the spring in. Duplicate the shifting process by hand and make sure it’s shifting smoothly and not getting bound up someplace.

 

[smitty_j25]

So I should check for binding where the helix towers come through the outer sheave?

 

[Studroes144]

So I should check for binding where the helix towers come through the outer sheave?

Check for Any type of binding at all, whether it be on the shaft or maybe some slag left behind from the castings.

 

[gpxsrx]

Friends Sr viper with TP blue secondary spring also broke off tang that was in the helix this weekend.

 

[smitty_j25]

I checked the clutch and everything shifts smoothly, I took the spring out and put the helix back on and I can send it through the whole travel range just fine, no binding anywhere. I was talking to Terry at Thunder Products and he told me to check for play in the bushings on the helix and the moveable sheave. I did notice that there is a small amount of play, maybe a degree or two to either side, Does this sound normal or should there be less play than that?

 

[Studroes144]

I checked the clutch and everything shifts smoothly, I took the spring out and put the helix back on and I can send it through the whole travel range just fine, no binding anywhere. I was talking to Terry at Thunder Products and he told me to check for play in the bushings on the helix and the moveable sheave. I did notice that there is a small amount of play, maybe a degree or two to either side, Does this sound normal or should there be less play than that?

Hard to tell I guess if that’s normal or not. When my helix is bolted on (no spring installed) there is no measurable play at all on the bushing..so I guess that’s a possibility. Do you have the spring in the proper holes/settings and twisting the helix clockwise when reinstalling it?

 

[cannondale27]

I checked the clutch and everything shifts smoothly, I took the spring out and put the helix back on and I can send it through the whole travel range just fine, no binding anywhere. I was talking to Terry at Thunder Products and he told me to check for play in the bushings on the helix and the moveable sheave. I did notice that there is a small amount of play, maybe a degree or two to either side, Does this sound normal or should there be less play than that?

If the bushings are smooth and not grooved up they are fine. Always alot of play in them. People do more harm than good changing Yamaha Clutch bushings unnecessarily. Probably just some bad springs. If Yamaha can have bad ones which they did so can any aftermarket. Really no way to test other than random out of a batch.

 

[gpxsrx]

Friends Sr viper with TP blue secondary spring also broke off tang that was in the helix this weekend.

Pic of spring

 

[smitty_j25]

I didn't check the bushings for grooving. I guess I'll check that and if I don't find anything I'll throw it back together and hope that I just had some bad luck.

 

[cannondale27]

I didn't check the bushings for grooving. I guess I'll check that and if I don't find anything I'll throw it back together and hope that I just had some bad luck.

Take a pic of bushings.

 

[Thunder Products]

I checked the clutch and everything shifts smoothly, I took the spring out and put the helix back on and I can send it through the whole travel range just fine, no binding anywhere. I was talking to Terry at Thunder Products and he told me to check for play in the bushings on the helix and the moveable sheave. I did notice that there is a small amount of play, maybe a degree or two to either side, Does this sound normal or should there be less play than that?

Great talking to you smitty.
Glad you checked your secondary for play on bushings. There have been a couple of helix's losing their bushing. On another note, the stock springs are breaking because of the coil bind from factory. Our blue spring doesn't coil bind so I am thinking it was just a bad spring out of the hundreds we have sold.

Hard to tell I guess if that’s normal or not. When my helix is bolted on (no spring installed) there is no measurable play at all on the bushing..so I guess that’s a possibility. Do you have the spring in the proper holes/settings and twisting the helix clockwise when reinstalling it?

That is key Barry.....have had some where they twisted the helix backwards when installing and also going too far of twist clockwise.

Pic of spring

Thank you for the pics. We, at Thunder Products Clutching want to know about these so we can contact our supplier to let them know.

All in all, springs go under a lot of stress, they do lose tension and can break.

 

[smitty_j25]

This is the broken spring

 

[smitty_j25]

The helix bushing, I'm assuming the vertical line is supposed to be there?

 

[smitty_j25]

Bushing on the moveable sheave