Careful with those clutches!

[SledderSteve]

Got this off another site but it's appropriate for those of us who play with clutches: Exploded Clutch

 

[APEX 06]

I will never look at one the same now.

 

[ROCKERDAN]

Damn

i was sorta laughing until i saw the part where his FINGER was laying on ground...yuk!

looks to me like a TRA from BRP.....this isnt the first ive heard of a TRA blowing apart...keep those gaurds in place boys!

Doo should know better then to keep that hi heat belt burning design.....comet style are soo much cooler running.

Dan

 

[ROCKRTX]

Oucht! I always fear clutch,they turn so fast.My father told me that the old snowmobile in time 1960-70 when cab was open that some clutch ad explode and kill people with the weight that pass true cab and hit them.

Don't know if it true and if you ever hear of a horror story like this but my fear is still there.

 

[blueironranger]

Physics, the edge of the clutch is moving at over 200mph @ 8000rpm. Metal bouncing around the garage at 200mph is never a good thing.

 

[maxdlx]

The one hole in the ceiling is a perfect match to a tra weight. Maxdlx

 

[AKrider]

I saw the results of an old closed face clutch explosion on an Indy 400 back in the 80's. We should have known better that it was having a problem but since we were kids, we kept riding it. The clutch grabbed, made noise, didn't shift very well but the sled still went. My friend was giving it gas to take off from a stop sign and BOOM, the thing literally exploded, blew out the bottom of his tub and fragments went everywhere. Some went through the clutch guard and one piece went through the foot rest area and stopped inside the plastic tool box just an inch from his knee. It was very fortunate that the clutch let go at such low RPM. I had just been riding the sled the day before taking jumps in front of the school.

He ended up having the have his crank trued because it knocked the end out of alignment.

 

[Turk]

The guy obviousely had his clutch guard removed. It would have saved a lot of that carnage. never seen clutch schrapnel go thru the guard & i have seen a few grenaded clutches my own included. He paid the price for an error in judgement.

 

[Vincenthdfan]

I had an Artic Cat El Tigre (eww...shiver, god I hated that sled!) back in the 80's and the primary clutch exploded on me while I was getting on the throttle pretty good going up a hill.

It literally exploded with schrapnel flying through the hood, tub, headlight shroud, etc...

It hit the bar right in front of my left shin/knee and bent a u-shape into it, scares the hell out of me thinking what it would have done if it came through to the footrest!!!

The most humiliating part? Getting towed out by a little kid and his brother all the way back to my truck...god I hated that sled.

 

[hossZ28]

Clutch explosion

In the early 80s we had a 69 Scorpion with a 634 hirth that we rode around the farm and a buddy of mine was busting through drifts when the belt blew causing the engine to over rev and the clutch exploding the inner sheath and shaft remained on the pto and the outer half hit my friend just above the fore head lucky for him he was wearing a open face helmet He was knocked out cold but the helmet was crushed like a broken windshield!

 

[MotoPsycho]

Looks to me like they were "freewheeling" the primary - most likely at an rpm well above what it was designed to turn at... that would explode any clutch.

 

[Apex809]

Back in 98 skidoo had a recall on this.(still do i think) I had to take my mach z and have a updated clutch put on. They were cracking and exploding. This could of been a bad one. But MotoPsycho could be right also.

 

[sniperviper]

I witness a primary explosion on a enticer 340! back in the early 80' It blew a big hole in the hood and one of the weight hit the driver in his knee. (clutch guard was not removed)

 

[Yamadog]

Well that is why the rx & Apex have a reduction gear about 8500 rpms is the fastest you can spin something that is unbalanced and the harmonics not destroy it.

This ding dong was running an obviously big motor twin piped ATV built for speed was run stationary with no belt and left this thing shift the clutch out. I can put pistons through the heads if I build a stoudt motor and put it in neutral and wind it up to 11,000 rpms with no load.

 

[DoktorC]

We lost a weight on our improved viper and it took out all kinds of stuff (including the secondary clutch). The part of the weight that remained did a complete revolution around the pin right through the face of the clutch. It was unreal damage from an inch long piece of steel...the clutch gaurd was dented but nothing came up...everything exited through the bellypan.

The damage in the video could easily be from overspeed OR from slamming together on engagement with no belt....ATV guys might not realize the do's and don't of sled parts...