Clutch rattle.... DRIVING ME NUTS

[Redbeard]

If the new 998 turbo has a clutch stub shaft off the crank, like the older 973 & 1049, then I'm afraid there may be nothing that can be done for the rattle. I installed a Power Bloc 80 on my Vector, which has no rollers, pins or conventional fly weights, but the rattle is still there and sounds exactly like it did with the stock clutch.

The rattle is a combination of the piston powerpulses and mass of the spinning clutch, which causes the stub shaft splines to hammer. The clutch sheaves then act like a loud speaker that amplifies the noise.

 

[blueironranger]

Both my Phazer and Viper have it, hell my 4 cylinder 4 stroke outboard rattles while trolling when I use a stainless prop. Strong power pulses and low number of cylinders = low speed rattle with straight splines. They fixed it on outboards with special prop hub kits to “cushion” the pulses.

 

[stevewithOCD]

3 ways to fix noise

1. Audioslave
2. Aftermarket exhaust
3. Go to the dealer & trade it in

BTW: If you trade it in for an 850, it sounds nice at idle with the windshield shaking so violently your teeth will chatter then as you accelerate the vibration goes away & the rattle sounds like my Sidewinder clutch at idle.......for the next 200 miles

 

[VX1R]

With the performance level of the SW you just need to re-adjust your mind set regarding the clutch noise and simply enjoy the ride.

If the clutch noise really bothers you just keep this tune in the back of your mind when you hear the noise:

 

[stevewithOCD]

1954? Don that shows your age.
BUT i love their 1955 hit "Rock Around the Clock".
Audioslve, Bill Haley, Sheryl Crow ALL block out the "rattle"

P.S. Don, I'm just glad you didn't pick Yankee Doodle

 

[VX1R]

1954? Don that shows your age.
BUT i love their 1955 hit "Rock Around the Clock".
Audioslve, Bill Haley, Sheryl Crow ALL block out the "rattle"

P.S. Don, I'm just glad you didn't pick Yankee Doodle

OK...So I'm old. 1955 was a pretty good year so I'm told by my parents.

Is this song on your sledding playlist?

And WTF this this have to do with clutch noise?

 

[stevewithOCD]

I guess we are saying in our own twisted ball breaking way:
It rattles at idle.....LIVE WITH IT!

 

[RollinTurbo]

it rattles way more then just at idle, and my 18 seems to rattle more then most 17's I've run into on trails, I obviously stated I own the sled and love it..... but this is to me very disheartening and very bothersome to me. I simply would like to fix it AND IF THAT CANT BE DONE I will deal with it

I do appreciate the fact I can ride really hard for long periods and basically lay my hands right on the clutches..... the belts seems to be a weak point but hell I can buy 3 of them for the same price of one skidoo belt so oh well!

 

[North Bay Ned 691]

I contacted Yamaha customer service regarding the noise rattle of my VK Pro 1049 cc clutch. Dealer put Permetex on stub shaft and let it cure for few weeks this past summer. When I picked the sled in the fall of 2017 up it was super quiet and was a dream to drive for about 1200 km. Just recently (February 2018), the noisy, rattle, grind sound has returned. My wife's 2016 Vector that we just bought in fall of 2017, has a little bit of the noisy rattle but my VK is unbearable to listen to right now.

Of course my warranty has expired and the original warranty work was approved by Yamaha reluctantly in the first place, so I am not sure what Yamaha is going to do for me..

Any lawyers on these pages...what are the grounds for a class action suit...would this noisy clutch issue qualify? So strange that some Yamaha clutches within the same make and model year are quiet while others are intolerable. I have heard quiet clutches on other Yamaha machines and I have heard noisy Yamaha clutches,so it is clearly not just a rider tolerance issue as Yamaha customer service first tried to convince of.

Any one have any success getting the clutches, stub shaft quieted down.

Disappointed in North Bay, Ontario.

Ned

 

[RollinTurbo]

I wish it could be fixed... if I could figure a solution I would do it..... some say deal with it... drive faster.... add a louder muffler.... I say it's friggen embarrassing to start my sled up... I love sled just wish it spunded little more like the Arctic cat ....

GUESS THE PEOPLE LIKE US WIH A PROBLEM LISTENING TO THIGS LIKE THIS WILL REMEMBER THAT WHEN WE PURCHASE OR NEXT SLED! COME ON YAMAHA!

I can see things that may rattle around like pins and rollers and such but don't believe anything would be gained by machining new tighter spacers and so on... only thing I can see as a result of tightening tolerances is the clutch not working as efficient as it does.... more I learn, the more I believe it is just designed to work and that's it... and that sucks that I can't hear the sweet song coming from under the hood... instead I have to listen to a clutch rattle like mad!

 

[74Nitro]

I contacted Yamaha customer service regarding the noise rattle of my VK Pro 1049 cc clutch. Dealer put Permetex on stub shaft and let it cure for few weeks this past summer. When I picked the sled in the fall of 2017 up it was super quiet and was a dream to drive for about 1200 km. Just recently (February 2018), the noisy, rattle, grind sound has returned. My wife's 2016 Vector that we just bought in fall of 2017, has a little bit of the noisy rattle but my VK is unbearable to listen to right now.

Of course my warranty has expired and the original warranty work was approved by Yamaha reluctantly in the first place, so I am not sure what Yamaha is going to do for me..

Any lawyers on these pages...what are the grounds for a class action suit...would this noisy clutch issue qualify? So strange that some Yamaha clutches within the same make and model year are quiet while others are intolerable. I have heard quiet clutches on other Yamaha machines and I have heard noisy Yamaha clutches,so it is clearly not just a rider tolerance issue as Yamaha customer service first tried to convince of.

Any one have any success getting the clutches, stub shaft quieted down.

Disappointed in North Bay, Ontario.

Ned

Go through some of my recent posts, I discuss this problem. Have your dealer install spider shims part #8BW-17654-20-00
Also, the spider buttons with the 0-ring behind them are known to start turning and wearing prematurely. Have your dealer check those also.
The spider slides need to be kept snug where they slide in the sheave to keep the noise to a minimum.

 

[journeyman]

Knappattack (Mike) has pointed this out in several threads. Any 3 cylinder 4 stroke will have inherited harmonics down in the low rpm range. Factor in that the primary clutch is directly mounted to the crankshaft it's going to amplify the situation. That's not the case with an Apex engine with the gear reduction but pretty much all other 4 strokes regardless of brand.

As Mike has said, he also had the issues when he had the 1200 Ski Doo 4 stroke. The only primary clutch he found to almost eliminate any rattle down low was the Powerblock PB80. Internally it is a much different design with minimal moving parts.

 

[KnappAttack]

Knappattack (Mike) has pointed this out in several threads. Any 3 cylinder 4 stroke will have inherited harmonics down in the low rpm range. Factor in that the primary clutch is directly mounted to the crankshaft it's going to amplify the situation. That's not the case with an Apex engine with the gear reduction but pretty much all other 4 strokes regardless of brand.

As Mike has said, he also had the issues when he had the 1200 Ski Doo 4 stroke. The only primary clutch he found to almost eliminate any rattle down low was the Powerblock PB80. Internally it is a much different design with minimal moving parts.

But with the splines on the PTO shaft, as has been said, the PB80 may very well not cure the noise. I'll know as soon as I can try it, but it doesn't sound promising from the guys that have tried it on their Vectors and Nytros. I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

[NYTurbo]

Go through some of my recent posts, I discuss this problem. Have your dealer install spider shims part #8BW-17654-20-00
Also, the spider buttons with the 0-ring behind them are known to start turning and wearing prematurely. Have your dealer check those also.
The spider slides need to be kept snug where they slide in the sheave to keep the noise to a minimum.

Yep and thats why cat clutches are much quieter. Tolerances are much tighter. Rode with guys driving 17 cats this weekend over 4000 miles and still quiet.

 

[**sj**]

Would replacing the Yamaha clutch with an stm clutch stop the noise or is this a useless battle because of the stub shaft and three cylinder harmonics?

Useless.. Possibly worse... And the clutch is now known to fail