2010 800 RMK Primary Spider Shims Question

[800drgnplt]

I have a 2010 800 RMK 155 in which I am trying to get the proper belt side clearance set on my primary clutch. When I bought the machine new, one of the first things I did was measure my belt side clearance. It was initially out of spec so I removed shims from under the spider in order to get it where it needs to be. Last season I replaced the stock Polaris weights with a set of Dalton weights and added a SLP blue-pink (140-340) spring. I then re-checked my belt side clearance and it was out of spec again, close but not within tolerances. I assumed the Dalton weights have a slightly different profile and set against the clutch rollers slightly different, therefore altering the distance between the sheave and belt. In an attempt to get the side clearance within spec, I have had to remove all the shims under the spider except for the very thick one and still cannot get where I need to be. My clutch now will not engage until roughly 4400 rpm and it isn't very smooth, kind of grabby! I see that the thickest shim under the spider is listed on the Polaris parts diagram as having a thickness of .130. I have multiple shim sets so I have many different thickness shims to work with, but my question is can I safely remove that .130 thick shim and replace it with a couple of thinner shims to get where I need to be or does that thicker shim serve a larger purpose than just a shim?

Just for grins I installed a SLP black-pink (120-340) spring also just to see if I could get engagement rpm's to come down some and only dropped barely 100 rpms on engagement. This tells me that the only way to fix this problem is to get the side clearance correct.

I am also going on the premise that adding shims increases belt to sheave clearance and removing them decreases the clearance. When I have added shims and measured, the clearance seemed to increase. Please correct me if I have this backwards.

 

[sled_guy]

You are right, removing them tightens it up.

You can pull that shim out and put others in if you want.

BUT... have you been indexing the clutch or preferably having it re-balanced after removing the shims?

sled_guy

 

[800drgnplt]

You are right, removing them tightens it up.

You can pull that shim out and put others in if you want.

BUT... have you been indexing the clutch or preferably having it re-balanced after removing the shims?

sled_guy

Yes, I have been indexing everytime it goes back together. I did some more searching on the forums this afternoon and fortunately hit the correct combination of keywords and pulled up some threads from 2007-2008 era where guys were removing that thick shim which has the shoulder and replacing with the necessary shim combinations in order to get within spec. I did the same thing this afternoon and by getting the belt to sheave clearance in spec and using the black-pink SLP spring I got right where I wanted to be. It now engages around 3900-4000 rpm, providing my tach isn't as far off as my belt side clearance initially was!!