Can not running enough weight in your primary cause it to not shift out fully?

[Dogmeat]

Let's say you're running a given weight in your primary, and based on engine RPM it seems to be this clutch weight is acceptable ... holding ~8,000 RPM and your motor's operating range according to the service manual is 7,800 +/- 200 RPM ..

Anyways, you know by examining your clutch by the wear on it that it's not shifting out all the way, and that when you open it wide up on a trail you used to be able to hit ~83 mph or so and now you can't even hit 75 ...

Could this be because you aren't running enough weight in the primary?

The reason I ask is because after I switched over to the Arctic Cat clutch we dropped the weights down from what I was running in my Polaris clutch.

I had 68 gram weights in my stock clutch but the Arctic Cat, based on AC's recomendations for a what I would have thought was a motor with a similar power band, was 65g weights..

Do you guys think that I may not be running enough weight to exert enough force on the spring to get the clutch to shift out all the way?

 

[BIGGDAWG]

that don't sound like enuff weight to me i run mtx 74's in my 900 at 8-11,000 feet they are compareable to the 10-70's and pull around 7600-7800. you shouldn't turn the 9 over 7800. it likes to be loaded down. better to be a bit heavy than light with that motor from what i have learned. and to answer your question yes if you don't have enuff weight it won't shift out all the way.

 

[GangGreen]

Or too stiff of a primary spring.

 

[XLR8ER]

Driven too tight ?
bushings in both clutches?

 

[rynokron]

Or too stiff of a primary spring.

that would be my guess if you are getting proper rpm's.

 

[mtn_extreme]

Spring is binding in the cups. Ollk at your spring and see if the paint is wore off the next coil up from the base. Polaris springs are bigger diameter than AC springs and will bind in an AC clutch.

 

[go high fast]

if clutches are clean, aligned and working properly then primary weight is unrelated to this problem. this would be related to too high a finish rate on secondary spring or finish angle on the helix too small.

 

[Tuesday]

Assuming that the only thing that you changed was your primary and that you used to get full shift what makes you think it was either the wieght/spring that was effecting your shift. There are alot of variables that can effect full shift that have nothing to do with the primary.......GL

 

[Dogmeat]

All I know is that after swapping over to this AC clutch, it's definatley not shifting out all the way.

I've heard stories from having the wrong helix in the secondary to the wrong spring in the primary, everything ...

I'm seriously debating not bothering screwing around with the secondary at all until I know the primary is set up right first...

When my 900 was bone stock I never had any trouble at all with it not shifting out fully, it was geared for 84 mph top speed and I never had any trouble with that on the trail, and I really never had any trouble with it in the powder that I can recall ... I'm sure there was room for improvement, but the bottom line was the clutch was capable of shifting out all the way, at least on the trail.

Now, I can't even get the sled do that on the trail, let alone in the powder ...

I don't know if the place that set this clutch up for me used my old Polaris spring on the AC clutch or what, but the clutch is definatley not shifting out all the way.

I'm assuming they didn't shim the spider correctly, if at all, and that's causing part of the problem ...

The attatchment shows what the clutch looks like with roughly an hour of time on it at varying speeds and throtte ...

I really am kind of thinking I don't wanna go changing a bunch of **** in the secondary, helix, gearing, whatever unless I can at least get this set up to "back to how it used to be" before I swapped to the AC clutch ..

What do you all think I should do with this?

Whatever it is I do I have to pay a shop to do for me because the place I'm living in right now doesn't have a garage let alone a work bench with a vice in order to tear a clutch apart ...

I'm kinda screwed here basically

Clutch has 65g AC weights and what might be a Polaris black/green spring ...

 

[rynokron]

40 plus repies on every stupid snow hawk thread and 9 so far (counting this one) for an actual snowmobiling related question. WTF?

 

[rynokron]

try to find someone local that has a setup working good for them and try it out. if you have a puller and the right tools that should be all you need for a spring or weight change. might be able to do it in the sled with a little work. either way i would think you could do it right on the trailer or bring the primary inside and do it on the floor with an old rag or towel.

 

[milehighassassin]

I am by NO means any type of expert on clutching, but the weights are used for rev control. The spring is what I would look into as well.

 

[Dogmeat]

Ok guys, I think I figured it out ..

I guess this was my own stupid fault because I didn't do enough research on this in the first place.

The shop I had put this sled back together for me told me that the Polaris and Arctic Cat primary springs were interchangable ... which, apparently, they are not.

I did some research and found that for a stock 2003 1M 900, which is what this clutch came off is is as follows:

69g weights
Yellow/Green (134/264, 104 lb/in)

Stock Polaris 900 clutch specs are:

70g weights
Black/Green (120/340, 175 lb/in)

My clutch has 65g weights with a Black/Green spring in it.

Apparently, I'm running way to stiff of spring and way to little of weight ..

I'm thinking something in the neighborhood of 72g weights int he primary along with the Yellow/Green AC Spring would probably be what I need here.

 

[snowhawkaddict]

It's happening!

40 plus repies on every stupid snow hawk thread and 9 so far (counting this one) for an actual snowmobiling related question. WTF?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTCQSk2l8bc&feature=related

Remember the Ski-Doo version came out in 2001 and mass produced in 2003, ours was on the books back in 1997!