hot clutch

[Mountain800]

Hi.
I have noticed that my clutches and belt is really hot when boondocking/tree riding...hard. and I Had to replace belt today. Secondary feels hotter... I have carls helix in garage. Will it run cooler with this helix ? Running all stock on my 12 pro 155...rpms is spot on 8300/8050 all day!

 

[AndrettiDog]

The clutch does get hot. You shouldn't have to change your belt until around 600 miles or so. Some people see better than that. Check you deflection on your secondary to make sure you belt tension is right. I didn't even run vents last year and I was good,

 

[Mountain800]

Last year I Had the rmk Assault 155. 3000 miles 4 belts. But I also Had full set off vents..xxxmodrods... The clutches was not as hot as this. Maybe i just have to install vents this year too..

 

[G-Force]

Running a '12 Assault this year. Installed the Carl's helix I kept from my '10 Dragon. Noticed that the primary was quite cool, but the secondary was hot. Have some small vents already installed. Was way over-revving though, at 4000 feet I was seeing over 8400 on the tach (not the replay, just what I could catch a glimpse of).
So my sec is fighting the primary, but how to remedy? More angle? Less? All in the spring pressure?
G.

 

[ryan_625]

Mine runs pretty hot too I noticed, I have the xxmodrods knee vents and that helps, but it still gets toasty! Boondocking and sidehilling is what I do mainly. I blew my first belt last weekend, about 750 miles on it. The belt was so hot I couldn't touch it...let alone my secondary!

 

[SD Coyote]

I also enjoy tree riding and boondocking. A lot of times you are at slower speeds when riding in the trees, and pulling hard due to the soft deep snow that doesn't set up. I have found that lower gearing will help a lot on the clutch/belt temps. Extra venting is a good idea too. Tree riding is always going to create clutch heat, but I've gained the most by gearing lower.

SD

 

[Mountain800]

I also enjoy tree riding and boondocking. A lot of times you are at slower speeds when riding in the trees, and pulling hard due to the soft deep snow that doesn't set up. I have found that lower gearing will help a lot on the clutch/belt temps. Extra venting is a good idea too. Tree riding is always going to create clutch heat, but I've gained the most by gearing lower.

SD

I forgot about gearing, last year on the Assault i geared 19 top sprocket...Maybe that will help on the pro too..

 

[ryan_625]

I also enjoy tree riding and boondocking. A lot of times you are at slower speeds when riding in the trees, and pulling hard due to the soft deep snow that doesn't set up. I have found that lower gearing will help a lot on the clutch/belt temps. Extra venting is a good idea too. Tree riding is always going to create clutch heat, but I've gained the most by gearing lower.

SD

what gearing are you running on your sled? We changed out the top gear on my dads, I believe to a 19. I have a 43 bottom gear laying around that I planned on putting in but without changing the top gear I need a longer chain.
How dramatic of a change was it? I need to work on setting up my clutching some too, it is still stock.

 

[fredw]

ya poor cluching makes heat, and kills belts, once set correctly a season or 2000 miles is what we call proper belt life, the doo 880 has 2400 miles on the same belt, and still looking good

anyone here know the weight of a complete p-85 primary, thanks for the info

 

[GREICO1]

Hot clutches are a sign of belt slip, and factory clutching sucks! If your clutches are setup correctly, and your belt is not slipping, the most you should feel in the sheaves would be luke warm. Probably little more than ambient underhood temps, and vents would not be necessary, unless trying to allow more cool air across your motor. Unfortunately, there are no "off the shelf" answers for this and there are very few people that can truly clutch a sled to max efficiency. If you trip across the right combination, or find one of these people, the results are truly amazing!

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

Hot clutches are a sign of belt slip, and factory clutching sucks! If your clutches are setup correctly, and your belt is not slipping, the most you should feel in the sheaves would be luke warm. Probably little more than ambient underhood temps, and vents would not be necessary, unless trying to allow more cool air across your motor. Unfortunately, there are no "off the shelf" answers for this and there are very few people that can truly clutch a sled to max efficiency. If you trip across the right combination, or find one of these people, the results are truly amazing!

very true..but heres a good start..slp blue/pink in the primary along with a heel heavy weight(I use MTX;s) stock in the secondary except for 2 delrin washers....this setup works very very good..clutches stay pretty cool and sled pulls very hard and is much snappier then stock....set to run 8150 on memory(not the guage)recorder........(at 2000 ft, with 68 gram weights this gets me 8150 with 45-49 mph track speed in deep pow climb on a bone stock 11-163 pro.....

 

[IDAHO HOT SHOT]

what gearing are you running on your sled? We changed out the top gear on my dads, I believe to a 19. I have a 43 bottom gear laying around that I planned on putting in but without changing the top gear I need a longer chain.
How dramatic of a change was it? I need to work on setting up my clutching some too, it is still stock.

I wanted to do a 19-43 on my dragon. I was told that the stock chain is just barely too short, however, with the 19-43 and the longer chain, you create a dog leg in the chain that is not recommended. I was told to try a 19-45. I opted to not do anything. My buddy, who is probably 240-260 lbs Installed a 19-45 on his 163 dragon and really likes it. I have a 155 pro geared to a 19-42. I am very impressed. It pulls way harder than my other buddy's with his 20-42. I am running blue/pink primary,10-64 weights, stock secondary spring with a 58-38/40 helix and 2 delrins. It pulls 7900-7950 all day. Seems like it needs 200more rpm's according to what I read but it pussl so damn hard I'm reluctant to mess with it. One of the next rides I'm going to try some 62 Belly Busters.

 

[pura vida]

ya poor cluching makes heat, and kills belts, once set correctly a season or 2000 miles is what we call proper belt life, the doo 880 has 2400 miles on the same belt, and still looking good

anyone here know the weight of a complete p-85 primary, thanks for the info

no chance. i don't care what clutch setup i ran i could never get 2000 mile out of a belt. they are worn out in less than a 1000 miles regardless of what the belt looks like. there will be significant wear at that point. i'm usually satisfied if i get 500 good hard miles out of a belt.

and it also doesn't matter what clutch setup or venting i have my clutches/belts always get too hot to touch. i actually have a temp gun and yesterday after some playing the the inside face of the primary was about 250 degrees, the secondary was around 220, and the belt was 275.

i also don't care what clutching is being ran, your belt is slipping WAY more than you think it is. especially with these extra hard belts (115s) we run these days. yes slippage causes heat but you will not get rid of all slipping or even the majority of it.

on a related topic the readout on my tach must work exceptionally well b/c when i see 8300 when riding that is also what is recorded. in fact i have seen, while riding on the display, as high as 8550 without hitting the rev limiter. now the question would be how accurate is my tach but these days they are usually pretty close.

pv

 

[winter brew]

I also thought the clutches ran extremely hot on our stock 12 163....with some clutching and gearing changes the temps have dropped and climbing track speeds and rpm consistency have improved. I think there are more gains to be found, just getting enough miles to consider it broken in and getting back in the swing of clutching a P85... It's been a few years, some new arm profiles and helix's to play with.

 

[GREICO1]

no chance. i don't care what clutch setup i ran i could never get 2000 mile out of a belt. they are worn out in less than a 1000 miles regardless of what the belt looks like. there will be significant wear at that point. i'm usually satisfied if i get 500 good hard miles out of a belt.

and it also doesn't matter what clutch setup or venting i have my clutches/belts always get too hot to touch. i actually have a temp gun and yesterday after some playing the the inside face of the primary was about 250 degrees, the secondary was around 220, and the belt was 275.

i also don't care what clutching is being ran, your belt is slipping WAY more than you think it is. especially with these extra hard belts (115s) we run these days. yes slippage causes heat but you will not get rid of all slipping or even the majority of it.

on a related topic the readout on my tach must work exceptionally well b/c when i see 8300 when riding that is also what is recorded. in fact i have seen, while riding on the display, as high as 8550 without hitting the rev limiter. now the question would be how accurate is my tach but these days they are usually pretty close.

pv

Wait until you find the right guy- It's Magic!! unfortunately, most will never reveal the secrets.