So I thought I would share a story from last weekend...
While up riding at our usual spot in some wet, HEAVY snow, it seemed like my 9 wasn't pulling quite as good as it normally does... however, with a few runs on the hill I noticed track speed was slowly gaining the more time I had on the slope, especially when side-hilling. While it was March snow, I'm not kidding when I say it was power-robbing stuff... at an elevation about 1000 lower than where we were at, I dang near managed to get water out of a snow-ball in my hands.
Anyway, pulling track speed around 38 to barely 40 mph it sure wasn't pulling quite as strong as I was accustomed to despite slowly build RPM to around 7300 (on the low side of what I normally like to see, but not out of the park). At first I shrugged it off to poor clutch condition as I am at about 1000 miles on my clutching since the last service, but here's what really surprised me......
Yup, on the way back down the clutch stuck open in high gear and stayed in that position the last 6 miles off the hill....
If you have never had a clutch stick open before it is an interesting experience to say the least not being able to stop (without killing the engine in the process) or even slow down a whole lot. While the sled was sluggish to accelerate at low RPM it still had good power once into the power band (above 5K RPM). I played around with the thing on the trail down to see if I could get it to unstick on the go but no luck... I ultimately kept the sled at a minimum of 25 MPH and 2200 RPM or faster all the way... Pulling into the snow park I was doing 15 MPH at a whopping 1200 RPM Thats slower than the thing normally idles!!!!!!!!!
But I rode it all the way back to the truck where a carefully placed tire-iron bump knocked the stuck weight loose so I could load the sled up.
Long story short, I can't believe that having a clutch with 1000 miles of belt dust and grease, 1 flattened roller - 2 with SHOT bushings and worn weight bushings was still getting me 40 MPH of track speed in heavy snow... These things got some torque to power through that much adversity!!!!!
Just thought I would share... oh ya, up to 4114 miles on her now too!
The 900 alongside my newer 09 700... Mark rode it for the day.
While up riding at our usual spot in some wet, HEAVY snow, it seemed like my 9 wasn't pulling quite as good as it normally does... however, with a few runs on the hill I noticed track speed was slowly gaining the more time I had on the slope, especially when side-hilling. While it was March snow, I'm not kidding when I say it was power-robbing stuff... at an elevation about 1000 lower than where we were at, I dang near managed to get water out of a snow-ball in my hands.
Anyway, pulling track speed around 38 to barely 40 mph it sure wasn't pulling quite as strong as I was accustomed to despite slowly build RPM to around 7300 (on the low side of what I normally like to see, but not out of the park). At first I shrugged it off to poor clutch condition as I am at about 1000 miles on my clutching since the last service, but here's what really surprised me......
Yup, on the way back down the clutch stuck open in high gear and stayed in that position the last 6 miles off the hill....
If you have never had a clutch stick open before it is an interesting experience to say the least not being able to stop (without killing the engine in the process) or even slow down a whole lot. While the sled was sluggish to accelerate at low RPM it still had good power once into the power band (above 5K RPM). I played around with the thing on the trail down to see if I could get it to unstick on the go but no luck... I ultimately kept the sled at a minimum of 25 MPH and 2200 RPM or faster all the way... Pulling into the snow park I was doing 15 MPH at a whopping 1200 RPM Thats slower than the thing normally idles!!!!!!!!!But I rode it all the way back to the truck where a carefully placed tire-iron bump knocked the stuck weight loose so I could load the sled up.
Long story short, I can't believe that having a clutch with 1000 miles of belt dust and grease, 1 flattened roller - 2 with SHOT bushings and worn weight bushings was still getting me 40 MPH of track speed in heavy snow... These things got some torque to power through that much adversity!!!!!
Just thought I would share... oh ya, up to 4114 miles on her now too!
The 900 alongside my newer 09 700... Mark rode it for the day.
