Catastophic Clutch Failure! Old Dog Learns New Lesson....

Rick-Mi

New member
Joined
Apr 8, 2018
Messages
11
Location
Michigan
Hello members, first post here, allow me to give a little back ground and then describe my hard lesson learned yesterday. Sorry in advance about the long, rambling post, but I figured an introduction is in order.

I'm now in my late 50's and have snowmobiled my entire life going back to 1968 when my dad drove home a 12 hp Ski-Doo Olympic in 1968. Fell in love with Yamaha years ago when my buddies dad bought a GPX 433, set it up to perfection and I was able to run it better than his kid winning several local races before having a drivers license. My friend's dad was constantly fiddling with clutch tuning, but about the only thing I knew about clutching was what an advantage it was to lead going into the first corner! Second, like many readers here, grew up during the times when when a group went out for a ride, somebody was always getting towed home. Once the manufacturers got dialed in and all of them weren't undependable, it wasn't hard to figure out that it was Yamaha machines consistently on the proper end of the tow strap.

I'm not mechanically inclined and have a lousy set of tools, but have a LOT of toys, some of them older now like my Venture 700 redhead, Phazer and Bravo (time flies). The good news is I have had extraordinary luck with reliability buying quality engineered toys new before someone else screws them up, being particular with putting things away for the season in decent fashion, state of the art lubricants and staying on top of basic little things. You guys at this site are in a different world mechanic and maintenance wise, but you would be surprised how many people suffer constant headaches with their stuff due to neglect. As bad as I've discovered I am on real snowmobile maintenance, at least you can pull any toy out of my pole barn or garage, fuel it up, slap in the battery that was properly stored and charged, turn the key, kick the starter or pull the rope and in one or two turns of the crank it will be purring and functioning exactly as intended with every expectation it will take you there and back without issue.

That being said, after a huge number of years without being stranded or broke down, boy am I a neophyte on real mechanical maintenance of snow machines. I'm now a member because of a real wake up call. These days, I run the machines right out of the garage in my local area which is why miles stay low, but yesterday trailered up the Venture 700 and Phazer for a final season run in the gorgeous area of the Michigan NW lower peninsula.

About 60 miles into a great ride, I had the hammer down on the little redhead and thought the belt grenaded. It didn't take long to realize it was a catastrophic explosion of the primary clutch, which took out the secondary and sent pieces through the bottom of the tub and one through the hood!

Oh my gosh, this older, but mint condition machine that ran like a Swiss watch is now in sad shape and it's 100% my own fault :-(
Reading way into the wee hours of last night on this forum, I now realize exactly why it happened (pure neglect), so there is no reason to hammer me now. Of all the machines I've owned over the years, I've never actually serviced a clutch, nor had one fail. I'm experienced enough to feel exactly when a belt is showing signs of wear and it gets replaced immediately, which I'm sure minimizes belt dust which is probably why this hasn't happened before with any of my machines going back to the 70's!

Now that ignorance has been determined to be the cause, where do I need to go now as far as fixing a mangled machine?

1- What are the chances that I bent the crank on a fantastic motor with only 2,300 miles and how easily is that determined?
2- Although this used to be a mint condition machine, the used market value is very low on an 18 year old unit so I don't think it's worth it so sink a lot of money into a dead asset if it can be avoided. I have solid access locally to used parts, will a good condition used primary and secondary be an acceptable replacement?
3- On this site, I read that there is a large number of a certain kind of Polaris clutch that is basically interchangeable, perform well and are available cheap. Is that correct and if so, what should I start looking for in terms of replacement?


It's too bad I had to learn the lesson on this machine. These redheads, even without power valves and single piped really run well. This strange colored green, two-up, domestic looking sleeper has surprised a LOT of people over the years! It would be nice to get her back in shape again and go through the whole machine the way you guys understand maintenance, so things don't end up even worse or get an operator killed when the wrong thing lets loose when this unassuming baby is winding out!
 

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That's good advice, it's pretty evident from how I got here that I'm not a great candidate to be relying on anything clutch wise that isn't pretty much bolt on.
 
Thanks for the tip, got it on my watch list! Found a likely candidate for a secondary on Ebay too, and the price is right.
Before I pull the trigger on those parts, better have somebody check the run-out on the crankshaft. Even though the season is done, going to get right on it because I can't stand broken toys laying around.

Just from this experience and reading on this site, I already know what should be done in the simplest terms clutch wise for simple maintenance. It's a pretty easy deal to keep a clutch clean , give it a visual inspection for cracks, a little emery cloth on the surface and store the dang thing with the belt off. Talk about easily preventable problems!
 
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Check the classifieds here on TY. Fella selling secondaries for $40. He probably has primaries too. Second page of classifieds.
 
multiple people here selling clutches cheaper than ebay, I sent you a pm with what I have available.
 
As a new member, can't reply by PM yet, but got your message.

Thanks, I'll consider you a primary source in support of this site and automatically trusting you know your stuff and would not steer a fellow member wrong.

My mechanic is up to his neck preping boats for the upcoming season for the marina he owns, but he is going to check the run-out on the PTO for me between jobs. As soon as I get the green light, we'll be in touch.
 
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I agree! try here first, more reliable people.
But, Like I said, if you don't get one from a venture 700, you will be buying weights, rivets, springs ect
to get it right.
 
There are a lot of reasons to do business with supporters of this site and I will always look to that first.
Your advice is sound, I need to match up as close as possible to the original parts for obvious reasons given my knowledge level on this subject.

It's interesting to note that when researching this topic, I found two other people who had 700 Ventures that did the exact same thing, with one contributor doing a project on a Venture getting stern warning after experiencing a warning sign. Apparently, this isn't all that uncommon. I've run a lot of machines over the years and have never had me or anyone I've ever ridden with have this violent event.

Lots of clutches have worn out or failed and needed to be replaced. One of my old sleds was a belt eater and had to be switched out. But, from my experience, this is the kind of dangerous stuff that happened on the race track where I remember many years ago there were specific rules banning exotic metals and safety shield requirements.
 
You've probably been overevving that sled and in turn slipping the belt for years. This puts tremendous heat into the clutch and eventually they blow apart.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J120A using Tapatalk
 
If the clutching is stock its not right, most all of these sleds overrev stock.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J120A using Tapatalk
 
You've probably been overevving that sled and in turn slipping the belt for years. This puts tremendous heat into the clutch and eventually they blow apart.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J120A using Tapatalk

Good theory, but highly unlikely given my usual style driving it mildly on vast areas of Saginaw Bay with a load of fragile ice fishing equipment that can't handle a bunch of banging around.

When I put the hammer to her it was usually straight line for extended distances, sometimes several miles without ever letting off the throttle. After reading some things on this site, that's probably a very poor idea on an aging sled that gets with it pretty good without really staying on top of inspection and maintenance.

Secondly, belt life has been superb so I would have noticed consistently overheating the clutch.

On the other side of the coin, Sunday when she blew it was warm as heck outside and I spent about 60 miles on twisting, turning trails doing just what you described. Certainly pushing that old girl too hard without a through inspection previously or checking things out when stopped for a quick break. That might have overheated things badly in one aggressive ride if she was over-revving out of the corner all along the way and the clutch was totally neglected to begin with.
 
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If the clutching is stock its not right, most all of these sleds overrev stock.

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It was bone stock except for a studded track and you may be exactly correct, it may have been over-revving for years but never manifested until that last particular style of on/off throttle, aggressive ride for an extended period, in practically shirtsleeve weather.
 
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I'd look to see what you have as far as rivets in your weights. Probably want 4.5 gram rivets in both holes. 51/43 rx-1- apex helix works very well with that setup

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X2
rx-1 or Apex Helix work wonders on these sleds.

Remember when you get your machine all back together your WOT revs should be 8500rpms.
 
yep, hit ebay, lots of clutches for sale, best to try and get one with weights and springs already in it specifically for your sled.
search for "Yamaha venture 700 primary clutch"

here is one, all ready to go, just bolt it on
https://www.ebay.com/itm/97-04-YAMAHA-PRIMARY-CLUTCH-Vmax-Phazer-Venture-sx-srx-sxr-viper-600-700-500-rx1/123019757185?fits=Make%3AYamaha%7CModel%3AVenture+700&hash=item1ca48c8681:g:6XAAAOSwNMVag8ML&vxp=mtr

Seems to me like that clutch has a low not tall cover on it.
 
Thank you for the additional great suggestions SWEDE, Vincent and norwegian (by the way I'm half Finn).

Fortunately, I met a very knowledgeable guy from this site who can personally handle the problem and we've got a game plan to get her back in shape at a very reasonable cost.

I've learned one heck a lot in just the past few days, this site is awesome!
 


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