Vincent,
I've been following this thread and your clutch adjustments. If I understand correctly, you want to lower your WOT RPM to 8500. There’s several things I don’t understand. Can you answer a few questions?
From the limited seat time I have on my sled, I’m guessing when you’re cruising along some trail, you don’t maintain 8500 RPM, but you may hit 8500 RPM briefly when accelerating.
The pictures you posted labeled, “Marker line tell the tale”, what tale does this tell? I'm guessing that leaving some marker lines on the sheave means your clutch never fully engaged. What symptoms did you experience with leaving marks on the sheaves? If your sled never reaches full engagement, does this mean your sleds RPM can exceed 8500 RPM? This would be similar to a car or motorcycle with a slipping clutch, a lot of RPMs, but not a lot of forward propulsion.
You said your helix was wrapped at 70 and you changed it to 60. Does 60 have less preload or twist on the spring than 70?
I still trying the wrap my brain around the finer points of how the clutch system works. I understand the basics, but don’t understand how changes like spring rate, preload, and added weight change the operation.