Sticking clutch, I think..HELP!!!

S

stubby

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Joined
Nov 10, 2003
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28
Location
Macomb Township, Michigan
Hi all..I have 1989 Ovation 340cc fan cooled that I rebuilt. That seems to have gone well, I had the cylinders bored and honed .020 over, and put in new rings, pistions, pins, bearings. Totally disassembled the carb, cleaned that, new gaskets and set everything to original specs (air needle, throttle screw etc.) Even went nuts and drained the chain case and tightned the chain, new gasket, oil. All is good. Even checked the brakes..I know Iknow...routine maintaence for you guys! LOL...here is the problem...I put a new belt on the machine and the motor only runs when the machine is lifted off the ground. Try and hit the brake and you stall the motor. I know this sounds like a bad primary clutch for my little mind, but I did work it back and forth while everything else was disassembled and I am baffled. Could the main spring just be weak? Its a totally stock machine and has probably 3500 miles on it. Sometimes I hear a metalic tinging noise, almost sounds like a bell...clutch? I sure hope its not my new cylinder job! I have no tools to get the thing off other than wrenches and sockets. I have to get this thing running and get another Yamaha sled into the garage to figure out why its eating belts, but thats another story! Thanks in advance...we have a trip planned the 3rd week in January for the UP of Michigan...hope to get this resolved...Merry Christmas.!!!
 
A couple of things

Do you still have an old belt? Measure the belt length and compare to the new one. Your new belt might be too short. I just went through this with my old Phazer. My clutches weren't shifting right with a new belt, but with the old one it worked fine. Turns out that my brand new Yamaha belt was 1/4" too short. Doesn't sound like much, but it screwed up the shifting. Otherwise, the jingling noise you're hearing might be the bushings worn in the ramps, letting them bind against the spider when the engines running. Here's another "hard lesson" I learned: If you have to replace the rollers and/or ramp bushings, replace the brass bushings in the movable sheave at the same time (I'm assuming you have a YPZ, I've got no experience at all with the others). A Yamaha mech. told me it's something to do with the wear pattern, and the old movable sheave bushings matched up with new ramp and roller bushings will bind and raise the shift speed (Voice of experience here. Trust me, he's right!).

Sorry for getting so long winded. I hope you get it sorted out in time for your trip. Good luck.
 
Thanks all for the advice, I did get a clutch puller bolt at the dealer, hope its the right one, they didn't seem to confident that it was the right one. I don't have the old belt to try, so I should at least take it off and take the cover off and check it out. I'll repost my findings..thanks again all.
 
Update on my clutch....well I went to the dealer to get another puller, the one they sold me is the wrong one. I got pissed off and came home and deceided to just remove the housing without taking the clutch off (puller is supposed to be in tomarrow). As some of you have stated, I measured the belt and according to the service manual, mine is actually a bit longer than what they give as the proper length. BUT....I think that it is out of shape as it was stored in the side panel of the Ovation and its not straight and square like the storage clips on top of the belt guard like on most sleds. (The Ovation doesn't have room to store the belt there as that is the place where the air plenum is coming off of the left cylinder, its a big piece of rubber that matches up to some louvers on the hood.)

I got the wife to take off her high heels for a minute and come help me(just seeing if any of you guys really read this stuff! LOL). And I got the the main bolt removed (actually had that in hand at the dealer) and then we removed the six bolts on the face of the clutch. I held the clutch in and she removed the bolts and I was able to slowly take the housing off. All of the ramps/cams are in good shape...I cleaned them up, and cleaned the pins and made sure I put in all the spacers back. Also cleaned the nylon guides. Those were pretty dirty, and also cleaned the housing itself with brake cleaner. All in all everything seemed to be ok. I measured the distance between the bronze bushing and the housing and that's in spec, and also measured the spring and its free length is in spec. Going to get a new belt and try that. I think the clutch is ok...All though, I should get new bushings and replace those. What is a good lube to use on clutches? I know that Comet had some spray stuff and I had a can, but the can went bad...or should I say the propellent disapppeared! Is that good stuff to use? I noticed after taking my clutch apart, that you almost have to lube it while its apart. Not much room to lube it once its together...Thanks all....sorry for the book!....
 
UPDATE: Well Vmax John nailed it..my belt was/is bad. I bought a new one yesterday (a DAYCO) and it works perfect now. That other belt is all jacked out of shape. Sucks, because it was never used. That storage area on that Ovation for a spare belt will never see a belt go there again! Well at least my clutch is all clean, and I know how to pull it off! Thanks again all...
 
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