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!
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!
