Have been having an ongoing issue with excessive fuel consumption. Went through carbs, did Reed stopper mod and more. Runs great, starts easy. So I cleaned and inspected clutches and put new OEM belt on. Everything looked perfect no wear, everything sliding and spinning easily. Sled has low miles on in sat a lot. So I took it out and ran it to handle bar after chalking clutch. This is what I have see pics. Any ideas?? Could a weak spring cause this? 
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How many miles on sled?
If I undertand you correctly, you held WOT? And it didn't shift out more than that? If so, that is your problem. But, I wouldn't get hopes up for mpg being better than 9,5 at tops. I have a venture 500 liquid, with tempaflow and dupont slides, and it gets that.
BornYamaha
Member
I am very happy to see anything close to 9mpg on our "98" XTC 500. 6 to 8 mpg is the norm. Sled runs great, just sucks lots of gas while doing it. Sled has been in the family since new and has always been like this.
The tempaflow and duponts helped for sure.
I am getting 5 mpg last time I rode which is half of what I used to get. Sled has about 3200 miles on it. Was not sure if belt should ride higher than this?
Clutch need to shift out farther than that for sure. i would start by taking it apart.
I took it apart and cleaned it. Did not see anything of concern? Bushings didn't appear to be worn. Rollers spun easily no play or wear. Weights are smooth with no wear or worn spots. ???? At a loss
Try another primary and maybe also another secondary.
shaggyzr2
Active member
Could be a problem with your secondary.
Clutch springs get weak over time. If the spring(s) are original, it wouldn't hurt to change that. Are you still obtaining max rpm? Or is it down on RPM?
have you checked the speedo bearing, jackshaft bearing and all the idler wheels? one of those being bad will also cause it to be hard on gas.
I did, everything seems to be OK. Nothing torn apart anyways. Track is a little loose. I ordered a new primary spring will try that. I did take the secondary apart and it seemed OK, no wear. I noticed with belt on that it doesn't rest on the stoppers, slightly off, that may be normal? Will install new spring when it comes in and try and get a trip on it if it snows. I did re-synch carbs as it appeared one slide had a much larger gap than the other. Starts easily, seems to be OK running, will dig a hole when punching it (no studs). As for RPMS not a 100%, only have been able to take it across a small field and I run out of room to open it up all the way, climbs pretty quickly lots of track spin out of the hole.
A couple of bucks
VIP Member
Primary spring looked to be quite tired.
I just ordered new springs for clutches as they are original from 1997. Will try.
I do have another question on secondary. When I removed it I noticed the secondary has play back and fourth on the shaft. Is that normal? First time it has ever been removed so I can not imagine anything was missing? Did not see any spacers behind secondary.
that is normal. it is even worse on a reverse sled.
Vincent
New member
Normal . The secondary sheave is designed to have 1/8 " sliding movement on the jack shaft
So is the secondary basically self aligning?
Vincent
New member
Basically yes