I have a low milage all stock 03 vmax 600 it has just under 300 miles it had only 42 when I got it this fall. It runs great but I think the clutch needs a little tweaking. First question is I know that the clutch should grab at 4200 acording to the manual and it may start to close to that, maybe a little higher, but the sled won't start to move until 5000 or higher is this normal? And my next question is I've read somewhere on the site about changing or adding rivets to the clutch weights. Yesterday was the first time I've been somewhere where I could open it up and across the field my RPM were 9000 to 9100 I still had some throttle left but I knew the rpm's were too high so I backed off. I'm thinking one fix might take care of both problems. Which rivets and what size do you recomend?
Can you tech guys help me out? Sorry for the long post.
Thanks
Can you tech guys help me out? Sorry for the long post.
Thanks
sandmanmike1
New member
Sounds like everything needs to be greased up and freed up some. I would also clean clutch sheaves and pull belt and wash it with warm soap and water and inspect for dry rot.
xsivhp
Active member
did you check the snowmobile tech pages?
FuzzButt
New member
Ya that is way off.
I follow the previously mentioned advice. Sounds like it needs a bit of TLC to get it working right. You might also have to replace the primary spring. It could be a bit soft after sitting for so long.
I follow the previously mentioned advice. Sounds like it needs a bit of TLC to get it working right. You might also have to replace the primary spring. It could be a bit soft after sitting for so long.
One thing I was thinking is the belt that is on it now was the original spare belt from 03 and I didn't really notice the high engagement rpm's until I put it on. I have a brand new one maybe I should try it.
Pulled the clutch apart yesterday and cleaned it up. Before I cleaned it I checked the clutch movement and noticed that at about 4200 it would move just a little to engage then would hang up until around 5000 then move again this is about the rpm's that would move the sled and even after that the movement was not smooth at all. When apart it was clear the shaft was in need of cleaning. The sheave did not want to slide smoothly and would not slide all of the way in for full engagement, this will probably explain my high rpm's. With it all cleaned it's working nice and smooth except for when it first move to engage it's quick movement at 4200 then nice and smooth after that.
Is that a normal operation? I checked my other sled (polaris P-85) and it does the same but not nearly so pronounced. Thanks
Is that a normal operation? I checked my other sled (polaris P-85) and it does the same but not nearly so pronounced. Thanks
Took it for a rip today to see if the cleaning helped out. Big difference the clutch now engages at 4200 and is much smoother. Rpm's came down some on top end but still seemed to be holding at about 8900. My next move is to take Turk's advise and put the 4.5 gram rivets on the inner hole of the fly weights, I am picking them up tomorrow I will report back on the results. Need to get them done this week radar runs on sunday, I know I'll break no records but I'd like to see what it will do.
After pulling apart the clutch found the rivets were a different configeration then Turk thought my .8 rivets were in the outer holes so I went with Turks 2nd setup and changed the outers to 3.1 gm and that brought it right down to 8500. Thanks Turk! 