Possible fix for wore clutch rollers?

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n8sjh

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!!!Update!!Possible fix for wore clutch rollers?Update!!!

Well i have a 94 v-max 600 twin that was hard on the clutch rollers. Actually I have 2 of the same sleds. The wifes sled last year I spent the $100 and put in new rollers and within 300 miles they had flat spots and the bushings are shot. I bit the bullet and bought a new Comet clutch.
Well in my preseason check I looked at my clutch and the rollers looked sloppy. i pulled them out and yup the fiber bushing was gone.
I recalled reading a post on this and someone asked if a brass or bronze bushing would help but no one had a answer. I figured I would give it a shot. I work in a machine shop and just happen to have a chunk of bronze so I pushed out what was left of the fiber bushings and started to spin up some new ones made out of bronze. I made the outside diameter a press fit into the roller and then finished the inside hole that the pin goes thru and made it so it spins but still was not sloppy.
Well I have put on just over 300 miles and they still look to be in good shape. I will spend a couple hours to spin up new ones before spending more money on rollers that wont last. I know the fix would be a new clutch but I think the one I have is off a triple.
Well with all the problems I have had this year with jetting and oil pumps I am glad something went right.
 
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I went through the same thing with my 95. I'm pretty sure it's eating rollers because the rest of it is worn out. I went through lots of those fiber bushings before I picked up a comet. Never did try brass but I did try plastic ones from the hardware store. They melted!
 
Ya I think I read that you tried the hardware store. I actually got the name of the guy I got the Comet clutch from you a year or so ago. I put that on the wifes sled and it runs great. I was going to do the same for mine but thought I would try Bronze bushings before dropping the money on a clutch. So far so good. And if it wears into the pins (which I doubt) I still have the old clutch sitting here. I have just spent so much this year on these sleds I was tring to make things work for now just to get some miles in this year.

So what is it that makes them wear out exactly did anyone ever find out?
 
If you decide to drop money on a clutch go with the Polaris P-85. One from a 600 should go on with little to no adjustment needed. I put one on mine and had to machine out the Polaris bushing to fit the Yamaha bolt.
 
So what is it that makes them wear out exactly did anyone ever find out?[/QUOTE]

Never got that far but I think when the sliding bushing wears out it allows the sheave to kick sideways to much. My guess would be that your gonna find a spider arm down in the bellypan pretty soon. This happened to all 3 of ours and I think the Sandman just went through this. It will still run when the spider breaks but you will notice a lot of vibration. Not sure how much the bushing is but it might be worth replacing before this happens. Maybe it will also stop the roller wear and last for a long time.
 
I had the guy that put my clutch on machine the bushing and he turned the Yamaha bolt to match. He owns a machine shop so it helped alot. There was some P-85's on Ebay. When my clutch messed up I bought a lighter primary spring because I was over revving. When I went to change spring a piece of my spider gear was laying in the bellypan. Looked like it was broke for awhile. I was sledding the next day so I called a guy that happened to have one and he put it on for 200 including the machining the spacer and bolt, the Poalris P-85 clutch and installlation. I have seen them on Ebay for 150 or less. 600 XCR clutches will work nice. They make 2 one has wide rollers one has narrow rollers. Polaris still uses there P-85 if that tells you anything and I have sen them on 1,000 cc SRX's and turboed RX-1's as well.
 
Roller Wear

I had a 94 and it ate through rollers as quick as you guys are. The biggest culprit is idling. If you don't idle excessively then it might be that you have bad harmonics in the crank. 95's came with a different flywheel than the 94, the difference is that it was heavier so that you would never run into bad harmonics in the operating range that you run. I changed my 94 to a 95 and cut my idling down to only warm up when cold and it did make a big difference.
 
I tried the brass inserts on my 95 Vmax 600 and they failed after about 200-300 miles. I then tried oil-impregnated brass inserts (my buddy owned a machine shop) and they failed quickly too. Then we tried a hard Nylon, and they lasted 100 miles. The yamaha fiber inserts lasted the longest (1000-2000 miles). That stuff is magic, but for $45 for three it shoud be !!

I finally gave up and bought a used 2001 SXR600 clutch and have never had rollers fail again.
 
Well I got about 1000 miles in this year with the bushings I made up for the clutch rollers. It worked ok so I thought. We went out last weekend for the last ride of the year. Me and my wife just picked up a 01 skidoo for her with electric start and reverse and wanted to try that out so we loaded up my V-max and the doo and went. We rode about 80 miles for the day.
Half way thru the day I smelled rubber burning. I stopped and looked inside the sled and did not notice anything. Then rode the rest of the day and the sled ran good but seemed to have a bit more vibrating going on. When we got back to the truck I loaded the sleds and popped my hood. I then noticed the motor mount behind the clutch was gone. Sheared the bolt off. Not a big deal i guess so we went home. Of course the thought about it the rest of the night and in the morning I went out to check it out. I looked again and noticed my clutch cover was loose. I took it off and found all three ends of my clutch spider had broken and were laying in the bottom of the sled. Damn was I luck to make it back. I checked the rollers and they still looked good but the weights looked like they got hot.

So it worked but was not the fix all.

So I got luck now that we have a Doo and the wifes v-max will be a parts sled for me. Hers has a new comet clutch that only has a couple hundred miles on it.
So my summer project is to swap over parts from one to the other. Also plan on stretching it out to 136" track.
Just thought I would update. I will probably post some pictures later in a new thread when I rebuild the sled.
Winters done now onto the dirt bikes...
 
It could possibly very well be the harmonic balance is off….its most noticeable at idle.

Get a steel plate about the size you see on the outside of a Doo clutch and bolt that much weight to the ignition side.

You need to have a competent person do this. ********* :rulez:

We did that to our race sled years ago using a Cat clutch. But….we had it tested…

The guy whacked the crank (engine was complete) with a board about 50 feet from his machine. He could see the waves were off…and said add this much weight.

It rpm ed up faster as well – even with the extra weight.

P.S.

You make it better in one spot and it will search out the next weak link
 
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