nitris223
New member
How does Yamaha balance their primary clutches. Kind of wondering when I put the starter ring gear on do I need to get it balanced. I know the ring gear has 2 shallow holes drilled on one side. No even half way through.
I was reading about how the ring gear is installed and it said to put the machined lip toward the fixed sheave and the beveled edge toward the starter. This ring gear has no beveled edge and was mounted the opposite on a 97 600 according to the bolt stain pattern. Maybe this was the update on later models to save the starter gear from wear . The part number shows a change up for the ring gear. I could machine the bevel on my lathe if it is really needed.
I was reading about how the ring gear is installed and it said to put the machined lip toward the fixed sheave and the beveled edge toward the starter. This ring gear has no beveled edge and was mounted the opposite on a 97 600 according to the bolt stain pattern. Maybe this was the update on later models to save the starter gear from wear . The part number shows a change up for the ring gear. I could machine the bevel on my lathe if it is really needed.
nitris223
New member
No body knows if a Yamaha clutch needs to be balanced.
i would say yes it has to be somehow ...or it could play hell on the crank and crank seal .....not to mention cause nasty vibration ....but i dont have any elcetric start machines to look at for you ....
I was somewhat wondering also. I have disassembles every manufactures clutches completely. I have replaced spiders on several and never rebalanced. I would suspect if the clutch was balanced it need to be rebalanced after a spider was removed and reinstalled. Arctic clutches seem to be the worse, I have replaces several spider assy's on these, again never have balanced. I would like to know though, maybe I am doing something wrong. Al
nitris223
New member
What I have read before is that Polaris is balanced as a assembly (complete clutch) Arctic Cat balances each piece seperatly and Yamaha I have never heard about. I asked the dealer and they said no. I find it strange not needing to be balanced because none of the parts are perfect and the ring gear has two small shallow drill holes in it.. You can see the casting lines every where. On a Polaris clutch the rim of the stationary sheave is drilled and the cover plated is drilled to take weight out where is needed. Yamaha's rim is to thin for this and the cover plate also seems very thin.
SX600abuser
Member
In my experience I think they do not need to be balanced. The clutch is balanced from the factory and the ring gear should be balanced separately as well. When you put the two together it should be still balanced. Think of it like the cat clutches, you don't have to balance the whole clutch, just every piece, Yamaha just chooses to balance the pieces after assy. I believe it is quicker then balancing each piece. In the drag racing world, pieces are balanced individually, then assembled, same concept. If you are still curious I would contact the ring gear manufacturer and ask. Is this a factory yamaha ring gear?
nitris223
New member
Ring gear is factory Yamaha. I see no marking of any type of balancing done on the yamaha clutches. They are cast parts as far as I can tell and not billet aluminum. I put it on my Polaris Clutch Banancer and it will always rotate to one point telling me that there is a heavy side and weight should be removed there or added to the oppisite side.
Pretty sure that's not a balancing mark. that looks as if it hit something, I've never seen a mark like that on clutches that have not taken hit.
super1c
Super Moderator
Nope, somthing was banging around in there. No biggie by the looks of it.