89 exciter primary clutch
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journeyman
Active member
They came with a YPZ primary which was the phazer clutch. I wouldn't waste my time. They wear too quick on Exciters. I would do a P-85 Polaris or a 108C Comet. If you do this you can run the wider 87X wider belt but you have to take about .040 off the back side of the secondary helix to except the wider belt.
Vmax540
VIP Member
I had over 5000 miles on my 88 Exciter with one minor rebuild on the YPZ. True the Polaris is a good clutch and like the Comet they have alot of tuning options. The Comet 102-108's are a 1000 mile clutch and rebuilds are expensive.
journeyman
Active member
Vmax540 said:
I got alot more than 1000 miles on mine. I ran a Polaris P-85 on my 1990 Exciter I bought new from Hauck and I ran a Comet 108-C on my '93 Exciter SX. Both clutches had over 4000 miles on them and they were still in great shape. In fact I took them off and sold them after I got rid of each sled. Both of those sleds of mine were hot runners for their time. And yes, the tuning options were much more expanded.
Vmax540
VIP Member
journeyman
Active member
On a stock exciter you could run a tall Comet blue or a tall Polaris red spring in either of these clutches with close to 48-49 grams of clutch weight similar to the #10 type Polaris arms or the "A" letter arms from Comet. With a pipe on that sled you can usually run over 50 grams. I had around 53-54 grams on both sleds. The '90 was ported by Hauck and the SX was pretty much ported from the factory. Never had that motor apart. Sx's had 150 psi compression stock.
thefullmonte
New member
Not trying to hijack this thread, but are there any concerns with the taper when going to a p-85? Pretty much destroyed my YPZ a couple weeks ago. I can't put my finger on the design flaw or the cause, but I have to agree that for some reason they just don't hold up well.
Vmax540
VIP Member
thefullmonte said:
NO clutch will hold up when left to rust, filled with belt dust/grime, out of adjustment or abused. The YPZ was used on most of their sleds for 10+ years there was no Design flaw. If I wanted maximum performance I would use a P85 with a reverse secondary and wide belt. Compare the size and taper when looking for as replacement.
Lot's of reading here about guys switching to P85's and wide belts
http://www.vintagevmax.com/vvforum3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1506
thefullmonte
New member
Vmax540 said:
Thanks for the link. I said that as I was warned about that clutch from a couple of very knowledgeable mechanics. 1 indicated that when running in deep snow they would rebuild them every night. I was skeptical when he told me that, but my own experience tells me he was right.
My clutch had all new parts except for the inner movable sheave bushing. It just kept loosing engagement pressure and eventually up shift pressure. To the point that the belt grooved the sheaves.
I have plenty of experience with clutches and have had a phazer with this same clutch on it. No problems with that, but it didn't do well with the Exciter.
In it's defense I was running 3 days of heavy deep powder mostly off trail. Even geared down that clutch could not pull the load.
My question is finding definite answers on the clutch taper. Even different P-85s aren't compatible with all Polaris sleds. I've never had a reason to use a different clutch before, but can get a better deal on a P-85 than on a Comet. I'm guessing I may just be figuring this out on my own.
Vmax540
VIP Member
thefullmonte said:
Pretty much like saying my pickup had all new parts on a rusted out frame...and still couldn't hold together.......
Vmax540 said:
I don´t want to hi jack this thread either but this was a very interesting reading, thanx for sharing that vmax 540
i was digging in my trash yesterday, found the rests of my old comet 108 (the one i needed to kill to get loose). Anyway i had a yellow and green spring on that one and the weights in that one has no other mark than 05? What kind of weights could that be? I read the different threads in the section above, also terrorized journeyman with some question in this matter. The 108 exp that is on right now has the silver spring and stock weights. Found out by this threads and the answers i got that the silver spring ay not be the best forme so now i´m planning to follow your advices and go for a polaris dark-blue and white and some heavier weights (maybe 50g for a start i do have psi single,flatslides and porting.).
I also bought a 89L belt though my previous belt made the sled engage at 4000 with a pile of snow behind, nothing happened unless i got over 4000 it was quite annoying on slow trails..... However the question is about that helix mod that i saw. If my belt doesn´t go all the way up in the primary because of a too narrow sec. How do i make this mod, any pics of that? And how much do i need to grind it?
Next question is: Does this setup with dark-blue and white along with a bit heavier weights work for allround use? I want my sled to work good on trails and of course in the powder aswell
final question: where can i find gears.. i need to go down at least one tooth on upper and 2 on the lower which would be 16-33? Thanx for all your advice, wouldn´t know shit if it wasn´t for u guys
thefullmonte
New member
journeyman said:
Thank you for the useful information.
Yamaha Nutz
New member
prankster said:I don´t want to hi jack this thread either but this was a very interesting reading, thanx for sharing that vmax 540
I read the different threads in the section above, also terrorized journeyman with some question in this matter. The 108 exp that is on right now has the silver spring and stock weights. Found out by this threads and the answers i got that the silver spring ay not be the best forme so now i´m planning to follow your advices and go for a polaris dark-blue and white and some heavier weights (maybe 50g for a start i do have psi single,flatslides and porting.).
I also bought a 89L belt though my previous belt made the sled engage at 4000 with a pile of snow behind, nothing happened unless i got over 4000 it was quite annoying on slow trails..... However the question is about that helix mod that i saw. If my belt doesn´t go all the way up in the primary because of a too narrow sec. How do i make this mod, any pics of that? And how much do i need to grind it?
Next question is: Does this setup with dark-blue and white along with a bit heavier weights work for allround use? I want my sled to work good on trails and of course in the powder aswell
final question: where can i find gears.. i need to go down at least one tooth on upper and 2 on the lower which would be 16-33? Thanx for all your advice, wouldn´t know shit if it wasn´t for u guys
16/33 is this a long trck sled that gear will hurt out otherwise with or with out pipe
that being said i will say it once and once only any one who bashes the YPZ clutches should be bashed in the head ...........i have them on race sleds and trail sleds with no problems ...........people need to understand maintenance and without that any clutch will be junk
dsc577
VIP Member
looks like mines down about 1/8" sounds like ya just take the springs out of both clutches and push primary in to see if the sec. opens enough to let belt ride to the top.could probably use a grinder to do it.
Yamaha Nutz said:
yes it´s modified to a longtrack 146" and i´m also planning to use a track with 1,75" lugs (maybe 2" depends on what i find).
dsc that look like the mod i was talking about
Now i know how to do it and how much, thanx buddyBtw the 89L didn´t quite meet up to my expectations.... i think it´s too wide for my comet, got to take it apart and remove those shims.
thefullmonte said:
Since Comet clutches has gone out of business, ...no point going that way.thefullmonte said:
You have to use a Polaris P85 clutch with a taper designed for the "small" crankshaft pin used on all the Japan made FUJI engines.
The USA made Liberty engines use a much bigger crankshft pin,
A P85 clutch from such an engine will not fit the Exciter crankshaft.
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Found a scale today and did a little research on my previous weights from last season.The result was quite surprising. They weigh 53g. No wonder i find my current setting a bit lame..... It was way faster from the start last year
thefullmonte
New member
Lasse said:Since Comet clutches has gone out of business, ...no point going that way.
You have to use a Polaris P85 clutch with a taper designed for the "small" crankshaft pin used on all the Japan made FUJI engines.
The USA made Liberty engines use a much bigger crankshft pin,
A P85 clutch from such an engine will not fit the Exciter crankshaft.
Greatly appreciate your knowledge and response on this.
I may have another solution that won't cost me anything.
journeyman
Active member
Yamaha Nutz said:
OK, so you were born in 1980 a few years before this clutch was introduced and you are an expert? I lived those years. That clutch worked fine on the Phazers that it was intended for. It worked fine too on stock Exciters. The problems arose when mostly running twin pipes on the Exciters from the extra torque and vibrations of that engine. Been there and done it. Around 1000 miles they would start showing some signifiant wear. We've had alot of Yamahas in my family and I have spent alot of hours and $$ messing with all sorts of combinations on Exciters. In fact we owned 6 different Exciters of that era. Go ask Pat Hauck what he used on his race sleds. Yes he had to run the Yamaha clutch in stock classes, but all his mod Exciters he ran the P-85 Polaris clutch.
thefullmonte
New member
So, any known issues with this clutch? Journeyman or Lasse, do you have any experience with these? I'm not sure what Yamaha officially called it, but it was prior to the YPZ. Everything looks like a direct swap from the YPZ so I'm going to try using this. The downside is that it is very enclosed. So heat could be an issue.
Now
Upon studying this clutch I think they actually went backwards with the design of the YPZ. Not trying to start argument. I just like this design better. My thinking is that the larger diameter cover bushing is a good thing. And I prefer the button sliders to the full length insert as this is more like the comet and Polaris. It's just my opinion and there is no need to bash me for my thoughts on this.
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