Installing Dynamo Joe's Clutch Kit
To begin with - installing Joey's
the clutch kit is not as hard as you think it might be. There are traps that can be easily
avoided. I'll tell you what my
experience has been and my take on some of the pitfalls. If this is your first time, plan on about 2 - 3 hours to do the
job. It'll be a good experience for you
to get into a clutch and see what makes it tic.
Knowing your clutch and how to adjust it will dramatically
increase the response and power of your sled.
To begin with, you'll need
proper clutch tools. You don't have to
spend a fortune here. It's very handy to
have the three "button retainers" which you can pick up at your
dealer. I used also a 12" long all
thread rod with large washers as a spring compressor and a 4" piece of
1"x1" angle iron to help compress the helix.
Now, I have a spring
compressor tool that costs about $45 which makes this job easier. But, I'll show you how I used that angle
iron in just a bit. Lets
begin by removing the belt with that handy dandy belt removal tool in your
Skidoo tool pouch.
With that off, lets turn to the primary clutch first. To avoid pitfall #1, find a Sharpie
marker. I'd like you to find the
alignment marks on the primary clutch and highlight all three of these marks on
the hub, the front plate, and most importantly, the back plate. That darn alignment mark on
the back plate is a booger to spot if you don't know what you're looking for. This will help you put your clutch back
together properly and in balance.
Next, I use a tie down to
retain the primary clutch while I unscrew the bolt .....
With the bolt removed, here
is where I stray from everyone else. I
will not pop the whole clutch off here.
There are two methods you can use in removing the primary clutch.
First, there is a special
clutch removal bolt you can get from your dealer that will pop off the entire
primary clutch assembly from the crank trunion.
If you go this route, you will likely want to pour boiling hot water
over the spindle between the two sheaves to loosen the trunion bond. Those things are really stuck on there and
the hot water trick works. Once that
removal bolt is tightly engaged, tap on it with a metal hammer as the shock
will help free the bond. I will say my
first attempt to do this (with out the water trick), I sheared the removal bolt
off INSIDE my crank shaft. Now that's a
nightmare.
So, to avoid that pitfall,
the other way to remove the outer sheave is to take the head of a 3 lb rubber
mallet and insert it between the sheaves.
Then, pound on the handle of that mallet with another mallet and work
the front sheave of the clutch off as shown here. It takes a fair amount of force. A few hits,
then turn, a few more hits, than turn again .... etc..
Be patient here and it'll
come off for ya.
With the front of the
primary clutch removed, set 'er down on the work bench ....
... and
by hand, separate the hub from the plate.
As those buttons are about
to slide out of their sleeves, put in place your button retainers and separate
the two clutch pieces ....
The first step in Joeys kit is to replace the stock primary clutch spring with
his new replacement spring.
I take that all-threaded rod
I have, screw a nut on the tip of one end and pinch the treads there so as to
lock the nut in place. I then lock this
end in a vise, drop on a large washer, place the front clutch plate on, add
another large washer, and finally sandwich it all together with another
nut. Make it snug, but not tight.
Then, I remove the three
Allen head retaining screws and back off the large nut on my make-shift spring
compressor that holds the spring hub in place.
Now, replace the stock
spring with your new one and simply reverse the process by placing the new spring in
position and re-compress the spring housing.
One very important note here
- when reinstalling the spring hub, make sure your alignment mark on the
housing lines up with the alignment mark you made earlier on your front sheave
...
When everything is
compressed down and aligned properly, bolt back in place with your three Allen
screws.
Now, don't remove this
clutch piece yet! We've got to set your
pin weights on those three rollers sitting there .....
The pin weight kit that Joey
sent ya has a chart listed there with various pin/weight combinations. I would suggest setting your clutch up
running 17 grams of pin weight (I think your kit allows like 17.3 grams or
something close to that) on clicker 3 (the clickers I'm referring to are those
bolts on the outside of the hub that you can adjust while out riding - you know
- between 1 and 6). My suggested combos:
17 grams at clicker 3
19 grams at clicker 5
Anyway, on each of the three
rollers, remove the cotter pin, replace the roller shaft with your new ones,
install your fresh cotter pin, and add the threaded weight combination using
lock tight on the last one in. I also
clipped the ends down on the cotter pins a bit to minimize their exposure.
When that is completed, now
go ahead and remove the clutch plate from your holder/compressor. Then, reinstall the hub into your front
clutch plate making sure you line up your marks ...
With that done, we're moving
on to the Secondary.
I have an
'05 secondary here. If you have an '06 or '07 “roller” secondary, the helix design is
different and you'll need to fabricate your own compressor tool or purchase a
helix compressor tool for that type. The
install is the same general concept however.
The secondary now goes onto
your compression device with the helix facing up and the make shift angle iron
piece positioned over the top like so ...
Actually, now that I think
of it, I'd lay the flat side of that angle iron down against the helix - so
that pic isn't exactly correct. I'm only
showing it for those of you who don't want to spend the $ on the good
tools. The spring compressor I have
makes this job much easier ...
With the helix slightly
compressed (about 6mm), you can slide out by hand two "half moon"
retainer pieces and than relieve the spring tension on the helix.
Look at the difference in
these two helix's.
WOW!!! Which one do you think is
Joeys?
Leave the stock spring in
place along with the plastic pieces there.
Also note that as you recompress Joey's helix back in place, about half
way down you'll have to align the teeth of the inside spindle to those on the
helix. A little futzy
- but no big deal. DO NOT FORCE
THE HELIX ALL THE WAY DOWN. If you don't
understand what I mean, pre-fit the helix without the spring in place and
you'll see what I'm saying about aligning the teeth mid way down.
Once you've put your
retainer clips back in place, remove from your compressor and reinstall both
clutch pieces back on your sled remembering that on your primary side to line
up your front plate vs back plate alignment marks that you made
....
And here's a little tip that
will help you remove your clutches much easier in the future. I lube the teeth only on both
clutch spindles with some anti-seize grease to make it much easier to put
on/off again in the future. Don't be
sloppy with this stuff
...
Using this lube, I can now
change the pin weight in a matter of minutes with the belt still on the sled.
Torque the primary bolt back
on at 70 lbs and your secondary on at 19 lbs.
Now you're ready to
ROCK!!!!!