14 replies to this topic

[Powermax]

I have an '01 MXZ800 and finally got to take it out yesterday.  I installed a Cudney Clutch kit over the summer.  The engine rev's up to near 5000 rpm and bang! it finally catches and starts to move.  This make it very tough to ride in the tight trails.  Seems pretty good in the wide open fields, as long as I'm able to keep it wound up.  I definitely smelled some belt burning going on trying to make my way through my tight four wheeler trails.  Is this normal operation for it to wind up and then hit hard like that with a clutch kit?  I definitely liked the smoother take off much better that I got from the stock clutch set-up.  Any ideas or suggestions to get a smoother take-off transition?  How about adjusting the clicker?  What would that do for me?  Thanks.

[cadilackz]

u could start by adjusting belt deflection. set belt a little deeper into the secondary. that will drop your engagement.

[97f3600]

I bought a kit from Bill years ago and it made a huge difference in my sled. He sold me a "corner to corner" kit as I was not interested in top speed. I spent quite a bit of time adjusting both the clickers and the secondary. Engagement was smooth and the sled rocked.

[cadilackz]

btw powermax, what r ur clickers set at?

[Powermax]

btw powermax, what r ur clickers set at?

Per Bill's instructions, they are set at B-5.

[Powermax]

I also had some issues when I took the first few warm up laps around the field - it wouldn't build the rpm's to get up into the power band. After I got into the wide open, and could hold the throttle wide open for a while, that problem seemed to go away and it started running pretty 'crisp' as usual. It was actually ripping pretty good after that. Maybe that was unrelated to the clutch and more related to the stabil, older gas, fogging and long term storage. The constant was the slamming into 'gear' when I had to bring it back to an idle for some tight trails and steep hills heading back to the house. I was getting better at keeping her 'wound-up' in the trails, though - reminded me of my motocross days and trying to trail ride my YZ 125.

[fat 55]

Take your primary clutch back off and see if anything is binding, check bushing for wear, spring, make sure arms and rollers move freely, check ramps. Make sure nothing is broken and everything is installed properly. Also check your secondary instalation, helix, spring, and bushing. After secondary install set belt deflection, be sure you have the correct belt. With sled on jack stand, start up and check clutches while running slowly at first, (please try and do this outside in a clear safe area). I have used Bills clutch products for a lot of years with great results, give Bill a call if problem is still there, he is great to help with any problem.

[Powermax]

Sounds like a good plan. I will take it all back apart this week and check everything out. It almost seems as though the belt was "wearing in" to the new set up. Maybe it is wise to start with a new belt after installing a clutch kit?

[Mikadoo]

High engagement is what most aftermarket clutch makers do to make you think you got a tiger by the tail.
First thing you need to do is sell the spring or throw it on the lesson learned pile.
Normaly all you need to improve your sleds performance is to go up one size on start and finish poundage of the primary spring. A good set of adjustabe pins so you can go up a gram or two and drop a couple teeth on the top sproket. Stock ramps are usually pretty close and 4/5 pounds tighter secondary will get you what you can out of a stock sled.

[cadilackz]

also, off ground, at idle, track should be barely rolling

[Powermax]

Well, after re-watching Bill Cudney's Clutch Installation video and then watching Dynamo Joe's Clutch Maintenance series - I realized I never "wound up" the secondary spring to get the proper pre-tension. I'm going to take the secondary apart tonight and do just that. Of course, all my snow is gone now for any testing. Think not pre-tensioning the secondary spring would be causing my problem?

[Neurotoxin]

I was getting better at keeping her 'wound-up' in the trails, though - reminded me of my motocross days and trying to trail ride my YZ 125.

Good analogy lol I know exactly what you mean...my ol yz 125 was wild in tight trails lol

[Mikadoo]

Nope, not the banging into gear, thats the high engagement spring, throw it in the garbage! You should have no more than 4000-4200 engagement, any more and you will just bury it off trail and spin like no other in a dead dig drag race.
Having no pretention would let the sled go ito high gear pretty fast. It should also bog real bad when you slow down and hit it again.

[cobfire]

E-mail Bill Cudney he will help you figure this out. Sounds to me you have something binding in the clutch. Did you clean it when you installed the kit originally? were all of your rollers free or did they hang up a bit?

[Powermax]

Yeah, cleaned everything very well when making the clutching change. I talked to Bill yesterday and he helped me sort some things out and those changes were made to the sled last night. Clutch is supposed to engage at 4000-4100 rpm. We're supposed to get 4-8" this evening, so hopefully I'll get to do some shake down runs tonight and then head out tomorrow for an all day ride.