Sticking clutch when off the throttle

[chrisharris]

1980 Polaris 440 Galaxy. 1600 miles on it. Primary clutch is stock.

Starts and runs fine. Goes like nuts when I hammer it from a stop. Problem is that when I come to a stop again--the primary clutch is sticking and won't disengage. It lugs the engine down and kills it.

What are the usual wear points on the primary clutch? What should I look for upon inspection? Does WD-40 fix stuck springs and weights--or totally screw it up?

Thanks

[chrisharris]

So, your saying to take the belt off and soak the primary with WD-40 and let it sit overnight. Got that.

But then when I start it the next day, I should run the engine WITHOUT the belt installed.

So, it ain't going anywhere without the belt on it. Should I run the engine fast enough to engage the clutch without the belt on it? Will this help to "unstick" anything? If the clutch can be made to work and engage and then disengage, would that hurt the motor or clutch to run without the drag/friction of the belt?

Of course-- keep my eye on the tach and don't over rev the engine. The tach goes to 10,000RPM, but it never goes over 7000RPM when I ride it. I would think that if I kept the RPMs around 7000-8000RPM; I wouldn't hurt the engine. But, what about the clutch at those RPMs without any drag on it?? Might I be the unwilling recipiant of a Fragmentation Grenade??[xx(]

I'm very new to snowmobiles. I would think that if I could run it without the belt-- and make the clutch work-- maybe sling that WD-40 around inside there-- it may help to loosen things up a bit more.

Maybe a trip to the carwash afterwords? Blast out all that crud that the WD-40 loosed up??

Thanks for the help.

[scrambler man]

that is more than likly not the problem. your wieghts, one or more probably have a groove worn in them, happened to my indy 500 had to rebuild the clutch, weights bushings and so on. look at the weights really close and see if there have any differences and look at a picture of what a new one would look like.

[Dutchman]

First of all, be very careful when running engine without the belt. It can easily have a runaway. Just idling is lots of rpm.
If I remember correctly, the clutch has a cover over all the internals. They're not open like the newer ones. It's nice to do this on the bench but if you don't have a puller, do it on the engine. Scribe the cover so it goes back on the same position. I would take the cover off, should be 6 screws (and the big crank bolt). Loosen screws a bit at a time, in a criss cross. There will be pressure from the spring, but it's easily held back. Once the cover is off, you can clean and inspect the weights and rollers. I had a sled like this, and with the enclosed clutches, it was normal for them to build up with belt dust and crud. [] good luck

[sugarbaker]

The same exact thing just happened to my buddies XLT. He let it set all summer unprotected and a little bit of rust formed where the clutch slides on the shaft. We just took the cover off, and rubbed the little bits of rust off with some sand-paper. There wasn't much, but it was enough to make the clutch not want to disengage all the way. Good Luck!!

[chrisharris]

Got it fixed. Thanks to all for the help.

It does have the cereal bowl shaped clutch and it's all closed up. I took the screws out and the crank bolt. Lots of dust and a little rust. Fixed it with some sandpaper and a bit of high pressure air to blow out the dust.

I've had the engine out before to straighten out a bent steering linkage. Engine sits in a cradle with isolators. The entire cradle comes out with the removal of (4)--7/8" nuts.

When I put the engine cradle back in-- I neglected to properly align the cradle and belt. My belt was rubbing on the clutch on one side and it was grabbing just enough to hang it up. Silly mistake-- not paying attention when I took it apart.

The engine cradle is slotted where it slips over the studs in the pan. I just loosened up the nuts and slid the engine cradle over about 1/2" to get it aligned with the belt.

Goes like nuts. These things sure are fun. Gotta remember my brain bucket. Keep leaving the house without it and always end up scared and wishing like hell that I had it.[]