Snow Goer

Hey guys, I'm asking for some help. My sled ('96 F-III) has been performing like s**t lately.
All this year it ran great, but it was blowing belts so we brought it in to our local doo dealer. They told us that the secondary clutch had bad bushings and that one plate was engaging crooked and therefore twisting the belt which ended up eventually tearing it apart.
They said they fixed it and we picked it up which brings me to my current problem.
We bought a brand new Gates Extreme belt for the sled and threw it on. Went to go and immediately noticed that it had a huge dead spot off the line.
And I mean a dead spot. If two people are on it and I hold it to the bar it will barely even gain speed at all.
We then noticed that the primary was on the number 3 setting so we changed them to the number four setting. Still dead. Once it gets going it'll do a fair speed, over 140 on the speedo in powder on the lake, but not much more, which is still pretty sad.
We're using BR9EYA for plugs and none are fouled.
Secondary tension is 11-12 lbs
The spare belt does the same thing, can't try the old one because it blew.
Just cleaned the R.A.V.E valves too...

Any ideas?

*This Message was edited on 26-Mar-02 03:25 PM by Maniac*

Wow, sorry to hear about your machine Maniac. I dont know much on the clutching, i guess im glad to have left mine alone...for now. Mine hasnt moved thirty feet after being rebuilt this year, without thinking something else might go wrong with it. sorry that i cant help you

Don't apologize man. I think it is either the belts or just the secondary setup. Going to fool tomorrow before the ice melts and spring finally arrives.
Thing is that with the spare before it gave it more bottom end and less top, but now it gives it no bottom end and less top end when compared to the belt that blew. The one that blew was a 120 dollar bombardier belt and I don't know if I want to buy anotherone incase it doesn't work.
Anyways, I'll let you all know how I make out.

sounds like you just have a crapy spring you should prolly replace it so it doesn't shift so quickly....

i know you said spring pressure is good but it can't hurt springs can't cost that much

Could be the primary spring. I think there's alot to fool with on these new clutches though isn't there?
Probably could use a new one anyway...

Could be your clutch alignments are off - there is a tool you place at one clutch and it runs to the other to show if your of alignment. Your dealer should have one.

Does your engagement remain the same??? if that has not changed i dont think it could be your primary spring. i have noticed that belts other than Skidoo (factory) have a stickier more aggressive shift feel about them. i have experimented with Gates, Dayco, and others and only Skidoo will run at the proper RPM. all other brands require tuning the clickers way up to maintain rpm. all these experiments were on a 99mxzx so maybe these symptoms are not applicable to your application. try a factory belt, they make cheaper ones than $120.

another thing to check is your deflection (belt tention) is it sticking up in the secondary about 1/8"? for best performance it should be at the top of the clutch to 1/8" above. it is possible that your dealer put in the new bushings and altered the sheave width. this is adjustable by turning the 3 allen head bolts that have a lock nut on the outside of your clutch. just make sure you turn them evenly to keep your sheaves from binding.

good luck, speednutt

*This Message was edited on 27-Mar-02 03:34 PM by speednutt*