My buddy's snowmobile clutch advice was dead wrong, cost me a weekend

My friend Rick swore up and down that you could just swap the clutch weights without rebalancing the primary. Said he'd done it on his Skidoo for years and it ran smooth. So I did it on my Polaris last Saturday, took the whole thing apart, put the lighter weights in and torqued everything down. First ride out, the belt started squealing like a stuck pig and the sled would barely pull itself up a gentle grade, let alone climb the hill I usually hit. I pulled the cover off and the clutch face was already getting hot spots, real scorched looking. Turns out the whole thing was binding because I didn't check the spring tension either. He finally admitted he'd blown a belt the same way two seasons back and forgot to mention it. Cost me a full Saturday wrenching plus a new belt at $140. Anyone else have a buddy who gives you confident but totally wrong advice on these things, and how do you check his story without starting a fight?

1 comments

1 Comment

foster.wade26d ago

Watched my neighbor wreck his impeller doing the same trick on a Ski-Doo.