That time my snowmobile clutch exploded on the trail last month

I was riding out near the Black Hills last month, just cruising along at like 30 mph, and my clutch just grenaded. A piece flew off and hit my leg, left a bruise the size of a baseball. Three years ago I had a buddy tell me to check the clutch bolts every season, but I kept putting it off. Has anyone else had a clutch come apart like that or was I just asking for trouble with old hardware?

2 comments

2 Comments

stellafisher13d ago

Did you check those bolts before you took it out this season? Because I had the exact same thing happen on my old Polaris about five years back, except mine let go at like 45 mph and the whole cover blew off. I was lucky it didn't take out my leg worse than yours because that piece was sharp. I started using blue Loctite on every clutch bolt after that and torquing them to spec with a proper wrench, not just guessing. It's a pain but I do it every fall before the first ride now and haven't had a single issue since. You probably already know this but those old bolts can get loose from vibration over time even if they look fine. That bruise sounds nasty but at least you're still walking.

wendy67413d ago

Yeah, or maybe you just got a bad batch of bolts, been running mine dry for 10 years without a lick of Loctite and never had a problem.