2021 SW LTX LE CLUTCHING

[ALEXR]

Good Day all. New to the site, which I find is very informative, & looking for clutching opinions for my SW. I will try & keep this short & sweet......if Ican! Read many post on here on the subject & simply looking for additional opinions or options as I am by no means a clutching expert on these sleds. Apologies ahead of time for yet another clutching thread.

New to me last season bone stock 2021 SW LTX LE with 2,500 miles. Did many updates these sled require & secondary clutch shaved 3mm & aligned using the Hurricane bar.

Primary: Gold/Red/Gold (55/105, 52/113.....have read a couple of different rates).......& stock 8LR00 weights (don't know exact weight)
Secondary: Pink w/ 35/39 reverse helix wrapped @ 3-3
Belt: XS 825 (switched from 8JP)
RPM's were around 8,600 -8,800 & 113mph on GPS is my fastest so far, but still had a bit more throttle to go)
Gearing is stock with 21/41 & 86T chain
Track is a RipSaw 2 & putting in 144 Wood's Golddigger 1.375 or 1.45 studs in shortly w/Stud Boy Super Lite Pro backers (currently has 96 SB SPT studs & aluminum backers)
I do mostly trail riding with some lake running or blasting. & zero off trail riding. So I'd say somewhere around 70/30 trail to lake riding.


Sled was mind blowing last season coming off a 1998 ZRT 800, turned TCAT 900, from the previous season, & put on an additional 1,500 miles on (so total is 4,000 miles now) & had zero belt issues. A little warm to the touch after a good lake blast, but not hot. I'm keeping it stock this season & simply want to "freshen" up the clutching. I haven't ridden any other SW's & don't work for Snow Trax or STV, so driving mine is my only experience on these sleds, & it was a blast. So want to keep it as close to stock as possible, but upgrade with Dalton springs & possible helix.

After reading about the Yamaha primary springs "deflecting" or breaking under load (will try & attach a photo of mine as it may be experiencing this problem) & the secondary spring coil binding, some Dalton products may be a good option. I would like a slightly lower engagement,, but keep my full shift out rate as close to stock as I can.....as I'm not looking to change the weights, so was thinking of a Dalton Black/Red (48/120), or possibly Black/Blue (53/133), but this may cause me to over rev without changing the primary weights. As for the secondary, the Dalton Black/Orange seems to be the most popular choice or possibly the Pink/White as it appears to be closer to my stock Pink spring. Helix........looking at a new billet Dalton 35/39 reverse helix to start new. And again, I'm running the XS 825 belt. I'm also putting in new Thunder Products 14.8mm primary rollers & Hi Torque secondary rollers.

So that is the not so quick & dirty of it. Apologies if I rambled on & for another clutching post.

Kind Regards, Alex.

 

[fxnytrortxkid]

Thunder products orange secondary and primary springs with their rollers, you can buy the 35/39 Dalton helix however you already have a 35/39 helix from factory. I would actually suggest a straight 35 from Dalton, 1 it’s the best option for all levels of tunes and performance consistency it seems from racing to trail riding to in deeper snow, 2 it will bring your rpm’s up a bit to where it should be 88-9000. The xs825 is stickier and brought rpm down that bit. That’s route I would run. At that point you can buy weights and a tune at later date if you want one. And keep building on your package

 

[STAIN]

Also with the Hi-Torque secondary rollers you may see a slight drop in rpm as those rollers let the secondary shift out quicker. This is a good thing IMHO. It lets you run lighter primary weights.
I am not a fan of the reverse angle helix's or overly stiff secondary springs, but that is my taste in clutching.
Even though it is expensive, the 911 cover from Thunder lets you dial in your primary belt to movable shive distance. I have found the stock distance to be too large and this causes a harsh engagement. When you cut that distance down to @0.0.25 it greatly improves engagement, it makes it silky smooth, almost electric feeling. VERY noticeable.

 

[ALEXR]

Thanks for the reply Kid. I haven't researched & know nothing about Thunder clutching products, but willing to learn. Dalton is very popular, effective, & reliable, thus the Dalton choice so far for me. And cheaper as I'm in Toronto. I spoke to one of the tuners & he says the 35/39 is fine for a stock sled with no tune, so that's why I was looking at getting the same, just a new billet Dalton one to reset the clock. I also read that another tuner likes the 35 for all around condition. So definitely an option.

I have read that the XS 825 can pull rpm's down a bit, but do prefer it over the 8JP as it seemed to perform better for me, let alone the belt dust. 113mph was my top speed so far & I am somewhat guesstimating the 8600-8800 rpm as I didn't want to look down at the gauge while blasting down the lake. I normally wear glasses for short distance, but not while riding, so sometimes hard to read the gauge numbers. I had more throttle to go, so I'm guessing I had more rpm to go.

I will likely tune it down the road, so will get a whole new clutch kit for it, but until then, just looking to put some new parts while it's stock. Spring choices I'd be interested in.

Thx, Alex

 

[74Nitro]

It's good to change out the stock springs as both of them are prone to breaking.
You can run stage one tunes with stock clutching, especially when running the Ultimax belt.

 

[ALEXR]

Good to hear about the Hi Torque rollers Stain. All I know about my weights are that they are stock (8LR00), but no clue what the actual weight is. I've read some not so good things about the Pink secondary spring, thus the Dalton Black/Orange?? The 17' & 18's had the same primary setup (G/R/G....8LR00), but primary had straight 35 & Yellow spring.

Nitro...seeing as I'd like to keep it as close to stock for now, are my spring choices in the ballpark? Helix?

Ohhh.....if you can focus in on my primary photos, is it rubbing or chattering?

Thx, Alex.

 

[STAIN]

All I know about my weights are that they are stock (8LR00), but no clue what the actual weight is.

Do yourself a favor and buy a gram scale. You can get them cheap on Amazon.
If you are going to be fooling around at all with clutching it is good to know exactly what you have.
Take lots of notes!!!!!

 

[ALEXR]

Gram scale it is. I had clutching pretty down on the '98 ZRT/TCAT & seemed a bit simpler to me. Maybe it's the Yamaha clutching & kg versus lbs, but clutching basics are universal I'd imagine.

Is the Dalton Black/Red primary & Black/Orange secondary a good choice for stick replacement?

 

[ALEXR]

Perhaps the simplest way to put it is.....if the stock G/R/G primary spring wasn't prone to deflecting/breaking & the Pink secondary wasn't prone to coil binding.....I would simply put brand new Yamaha springs. Thus the Dslton choices.

Thx, Alex.

 

[STAIN]

The Dalton B/O secondary spring is a very common upgrade from the stock spring. it seems to be a good overall spring without being too stiff.
Efficiency is key in my opinion. Springs that are too stiff make the engine work too hard to open the clutch, not drive the sled ahead.
I went with the stock spring and the 911 cover ( had one on the shelf) BUT if lower engagement is what you looking for with a spring change, I think the Blk/red will give you slightly lower engagement and maybe slightly higher shift out RPM
Not to harp on it too much, but with 911 cover you can really lower the engagement by dialing in the belt to sheave distance. On my buddy's T-Cat with just the 911 cover, the engagement went down @500 rpm after we dialed in the belt/sheve distance without a spring change. My Sidewinder fell about the same rpm"s and is super smooth. Of course you can do the same thing by adding/subtracting spider shims.....
I cant speak to the other claims made on the 911 cover, but it does work for that purpose.

 

[74Nitro]

Perhaps the simplest way to put it is.....if the stock G/R/G primary spring wasn't prone to deflecting/breaking & the Pink secondary wasn't prone to coil binding.....I would simply put brand new Yamaha springs. Thus the Dslton choices.

Thx, Alex.

I saw three stock secondary springs break last year.

 

[ALEXR]

Ok. Great! Appreciate the feedback Stain & Nitro. Some spring choice feedback. If it was a '98 TCAT.....I'd know what to do!

The 911 clutch cover certainly sounds intriguing Stain, but still have to outlay cash on other parts.....ie.) JT rear wheel kit, 6 new idler wheels as mine are toast, & some BOP/PEFI/TD/HURRICANE update/upgrade parts & clutch parts. Ohhh....& new studs & backers. Adds up real quick!

Much appreciate the info. Alex.