1997 G16a clutch weight broken off

[forthetide2]

Hello all-new to the forum

I just bought a 1997 G16 today and it ran good in the parking lot that I met the guy at. When I tried to load it on the trailer it wouldn't climb my gate. It was a good price so I thought I'd take it anyway and sort out the issues.

Here's what I found after a little exploring. Took the dust cover off the Drive clutch and one of the weights had broken off. It busted it's way through the sheath(hope that's correct name of the part) on the backside and cracked about a 1/4" off the top. The cart runs good and will climb sloping hills on asphalt but any serious grade it will lay down on. Should I just replace the weight or go ahead and replace the entire Drive Clutch? Go aftermarket or OEM? I will replace the belt also, it's just a little over an inch.

Thanks for any help, first Cart.

[sho305]

If its the G9 clutch it has a big rounded gold cover with screws around the edge. The weights wear through at the pivot and the pin/weight flies out. They like to put a little crack in the outside of the cover where they hit it. If the spider and sheave are ok and usually they are, you get a new set for about $90 last I saw and they do last a long time. If you only get one the others are close behind normally unless someone swapped them, it will break another soon. I use a propane torch the tiny set screws on the pins are locktited you heat them about 5 seconds when the plastic washers start to melt they come right out, replace, make sure its in there right (I do one at a time), loctite the setscrews back in. The newer clutch has rollers in it that get flat spots when they go bad.

Another issue is check the wear on the sheave, it has become really expensive and its nearly worth buying a whole new clutch like a 780 than replacing it anymore. If the belt is worn way in they eventually wear through the sheave and its junk, lot of wear they don't shift as well either though you can get a 1.25 wide belt to run that helps. I ran a HD kevlar belt from cpp it was wider and double cogged it really helped my old clutch with 3rd set of weights on it. It was getting real thin but I needed a different clutch to tune rpm for my clone finally took it off and running a comet now.

You should look at the secondary too if both clutches not working right you lose a lot of power. You should lube the grease fitting on both clutches but not much or it can come out on belt maybe 1-2 pumps. If cart lifted I would toss a umax spring in the secondary it helps a bunch for little cost. If not lifted think about a new stock spring they get weak with age. Umax spring is $12 at tntgolf a dealer, plus shipping.

Also check the buttons on the back of the secondary that run on the ramps, make sure they are in good condition and sliding easily.

[cgtech]

If the aluminum part of the clutch got a hole punched in it, the clutch is trashed. Gboost has a stock replacement clutch for your G16 for a very reasonable price. I have used them many times.

[forthetide2]

Thanks.

I take it you recommend OEM clutch? I found one on Amazon for about 230 but it only had 12 reviews so I'm leary. Browsing around Gboost, do you recommend the severe duty belt?

Thanks

[sho305]

If the sheave the belt rides on has a hole its toast, depending on what you can find one for. It will chew the belt up and vibrate badly. The ones I rebuilt the sheave was under $100 and come with a new center bushing and seal, so the only other wear part was the weights and it was new. The inner sheave/pulley was iron on these and did not wear. But the price of the movable sheave went way up lately to the point you can buy a new clutch for not a lot more and get a whole new clutch on your cart, less labor to install as well. Providing this is the G2/9 style clutch I assume it is.

[forthetide2]

It is the G9 style. Thanks for the info.

[sho305]

The OEM clutch works really well for stock carts, even lifted if you put a umax spring or plowmans setup in there. Its reliable and lasts a very long time and is very smooth. Usually you can get a 780 replacement cheaper and they work good, and they are all new, if you plan to swap a larger engine with any mods you wont want a stock clutch. I don't know if you can get a G9 clutch now they mostly moved over to the newer roller clutch last I knew for the yamaha recommended replacement, its not a bad stock clutch either far as I know. Cgtech would know more about a replacement than me, and I never seen the gboost clutch.

I have used the gboost HD kevlar belt and was very happy with it! For a little extra cost its a way better belt IMO, double cogged too. I use a normal stock gboost right now and it works fine. The kevlar one is wider and my new 94c clutch did not like that it kept dragging and shifting was not right on takeoff, it works better with the normal one. The HD worked better on my stock clutch for sure. Trying to tune the 94 so it can use the kevlar belt but its not fully cooperating I may have to get a different size. This on a modded clone not the stock engine anymore, and I can't move the engine back any more to loosen it, it was originally set for stock belt size and nearly hitting the trans now. I made the engine mount myself.

Like I said I put weights in my clutch a few times and rebuilt at least one other fully with a new sheave and weights. Some weights I put in mine were used but its got near or new ones in it now that I don't use it lol. But the sheave is pretty thin it showed .017" left when I took it off. Still can work for a backup so I keep it.

[cgtech]

The clutch I was suggesting is the original style clutch used on G16-G22. The G2-G9 clutch was fine, but the newer style works just as good & cheaper to repair in the future. The weights for the G2-G9 clutch are pricey. The rollers for the G16-G22 are cheaper & these are the common wear parts on each clutch respectively.

[sho305]

About $80 for set of weights on ebay, and those might be aftermarket I don't know.

[forthetide2]

Thanks bud. I will post a picture of the crack on the sheave tonight.