Am i expecting too much?

[rib33024]

Your belt should be raised up out of the rear clutch. See how the belt is down inside of the clutch. That is why you lost some torque

[mattrourke]

I'll pull the belt off tomorrow and see why that might be.

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[mattrourke]

Anyone able to educate me on preloading/clocking the secondary clutch and what that procedure is? Do i set it in B1 (if that's what i choose) and the. Simply turn the inner sheave to the next ramp so that there is always pressure against the ramp/button? Or should i by trying to turn it further than that? I'm not looking to get high speeds just moderate speed with some decent torque to be able to drive up ramps onto my truck without having to take a sketchy run at it.

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[mattrourke]

I pulled the secondary clutch out again today and preloaded the spring by one notch on the helix or about 50 degrees. And put it back together. I also measure the new belt I just received and it measured in at 1-1/8" and my old belt was 1-3/16 so i put the old one back on for now. The belt still sits a bit deeper in the new sheaves than the old ones. i compared the old and new sheaves thinking maybe the new ones had a larger diameter but they are the same, what does appear to be different is the angle of the sheaves allowing the belt to sit deeper in them, not sure if that is going to cause a problem or not but now the shudder is gone and i can easily spin the tires on the shop floor which is still my test for torque until the snow clears and i can set the ramps on my truck again.

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[J-ROB]

Hi Matt, while I can not offer you any advice on preloading your rear clutch because the spring Plowman sent for mine does not have tabs on it to go into the holes. Not sure what the difference is there, I just installed the equipment Don sent me per his instructions and it all worked great.

I did want to point out from the picture with the new belt installed that it looks like you put the belt on the wrong way. From my experience when installing the belt, the printed info on the belt should be readable (right side up) from the drivers side of the cart. I do see that you went back to the old belt so that may not matter.

I would like to offer you some advice, its just that, free advice for you to do with as you please.

I would highly recommend you try to return the non OEM stuff you bought to your vendors if you still can or try to find some way to recoup your cash for those parts.

Call Don Plowman from Plowman's Carts in Flint Michigan. Not sure what part of Canada you are in, but if in the Toronto area, may be worth a drive to pick up parts to avoid the import and shipping fees...

I installed his new Primary (Team clutch with Plowman's internals), New style Yamaha secondary clutch with upgraded spring, and one of Plowman's HD Kevlar belts. My belt sticks up out of the rear clutch a good bit and as a result I have great low end torque. Climbing loading ramps into the bed of a truck would be no challenge at all.

At a minimum, I would highly recommend getting a new, wider, heavy duty, kevlar belt and see if that helps.

[slonomo]

Spring preload in the secondary/driven clutch just means that the spring is being "pre compressed". In the case of this type, the notch and tab deal just rotates the spring one direction or another to add some tension.

Why add tension? This will allow the clutch to rev up more before it begins to shift. This effectively keeps the cart in "low gear" for longer and gives the cart the ability to take off faster or pull a load better. It does not change the gear ratio or add torque, it just raises the rpm the engine runs at before it shifts to a higher gear.

Adding a HD clutch spring will do the same thing, but much more so. Most of the HD springs on the market are way to stiff. Plowman's springs are the best I've used for Yamahas. I believe he usually sells the red spring, but I don't know the specs on it. For stock engines, this will be a better deal if you run hills or pull a trailer etc.

Now, the clutches you bought.....if they are not Yamaha parts, then they are likely the China copies. They are made with a cheaper grade of aluminum and will wear faster. The spring will also loose tension over time and the clutch will begin to act up. All parts on the market are not equal.

Same also applies to belts. Spending the money on a good quality belt is worth every extra dollar you spend. In my experience, cheap belts are usually $25-$35 and good ones are usually $50 or more. Using a cogged Kevlar belt will be the strongest and longest lasting belt you can buy.

The Plowman's performance secondary clutches are factory Yamaha, high quality. Don has the clutches tuned for better performance for your specific application. He knows what works and what doesn't.

Vegas Carts and CPP also have built a bunch of carts and both sell what they install. Excellent companies.

If you are happy with your cart as is, great. But if the need arises, call one of the sponsors listed and spend the money once, you won't be disappointed.

[Dave in VA]

Originally Posted by slonomo

Spring preload in the secondary/driven clutch just means that the spring is being "pre compressed". In the case of this type, the notch and tab deal just rotates the spring one direction or another to add some tension.

Why add tension? This will allow the clutch to rev up more before it begins to shift. This effectively keeps the cart in "low gear" for longer and gives the cart the ability to take off faster or pull a load better. It does not change the gear ratio or add torque, it just raises the rpm the engine runs at before it shifts to a higher gear.

Adding a HD clutch spring will do the same thing, but much more so. Most of the HD springs on the market are way to stiff. Plowman's springs are the best I've used for Yamahas. I believe he usually sells the red spring, but I don't know the specs on it. For stock engines, this will be a better deal if you run hills or pull a trailer etc.

Now, the clutches you bought.....if they are not Yamaha parts, then they are likely the China copies. They are made with a cheaper grade of aluminum and will wear faster. The spring will also loose tension over time and the clutch will begin to act up. All parts on the market are not equal.

Same also applies to belts. Spending the money on a good quality belt is worth every extra dollar you spend. In my experience, cheap belts are usually $25-$35 and good ones are usually $50 or more. Using a cogged Kevlar belt will be the strongest and longest lasting belt you can buy.

The Plowman's performance secondary clutches are factory Yamaha, high quality. Don has the clutches tuned for better performance for your specific application. He knows what works and what doesn't.

Vegas Carts and CPP also have built a bunch of carts and both sell what they install. Excellent companies.

If you are happy with your cart as is, great. But if the need arises, call one of the sponsors listed and spend the money once, you won't be disappointed.

Plowman's has 7 springs of different strengths and colors. One of mine is yellow, and the other is orange. He has a red spring, but it isn't the same as the red springs in the generic torque kits.

[slonomo]

Originally Posted by Dave in VA

Plowman's has 7 springs of different strengths and colors. One of mine is yellow, and the other is orange. He has a red spring, but it isn't the same as the red springs in the generic torque kits.

Well, I figured he had a whole bunch of different springs. When I spoke with him years ago he told me most times he recommends the red spring. Could be for G1's? That's all I remember. I also got an orange spring from him for the G2/G9 clutch, but that was for a Vanguard install. It ended up too stiff and I got a new stock spring. Some of the springs are only for use with his performance machined clutches. I agree that his springs are different than the ebay and amazon springs. He also told me to stay away from the white aftermarket ebay spring, which I had already tried lol. It's way too stiff. Bottom line, I trust Don, good dude. He doesn't always try to sell me product. Most times when I call it's for diagnostics on clutches, since I mostly work on Yamaha carts. He's always very helpful and isn't in a hurry.

[Dave in VA]

Originally Posted by slonomo

Well, I figured he had a whole bunch of different springs. When I spoke with him years ago he told me most times he recommends the red spring. Could be for G1's? That's all I remember. I also got an orange spring from him for the G2/G9 clutch, but that was for a Vanguard install. It ended up too stiff and I got a new stock spring. Some of the springs are only for use with his performance machined clutches. I agree that his springs are different than the ebay and amazon springs. He also told me to stay away from the white aftermarket ebay spring, which I had already tried lol. It's way too stiff. Bottom line, I trust Don, good dude. He doesn't always try to sell me product. Most times when I call it's for diagnostics on clutches, since I mostly work on Yamaha carts. He's always very helpful and isn't in a hurry.

Yeah, totally agree. That white spring is terrible. My big block cart has the OEM clutch. The other 2 have Plowmans. I'll be calling Don for a new secondary for the G11 that I picked up.

[mattrourke]

Thanks guys for the advice. I really wanted to go with plowman's products but it just isn't feasible right now to order that from Canada with the exchange rate right now. That being said, the Yamaha parts are very overpriced so i went with the cheap right now and when life goes back to almost normal in the future i can look at plowman's again. Right now, the main thing I will want to get is a new Kevlar belt. I tried to find one from online Canadian sites but couldn't find one so i put on my older red hawk HD belt which was at least the proper width. At least right now the cart seems to have the power it needs. Will test it loading on to the back of the truck this weekend which is my main concern. I have a heavy duty spring for the secondary but I don't want to install it with the cheap clutch parts as I'm worried it will be too stiff and break something. I will report back after testing on the ramps. Picture of the very dirty truck i will be loading onto and towing the travel trailer with once our parks and campsites and lakes reopen from COVID lockdown.

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