Over my head!

2004 ranger 500 4x4. Bought at auction in September 2015. Changed oil, spark plug, belt, fluids, carburetor slide and cleaned carburetor. Everything seemed to work great for about 3 days and 50 miles. Then had a belt burn up and disintegrate. Since then I have replaced primary clutch (niche brand) using Polaris blue/green spring and stock weights. Rebuild the shift gears and replaced shift shaft. Replaced and adjusted shifter cable. Trans goes through the gears fine with engine off. Engine running it will go in gear but will not come back out of gear. Cleaned driven clutch and replaced ramp buttons. Had 2 spacers behind clutch and 2 shims between the sheaves. Had too much belt deflection, removed 1 shim and recheck. Shaft to shaft is 10 inches. Removed spacers and added spacers behind clutch. Have 5 spacers now. With old worn out belt it does work better, new belt will not release. Put in gear or stop driven clutch from spinning and the engine dies. It seems like the primary clutch doesn't open enough to let the belt slip? Don't know what my next move should be. Help!


#2
02-22-2016, 09:43 AM

old polaris tech

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This can happen with miss matched clutches although the Niche looks similar to oem.Plus don't over look separated/weak engine mounts than can cause clutch alignment to get off. I'd replace the internal shim you removed from the rear clutch as it still sounds belt is too tight if you can shift gears. Plus if you're running an aftermarket belt that can cause fitment problems also. Most are too wide. Oem belts are expensive,but the best way to go. Plus may just need to get out and drive it at varying speeds. May help break in that new clutch.

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#3
02-22-2016, 10:18 AM
cswiger

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Join Date: Jul 2013
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Put the extra shim back in between the sheaves and still barely tolerable with old belt. Goes in gear, wont come back out of gear. New belt that burned up was Polaris belt 3211077, new belt I have now is Polaris 3211077. Old belt is Gates and the only reason it sorta works is because its worn down on the sides. With 2 shims between the sheaves it has LOTS of belt deflection, afraid it would get into the cover if I put it back on. When its in gear it wont release tension on the sides of the belt, even after I stop the engine. I have to rock the vehicle to get it out of gear when I shut the engine off. Is there a shim or spacer in the primary clutch that may have the sheaves too close together? Or maybe needs to wear in?


#4
02-22-2016, 10:28 AM

old polaris tech

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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: North Texas
Posts: 22,340



On the oem drive clutch there are two shims.Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Polaris, Suzuki & Kawasaki OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse Not sure on the Niche clutch.. Only way to tell is to remove the spider. If it does you could possibly remove one and see how it does then.

__________________
Retired and loving it!
2000 Chevy Silverado 1500 Sport side (275,000 + miles,semi retired)
Whats right is whats left after you do everything else wrong (Robin Williams) RIP
Don't pick a fight with an old man,if he can't fight he'll just shoot ya!
Never argue with an idiot.They'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience..

This was a post I made a year ago. What I found at that time was the shift weights were too tall to let the clutch release entirely. I swapped out the new weights with the weights from the old clutch and it all worked. Now a year later I have found a shift weight locking the clutch into a completely engaged position. Will not slip at all. Upon first inspection it would appear the weight has worn through the roller on the spider. There was a mention of 2 spacers in the clutch, it appears they might control the clearance for the weights? I see it lists several thicknesses of spacers. What clearance am I shooting for and where do I measure this clearance? The manual tells me a lot about rebuilding the rollers, but I haven't found any reference to these spacers. Am I barking up the wrong tree and need to be looking elsewhere? Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.

 

I AM COMPLETELY CONFUSED by the way you have this post. Did you get the Niche drive clutch and then uses parts from the Polaris clutch on it? Usually if counter weights lock up,the hit the center shaft and stick.Worn bushings(1 and 4) are usually what causes this to happen unless you have damage to the clutch sheath. If that happens you can't buy a sheath separately.

 

Sorry for the confusion. I thought it would be easier to copy the post from last year to refresh your memory on the original problem I was having. The Niche clutch is brand new out of the box. It did not come with weights or the spring. I looked these parts up and ordered them from Partzilla. Weights were 10MHF (part no.5632281) and the spring was the blue/green spring (part no.7041157). I put the new spring and weights in the clutch and installed the clutch on the Ranger, along with a new Polaris belt (part no.3211077). The clutch would not let the belt slip. I removed the clutch and took it apart again to see if I missed something. I re-installed the Niche clutch and went through the secondary clutch, cleaning and replaced the ramp buttons, checked the belt free play. After putting it all back together I still had the primary clutch not releasing the belt completely. I removed the Niche clutch again and that was when I found that the weights would not allow the sheave to open all the way. I removed the new Polaris weights and tried the old Polaris weights from the old clutch and the sheave would then open. I put the Niche clutch with the old weights on the machine and the new belt. All was working until a couple of weeks ago. The machine was being used to haul some logs and the operator failed to use low gear. It worked and finished the job, but when I went to put the machine away it would start fine but as soon as you put it in any gear it would jump and the engine would die. The belt was not slipping. I thought that maybe the belt had been burned up by not using low gear so I got another belt to put on it. When I pulled the cover I found the primary clutch was FULLY engaged and one of the shift weights had wedged in the spider/roller area. I released the weight and started the engine without the belt to watch the clutch operation. All seemed to be okay until I tried revving the engine to a high rpm and that was when the weight stuck again. I pulled the clutch and it appears that the roller that the weight pushes against has been worn completely through. I can see the roller pin that holds the roller in place. I am now wondering if the spacers (no 2 on the diagram) were what caused the lack of clearance for the new weights. I have not disassembled the spider yet so I don't know for sure what or how many may be in the Niche clutch. I do see that there are 4 different thickness spacers listed on Partzilla and it looks like that they would set the clearance between the spider/roller assembly and the sheave/weight assembly. If so, how do I know what the clearance should be between the weight and the roller? Again, any thoughts/help would be appreciated.

 

It would have been easier to continue the other thread than to start a new one. I didn't know the spacers came in different thicknesses. Actually I don't know much about Rangers at all but hopefully OPT can solve your problem.

 

Everything on the Ranger appears to be like my 2002 Magnum 500, just adapted for the Ranger chassis and extra weight.

 

Basically ALL non ebs clutches were the same no matter which model and most could interchange with one another. Only difference was an occasional weight and spring difference.The weight sticking and wearing out the roller could have been a freak deal.Only way to tell what if any shims are used in the Niche clutch is to remove the spider.Plus on the shims you may be able to match up id and od at a good hardware store along with the 4 different thickness shown. Or simply use a caliper to see what thickness shims you have on both clutches and order the ones you don't have. As to what size shims to use,that's strictly trial and error.I'd still check for any play in the sheaths that would indicate excessive sheath bushing wear.

 

It does appear that the bushings you mentioned from before do have a lot of wear/clearance in what amounts to very little usage. The Niche clutch I put in new in March 2016 probably has less than 100 miles on it. Does the shaft that the sheave moves on need any type of lubrication? Same question for the weights and rollers, any type of lubrication that would help with break in?

 

Manual just says to clean all parts with solvent and dry with compressed air.Lubricant would just end up letting belt dust clog things up.