I was out riding my Xplorer tonight, and I noticed some weird rattling noises coming from the clutches. This noise occured whenever I revved up the engine several times in succession, and happened even when I was in neutral, so I know it can't be the chainguard (which is usually the culprit of most any rattling noise).
I pulled it into the garage and popped the plastic clutch cover off to see if there was something inside of it, perhaps. Well, I started it up just to see if I could locate the rattling noise, and I saw something equally disturbing. The bolt that holds the secondary clutch onto the shaft into the transmission wobbles a good deal, though the sheaves of the secondary seem to rotate straight. I took the belt off and spun the secondary by hand, and the entire "bell" of the secondary appears to be wobbling, but it could just be an optical illusion. However, the bolt is off the center of rotation by almost an 8th of an inch, which I KNOW isn't a good thing.

As for the rattle, I really can't tell where it's coming from... it kinda sounds like the secondary clutch, which is bad, but it could very well be coming from the transmission, which is bad as well.

As a side note, it didn't seem as snappy as it usually does, though it doesn't seem like the secondary would have as much to do with that as the primary... but still.

Any advice, tips, or even just a guess as to what this might be would be greatly appreciated...

 

the secondary boly may have come loose and or the snap ring holding the helix on the shaft may be the problem. take the bolt out and remove the secondary clutch and check the snap ring to see if is still in the groove on the shaft

 

Okay, I took the secondary off and everything looks perfectly normal. The shaft is as straight as I can see with the naked eye. Everything looks normal, unbent, and unbroken. The wobble is the result of the bolt being bent, but as I said before, it doesn't seem to be effecting the secondary clutch itself. The wobble that I thought I saw in the bell of the secondary is an illusion; with different lighting and a different angle, I can see that it's rotating straight. It's just that bolt... I don't really think that it's going to do any harm being like that, as it's only bent a very slight amount... if it gets any worse, though, I'll definitely replace that bolt.

This, however, still doesn't solve anything as far as that god-awful rattling is concerned. I don't really know if I dare take the secondary apart, as it's not something I've ever done before, and don't really have a good manual to work with. I'm gonna put the belt back on tomorrow and see if I can figure out exactly where that awful racket is coming from; secondary or transmission.

 

ck the noise with the cover off. if still exist then teardown secondary clutch and inspect the buttons which wear and also break. its a good idea to replace with hpds hd billet ones. if noise is gone then inspect belt cover for belt making contact which would indicate worn belt. if not then inspect cover to see if either clutch is making contact with cover if so this indicates that cover has been overheated and will hAve to replaced. the cover actually draws up in the middle. this indicates using high range in low range situations

 

secondary actually is easy. mark the holes your spring are in. pay attention to the way the sheaths rotate and reassemble in the same direction, it has to be wound about half a turn to be in proper position with the helix and buttons. caution do not let it slam back or buttons will break

 

Heh... you guys aren't gonna believe this one...

Okay, I took the secondary off again this morning to see if perhaps I had missed something, and again everything looks normal. While I had the clutch off, I shook it vigorously, thinking perhaps there was something inside of the clutch that was rattling. Nothing. Alright, so I put the secondary back on and put the belt back on. Started it up, and the rattle is still there, but I can't really tell where it's coming from. I'm thinking, "Alright, it's got to be that clutch, so I might as well put everything back together and call up my mechanic."
I put the clutch guard back on and started it up again, trying to see if perhaps I could feel the guard vibrating, and I can't, but the noise is still there. I walked around to the other side of the machine to see if it was the transmission rattling. Nope, definitely coming from the other side of the machine. I got my head down right near the air filter, and the rattling is stronger, it almost sounds like it's coming from the engine...
"Okay, this isn't good."
I took the filter cover off and removed the filter, and started the engine back up, trying to see if I could isolate the sound. I'm looking in, trying to see if I can see anything, when something in the bottom of the little pocket beneath the air filter catches my eye. I'm thinking, "What the...?" so I grabbed some needle-nosed plyers and fish this thing out.

I hold in my left hand a .44 Magnum bullet. I have absolutely no idea how this bullet got into that pocket beneath the air filter. Nobody in this house owns a gun that would fire this type of round, and nobody else rides our 4-wheeler.

However, the rattling is gone completely. I started it up and tried it, once without the air filter cover, and once with it. The bullet was obviously the cause...

Thanks to those who tried to help... I probably should be thinking about some clutch work at some point here. It's got 1700 miles on it, and they're not exactly easy miles... but not yet! Just gotta make sure and keep any weird objects out of places where they can rattle...

 

Thats one hell of a story
It would drive me nut's trying to figure out where the shell came from

 

I figured it out. When my brother got home, I held the shell up, and he said, "I wondered where that went."

He had had the Xplorer at a friend's house, and was loading the friend's .44 when he dropped a shell in front of the seat. Well, he pulled it off and looked for it, popped the air filter cover off even, but couldn't see it because it was way down in there. He checked the ground underneath it and couldn't see anything, so he figured that it must have just dropped onto the frame/skidplate and would fall out if he went for a ride.

I figure it's probably a good thing I found it before it got bouncing a little too much and went off or something... kinda sucks that I had to tear the whole side off, only to realize that all I had to do was look in the airbox...