I changed a torn front CV boot this weekend. While I was at it, I decided to clean, and change the oil in, my front hubs. When I reassembled the the hub the armature plate slipped out of position and I didn't notice it. I put everything else back together, ran it, and the wheel did not work in AWD. No Duh.

When I took the hub back apart I found my mistake along with a good amount of metal shavings in the hub[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]. The plate was bent, so I tried swapping out the armature plate from the other hub to see if that was my only problem. NO LUCK. Something else is wrong and I can't find it. The metal shaving appeared to be coming from the plate. Both the coil and the cage looked to be in good shape yet. (I plan on taking a closer look at those this week though. If they are damaged, how much damage can they take before they affect engagement? As little as the plate does?) I did notice some nicks in the splines of the shaft, but I don't think they are bad enough to have an effect (I may be wrong). I cleaned everything thoroughly, but plan on doing that again too.

I need some troubleshooting help to find what I am missing.

What should the gap be b/w the plate and the magnet? Any tricks to setting this up properly? What else could be out of whack?

Farmr, If you're out there, I could really use your help on this one.

 

Try this site it has pretty good pictures.http://www.partsland.com/

 

Here's a link to some pages I put out there out of the service manual for the front wheel drive. Just click on the different pages to enlarge them.

Front Wheel Drive Manual

 

While you have your hub torn down, turn your bike ignition on (don't start the bike), turn the awd switch on, and put the bike in forward to make sure you are getting power to the magnet. Now, take a good armature plate and see if it is attracted to the inner pole of the magnet. If it is not attracted, your magnet got damaged. You would need a new magnet and seal sleeve. The easiest way to check pole gap is to just use a straight edge across the inner pole and the seal sleeve and make sure they completely flush. If your magnet is good, check the pole gap. You can use a punch and hammer on the back edge of the seal sleeve to move it outwards. Hope this helps.

Waylan

 

Walexa, I check the magnet already and it works fine. After taking a closer look I notice some slight grooves worn into the side of the cage that faces the armature plate. They don't look too bad but could this be enough to mess things up? Thanks for the info on checking the gap. I'm new to hilliard clutches, so I'll have to take your words and see if I can figure out what exactly to do by looking at my parts manual and the pages I got from Crawdad.



Thanks again,

SprtsMNFan

 

Waylan, I took a look at some diagrams and I think I got things cleared up on where I need to take the measurement. Is the seal sleeve the only part that can move?...can the pole ever be out of adjustment?

Anyone know how much a new armature plate, cage, and garter spring will run me? Is there anything that will work for installing the spring besides the special polaris tool?

 

The seal sleeve is the only part that moves. The inner pole is pressed in or cast into the strut housing. Be careful and use a punch with lots of surface area to back the seal sleeve back up.......if needed. If you use a small punch it can roll the edge of the sleeve and whenever you need to replace the sleeve, it will damage your magnet during removal. It's not a big deal, just wanted you to know the reasoning.

Go to www.partsland.com for pricing on those parts.

As far as the garter spring, I have installed one before without damaging it. I did it with the rollers out. I installed the spring on the cage, and then carefully put each of the rollers into place.

Unless the cage is majorly deformed, it should be fine. You are looking at some serious money in replacing those parts. Make sure your pole gap is right, and torque everything up right. The way I install a cv joint is to put the first bearing on, then put it through the strut housing. Install the second bearing, then the armature plate with the cage and rollers. If you want, you could even use a dab of gear oil or light grease to make the armature plate stick to the roller cage. Then, add the 3rd bearing. Then the hub, and then the last bearing, washer, and nut. Let us know how it turns out.

Waylan