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Down hill clutch?

summ8rmk

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My sled acted like it was stuck in 1st gear going down hill. ~700ft hill going ~45mph and track was spinning ~25mph like i had the brake on and sliding back and forth. Kept hitting the throttle to get the track to spin up to actual speed and it wasn't happening. Just before the bottom of the hill, loud bam, clutch opened and off i went. I love engine breaking but this was extreme!
Anyone else have this issue?

Mountain Cat
 

Snow Fever

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Yes, I have had this happen a few times. I believe its when the track is braking going down hill (Compression braking) that the rollers in the secondary get pulled into the reverse notch in the helix. The only way to get it to pop out is floor it hard, or try giving the brake a quick hard sqeeze, then floor it right away. . Just what I found works.
 

jakey-boy

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Down some hills you may appreciate that.

If you want out of it just give the break a quick squeeze and rev it up at the same time it will come right out and take off.
 

sno*jet

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i thought maybe the 18s would have solved this. i noticed it more on my 17 when i had the deflection too tight for a spell. i like the engine brake usually but it gets annoying sometimes.
 

summ8rmk

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Ya, i luv engine braking, this is not normal.
Couldn't get the track spinning fast enough no matter how much throttle i gave it. It was deffinately 'stuck'.

Mountain Cat
 
S
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on my 16 i mostly cured this by tightening up the deflection, which was too loose....didn't take care of it completely, but improved it by 80% or so...:face-icon-small-hap
 

GNXtoWS6

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Second ride of the season last week and downhill heard loud clutch noise like metal on metal grinding. Could make it repeat after that on flat land just by decelerating. Can't pinpoint source and on way back to trailer it stops. Anyone else get any kind of loud clutch noise down hill or decelerating?
 

summ8rmk

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on my 16 i mostly cured this by tightening up the deflection, which was too loose....didn't take care of it completely, but improved it by 80% or so...:face-icon-small-hap
Can't get deflection any tighter than the 18 cat.

Mountain Cat
 
S
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yeh, just trying to add some insight to the problem...neither of two performance oriented dealers could solve the problem, even though others had complained to them about it...:face-icon-small-sad
 

summ8rmk

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The statement about rollers getting caught in reverse notches makes sense to me.
I hammered the throttle and it would kinda bog the engine. I knew the secondary wasn't opening just not sure why. Cant see inside the secondary like the older models so i have no idea what it looks like.....

Mountain Cat
 

CRJPilot

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Ya, i luv engine braking, this is not normal.
Couldn't get the track spinning fast enough no matter how much throttle i gave it. It was deffinately 'stuck'.

Mountain Cat
Had same problem today on long steep descents, the only thing i found to do was lock the the track up with brake and then hammer the throttle simultaneously releasing the brake...

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summ8rmk

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Had same problem today on long steep descents, the only thing i found to do was lock the the track up with brake and then hammer the throttle simultaneously releasing the brake...

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Yes, that seems to be the solution for now....
I informed arctic cat about this odd issue. Told them to read more about it here on Snowest.

Mountain Cat
 

sno*jet

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you check alignment? i have '16-17 alignment bar you could borrow but i think yours is different
 

summ8rmk

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I do, not often but it still hangs up once and awhile. After a couple hundred miles i could get it to unlock by locking up the track. Then hit the throttle to engage clutches again.

Alpha ......
 
I heard about this on my buddy's 15 Poo and I said your nuts! Well when I was in Utah on my 18 cat I had the clutch lock so I locked the brake smash the throttle and it wouldn't come out, the tach showed 9000 rpm and the throttle doesn't respond when its that over revved. When it finally came out I thought there would be pieces of metal everywhere. Why do we need the safety feature in reverse so it won't go fast, going down that monster hill out of control is more dangerous than a fast reverse that I'm never going to use other than backing out of garage or from a tree.
 

summ8rmk

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I heard about this on my buddy's 15 Poo and I said your nuts! Well when I was in Utah on my 18 cat I had the clutch lock so I locked the brake smash the throttle and it wouldn't come out, the tach showed 9000 rpm and the throttle doesn't respond when its that over revved. When it finally came out I thought there would be pieces of metal everywhere. Why do we need the safety feature in reverse so it won't go fast, going down that monster hill out of control is more dangerous than a fast reverse that I'm never going to use other than backing out of garage or from a tree.
It's not realy a "safety feature".
The secondary is designed to work counterclockwise, when spun the opposite direction (clockwise) it nolonger has the rollers contacting the helix ramps and will open right up without putting a load on the primary. Therefore, with enough throttle u can get the secondary to shift in to overdrive while the primary is still in '1st'. Belt deflection will be super loose, no reverse and a good way to burn up a belt. The notch in the helix prevents the secondary from opening and keeps deflection correct and makes reverse work.

Alpha ......
 
S
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what i do seems to help most of the time...when approaching a steep downhill, i add just a little throttle, just enough so that the clutch doesn't engage the reverse notch, then as the steep hill starts to accelerate the sled, i add the brake, but not enough to lock the track until the compression braking takes over...i may have to finesse this a couple of times to keep the clutch open enough to not get the reverse notch engaged, but i don't get the rpm screaming up to 8-9 k and worry the clutches/engine are going to come apart, and yet not lock up the track....wish i didn't have to go to extraordinary techniques while hanging on to a sled at 70+ mph...gotta do what ya gotta do :face-icon-small-dis
 
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