Polaris RZR XP4 Turbo Clutch Setup
- Thread starter JoeyD23
- Start date
sand shark
Well-Known Member
I would suggest you get those stainless steel sliders, so the clutch won't get grooved. Talk to Airdam - he has all the clutch answers.
Lol Rotax!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Lol Rotax!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
tomcav
Let ride ,bitches
please ban him
///Airdam Clutches
Active Member
bullet-proof and RZR are hard to put in the same sentence. much less the same paragraph.
we have figured out what it takes to make them run on the Rzr Turbo without blowing belts. making the clutch itself live is the only hard part. we have a few different setups we are running around with and trying to test. there are other vendors that are trying stuff as well. the design of the new Rzr Turbo primary is really nice. strong, thick, heavy, durable, are all words that would describe the primary clutch, except for one small oversight. Polaris has acknowledged the issue and has tried working on a fix without an easy solution as of right now. The stainless shims that 3P produces seem as if they would be a perfect fix, and polaris has tested them as well without much more success than stock. the problem is that the sliders on the clutch, that allow the clutch to slide up and down, are made of abs plastic. these plastic sliders wear out. they have too much friction between themselves and the tower of the clutch in which they slide against. this friction causes the abrasive ABS plastic to wear into the towers of the primary. these plastic sliders are brittle and will break, they also have a relatively low melting point and they will melt under extreme clutch temps. in the past polaris as well as many other clutch manufacturers have used a different sort of material for all sliding clutch parts. these other materials have proven widely successful in allowing the clutch parts to slide back and forth with little friction and little wear to the clutch. i am not sure why polaris chose to use the particular material they did for this clutch, but they did and its proving to be pretty much the achilles heel for the clutch. they built the slider to slide back and forth on the spyder which causes the slider to wear. this slider needs to stay centered on the spyder to be able to allow the clutch to slide open and closed like it should. since the slider moves back and forth up and down the spyder it wears. as this slider wears on the inside, it begins to kick itself around at an angle. once the slider kicks itself around at an angle the slider wears extremely quickly against the tower of the clutch. with or without the stainless guides in place, once this slider kicks itself sideways, you have very little life left in it. the clutch doesnt work efficiently because of the friction between the slider and the tower of the clutch, which is what causes the slider to wear a deep groove into the tower of the clutch.
after working with almost all of the top desert race teams now, and having them constantly send me their clutches for inspection after every race, as well as working with many cross country teams back east as well as mud racers, we have been able to sort of "figure out" how long the clutch is going to last under each condition.
in desert racing, the sliders honestly last about 300 miles before they kick themselves sideways. around mile 400 they are getting super thin. around mile 500 they will wear out and kick themselves out of the clutch and you will end up with some metal on metal action.
in cross country racing or short course racing we find a substantial amount more miles are able to be raced on a single clutch. in cross country, since you are not at full throttle and high speeds all day, the clutches run substantially cooler and therefore tend to last a little longer. we have seen around 800-1000 miles on a single clutch before the parts needed to be replaced in a cross country machine that races in a 4 hour long endurance race.
the clutch wear can be prevented by replacing the sliders often. i know it sounds cheezy, and it is. the rest of the wear items in the clutch appear that they are well built and will easily last 1000 miles no problem at race pace. the rest of the clutch is superior to any other clutch polaris has ever ran. the downfall is these sliders and their design. the way the tower is encapsulated, it holds dirt and grit in there, the slider has to slide back and forth with sand and dirt between the slider and tower. it wears everything out so rapidly. the ABS plastic is so brittle and abrasive. the common consensus is to build a new slider out of a different material and i have thought of it. i want to, but i already know polaris is testing things, and i am hoping they come out with a better option before i sink another $15,000 into a part for this clutch and they end up changing the clutch later this year. they have already changed things about the clutch 3 times since i saw the first one last july. i am scared they will ditch the whole clutch for something else just as soon as i get a mold made to build a better slider that will last longer. i have been holding my cards hoping to see what hand Polaris plays to figure out whether to dive in and build more parts for the clutch. right now, on all our desert teams, we are replacing the sliders after every race. they are cheap. the sliders are like $13. i mean they are super cheap and easy to throw away after a race. the clutch is easily good for these shorter 300 mile races without too much worry. replace the sliders after a race and do another race. the stainless shims/guides from 3P are getting good reviews online, but it doesnt fix the problem of the slider wearing internally and kicking itself sideways and wearing itself out. the stainless guides keep the tower of the clutch from wearing out but it wont fix the slider wearing out. all of our desert teams we are pushing them to have at least one race clutch, and an identical back-up clutch. in the V2R i am sure almost all teams will replace the primary after the first day of racing. 300 miles on it and replace it with the back-up for the second day.
i know for the average joe out looking for a nice dune rig, you dont wanna have to keep spare clutches and have to rebuild the clutch after every single long weekend ride. i dont have a perfect solution for the clutch wearing out just yet. i do however have the best setup for racing, going fast, putting power to the ground, running the coolest belt temps you can get, and going the fastest. efficient and fast and powerful. thats what i can build. fixing the inherent problem with the stock clutch is rather hard to get around at this moment though.
we have figured out what it takes to make them run on the Rzr Turbo without blowing belts. making the clutch itself live is the only hard part. we have a few different setups we are running around with and trying to test. there are other vendors that are trying stuff as well. the design of the new Rzr Turbo primary is really nice. strong, thick, heavy, durable, are all words that would describe the primary clutch, except for one small oversight. Polaris has acknowledged the issue and has tried working on a fix without an easy solution as of right now. The stainless shims that 3P produces seem as if they would be a perfect fix, and polaris has tested them as well without much more success than stock. the problem is that the sliders on the clutch, that allow the clutch to slide up and down, are made of abs plastic. these plastic sliders wear out. they have too much friction between themselves and the tower of the clutch in which they slide against. this friction causes the abrasive ABS plastic to wear into the towers of the primary. these plastic sliders are brittle and will break, they also have a relatively low melting point and they will melt under extreme clutch temps. in the past polaris as well as many other clutch manufacturers have used a different sort of material for all sliding clutch parts. these other materials have proven widely successful in allowing the clutch parts to slide back and forth with little friction and little wear to the clutch. i am not sure why polaris chose to use the particular material they did for this clutch, but they did and its proving to be pretty much the achilles heel for the clutch. they built the slider to slide back and forth on the spyder which causes the slider to wear. this slider needs to stay centered on the spyder to be able to allow the clutch to slide open and closed like it should. since the slider moves back and forth up and down the spyder it wears. as this slider wears on the inside, it begins to kick itself around at an angle. once the slider kicks itself around at an angle the slider wears extremely quickly against the tower of the clutch. with or without the stainless guides in place, once this slider kicks itself sideways, you have very little life left in it. the clutch doesnt work efficiently because of the friction between the slider and the tower of the clutch, which is what causes the slider to wear a deep groove into the tower of the clutch.
after working with almost all of the top desert race teams now, and having them constantly send me their clutches for inspection after every race, as well as working with many cross country teams back east as well as mud racers, we have been able to sort of "figure out" how long the clutch is going to last under each condition.
in desert racing, the sliders honestly last about 300 miles before they kick themselves sideways. around mile 400 they are getting super thin. around mile 500 they will wear out and kick themselves out of the clutch and you will end up with some metal on metal action.
in cross country racing or short course racing we find a substantial amount more miles are able to be raced on a single clutch. in cross country, since you are not at full throttle and high speeds all day, the clutches run substantially cooler and therefore tend to last a little longer. we have seen around 800-1000 miles on a single clutch before the parts needed to be replaced in a cross country machine that races in a 4 hour long endurance race.
the clutch wear can be prevented by replacing the sliders often. i know it sounds cheezy, and it is. the rest of the wear items in the clutch appear that they are well built and will easily last 1000 miles no problem at race pace. the rest of the clutch is superior to any other clutch polaris has ever ran. the downfall is these sliders and their design. the way the tower is encapsulated, it holds dirt and grit in there, the slider has to slide back and forth with sand and dirt between the slider and tower. it wears everything out so rapidly. the ABS plastic is so brittle and abrasive. the common consensus is to build a new slider out of a different material and i have thought of it. i want to, but i already know polaris is testing things, and i am hoping they come out with a better option before i sink another $15,000 into a part for this clutch and they end up changing the clutch later this year. they have already changed things about the clutch 3 times since i saw the first one last july. i am scared they will ditch the whole clutch for something else just as soon as i get a mold made to build a better slider that will last longer. i have been holding my cards hoping to see what hand Polaris plays to figure out whether to dive in and build more parts for the clutch. right now, on all our desert teams, we are replacing the sliders after every race. they are cheap. the sliders are like $13. i mean they are super cheap and easy to throw away after a race. the clutch is easily good for these shorter 300 mile races without too much worry. replace the sliders after a race and do another race. the stainless shims/guides from 3P are getting good reviews online, but it doesnt fix the problem of the slider wearing internally and kicking itself sideways and wearing itself out. the stainless guides keep the tower of the clutch from wearing out but it wont fix the slider wearing out. all of our desert teams we are pushing them to have at least one race clutch, and an identical back-up clutch. in the V2R i am sure almost all teams will replace the primary after the first day of racing. 300 miles on it and replace it with the back-up for the second day.
i know for the average joe out looking for a nice dune rig, you dont wanna have to keep spare clutches and have to rebuild the clutch after every single long weekend ride. i dont have a perfect solution for the clutch wearing out just yet. i do however have the best setup for racing, going fast, putting power to the ground, running the coolest belt temps you can get, and going the fastest. efficient and fast and powerful. thats what i can build. fixing the inherent problem with the stock clutch is rather hard to get around at this moment though.
Russel Coker from 3P in Texas developed the stainless steel inserts that solve the extremely rapid wear of the aluminum towers that the composite sliders ride in. Get them!!!
I also remove the cover and blow the cvt system off after every ride. Those same slider towers hold all the dirt, grit, and belt dust in them from centrifugal force.
I also remove the cover and blow the cvt system off after every ride. Those same slider towers hold all the dirt, grit, and belt dust in them from centrifugal force.
dunerat
Well-Known Member
///Airdam Clutches
Active Member
Can't say I have seen this particle seperator yet. Can you post a link.
I can tell you from testing, the stock Inlet on it's own won't allow enough air flow on it's own. We have some new parts with the use of frog skin to help open the cover more and allow even more air into the clutch housing. The stock inlet won't flow enough. The clutch housing just constantly recirculates the same air around in the cover. The clutch exhaust tube is so small and restrictive and the outlet is just not placed right on the cover. At full shift the clutches moving their max rpm there just isn't nearly enough air flow out the clutch exhaust. The clutch cover is just farting it's own air around. Polaris has come up with a little splitter that they want to mount inside the cover to help forcefully push air out the clutch exhaust. It kinda works. But I have some new parts to open the cover and allow tons more air in and out of the cover. I am waiting on more parts to come back from the laser cutter and they will be available for the public.
The clutch setups we have are shipping daily. Fastest and best there is.
I can tell you from testing, the stock Inlet on it's own won't allow enough air flow on it's own. We have some new parts with the use of frog skin to help open the cover more and allow even more air into the clutch housing. The stock inlet won't flow enough. The clutch housing just constantly recirculates the same air around in the cover. The clutch exhaust tube is so small and restrictive and the outlet is just not placed right on the cover. At full shift the clutches moving their max rpm there just isn't nearly enough air flow out the clutch exhaust. The clutch cover is just farting it's own air around. Polaris has come up with a little splitter that they want to mount inside the cover to help forcefully push air out the clutch exhaust. It kinda works. But I have some new parts to open the cover and allow tons more air in and out of the cover. I am waiting on more parts to come back from the laser cutter and they will be available for the public.
The clutch setups we have are shipping daily. Fastest and best there is.
They said that the cvt flows more airflow then the engine, and that they're working on a larger one for the cvt.
I made up a 4" duct with a filter on it and it's working fine. The stock rubber boot is 4" at the cvt cover but necks down to 3" where it goes through the bed.
///Airdam Clutches
Active Member
It wouldn't be a bad idea to take the clutch down to coynes and let them take it apart and put a set of sliders in it. They are uber cheap for what they are. And rather than hoping it will last and not taking it apart, it would be smarter to be pro active and get them replaced before it spits them out. After the wear thin and break and the clutch spits them out you will be mad at Polaris and expect them to warranty it. they have warrantied some, but i have seen some folks left to purchase a new clutch on their own after it breaks. its kinda like brake pads, its not IF they will wear out, its just WHEN. those little sliders wear out, and pretty fast if i say so myself. you cant see how thick they are by just looking at them mounted in the clutch you have to disassemble the clutch and pull them out. this set here has 390 miles on them and at the base where they kick themselves sideways and start wearing on the edge of one side, this slider is about as thick as a business card. its about .015" thick. when they are brand new they are almost .070" thick which is about as thick as 5 business cards. they wear out. and when they wear out they get thin and start cracking because they are so thin. they WILL wear themselves thin and spit themselves out the side of the clutch and when that happens you are in for a new clutch becasue when the clutch spits them out you cant just put a new set it and keep riding. what happened to Wayne Matlocks car at the mint will happen. when the sliders spit out the clutch, the clutch will then allow the weights to roll too far and go under the rollers. when this happens the weights roll out under the clutch and bust the outside of the clutch open making a big window in that encapsulated side above the weights. furthermore the weights being rolled under the rollers in the spyder means your clutch locks up at full shift, or basically the clutch locks up wanting to be at top speed. so you cant stop the machine its constantly in drive. you have to turn the key off and kill the motor to stop it. and you cant crank it back up either cause the engine is trying to turn the belt and secondary. its not an easy "i'll fix it when it breaks" because it dont just not work a little bit, it pretty much will ruin your day and cost you a new $600 clutch.
///Airdam Clutches
Active Member
390 miles on the ones above. with a perfect clutch calibration that doesnt produce heat, and doesnt blow belts. these sliders just wear out. thats all it is to it. they not only wear on the sides that come in contact with the tower in the clutch, but you can see the little tang at the bottom of the slider thats made to wrap around the bottom of the spyder and hold the slider in place. you can see how much wear is in that little tang at the bottom. as the slider slides back and forth up and down the spyder it wears out the edge that is supposed to keep that slider centered. when it begins to wear the slider kicks itself sideways and wears thin fast. you cant see this from the top looking down you have to pull them out.
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