Sled Tips 012 – Arctic Cat Snowmobile Primary Clutch Weight/Cam Arm Replacement Repair
Channel: Longtin Motorsports
Date: 2021-04-14

HEY! Do me a solid. Hit that subscribe button! You won't regret it!

In this video I go over the correct method for replacing clutch weights and cam arm pins and bushings on a 2004 Arctic Cat clutch. This clutch is off my Firecat, F6. This is the sled I race in the Cor Powersports cross country racing series. 
For a time these clutches had somewhat of a bad name because of the o-ring spacer/bushing design they use. I will admit to having modified this years ago with some brass washers as spacers. The only real reason people did not like them is because, yes, they took a little more maintenance than the old small/narrow pin arctic cat clutch design. The design the early 6 tower clutches, like the one used on our 2003 F5 race sled, mimics that of the old 9 tower clutches. The weight was much narrower in width and floated freely on the cam arm pin. They utilized small sheet metal washers/ spacers and a fiber bushing in the weight/cam arm itself where it rode on the cam arm pin. A couple of main issues with the small pin design were that the narrow weight profile didn’t give the weight a lot of side-to-side stability and you almost always wore through the fiber bushing at the pivot point, resulting in the weight shifting, ridding on only one side of the cam roller in the clutch spider and grinding in to the side of the clutch housing. They used small sheet metal washers on either side of the weight in the clutch housing to help prevent that damage, but once the fiber bushing at the pivot point wore out, the washers were no match. The design did seem to have some durability to it, but only enough to encourage most people to stop checking their clutch and maintenance it before much damage was done. 
The wide pin design here does have its downfalls, I wont call it perfect. This design does have a wider contact area with the cam arm pin giving it more side-to-side stability. It utilizes a set screw to actually lock the cam arm to the cam arm pin. This means that the pin itself rotates with the weight. They used Teflon coated press in bushings in the clutch housing along with rubber o-rings on both ends of the cam arm pin to keep the weight centered. In my opinion it made for a more stable and better working clutch. But it does have issues with the rubber o-rings pinching and breaking and just simply wearing out much faster than the washers might have on the old design. Once an o-ring breaks, the weight can then become un centered on the cam arm roller and in the clutch housing and can cause the same damage described with the previous clutch. There is also some issues getting the set screw installed properly; and it staying in place once installed. 
I have found though that utilizing the right factory equipment when rebuilding this style of clutch is the best option. With a little experience over time it become easy to check and maintain one of these without spending a pot of money and time doing so. 

Cam Arm repair kit used:  4639-673
Clutch weight pin torque spec.:    25in-lb