[F500] Stuck Primary Clutch

[McAbee, Chuck]

NEVER use a torque wrench in place of a breaker bar when attempting to
remove a bolt....chances are with rust being the poor man's loctite...the
force required to remove the bolt will be well in excess of the capacity of
the torque wrench....I learned this one from experience and then having to
get another torque wrench.

Your 180 pound friend hanging at the end of a 4 foot extension would be
generating about 720 lb/ft of torque.  One other method is to use a high
power air impact wrench and having the clutch removal tool about 1/2 inch
from contacting the end of the crank...crank up the impact wrench so the
clutch removal tool contacts the end of the crank at max RPM....if the first
try doesn't get it, reverse the impact wrench, back the removal tool off and
then run it in again!  When the clutch does release it will probably be with
a BANG!

I've found it useful to smear some anti-seize grease on the crank taper when
installing the clutch and torque the clutch retaining bolt to 40 lb/ft.
I've never had the clutch bolt come out and don't have trouble getting the
clutch off!


Chuck McAbee
SEDIV #16  

-----Original Message-----
From: Amenson Scott (AC/ESC4) [mailto:Scott.Amenson at us.bosch.com]
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 08:32
To: 'f500 at f500.org'
Subject: [F500] Stuck Primary Clutch


Hi all,
I am new to F500s this season.  I purchased a 91 Red Devil that had been
converted to a Rotax.  I am in the process of removing, sandblasting and
painting pretty much every component on the car.  Everything is going fairly
well with the exception of the primary clutch (Polaris).  The thing is
really stuck.  After not being able to remove it with my torque wrench on
the clutch removal tool (Micro Belmont I believe), I resorted to my breaker
bar with increasingly longer handle extensions.  I stopped for fear of
damage after my 180 pound friend hung off of the end of a 4 foot bar.
Amazingly nothing broke...but the clutch is still on.  I have tried impact
wrenches before and after using the gorilla bar thinking that I could shock
it loose and have tried "tapping" on the clutch removal tool once it is
torqued down.  The taper area has been soaked with penetrating fluid.  Any
ideas???

Scott S. Amenson
AC/ESC4
Robert Bosch Corporation
Scott.Amenson at us.bosch.com
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