What clutch is on my 76 300 and how to pull it?

[EricR]

Like the title says.

[400brian]

All 300s used a Salsbury clutch. So if your sled has not been modified, that's what you are looking at.

To remove it, you need a Salsbury puller. Pretty much the same as pulling a Comet, but a different tool.

[JDT]

Cat Hex tool.

[EricR]

Both items are rare as an ice auger down here in Georgia where I have my Kohler on the bench!

What can I improvise with? I was told on vintagesleds I can cut a slug from a bolt and put in place, then screw the large hollow outer bolt in and that will pop It off.

I stuck it running about 25mph in 5* temps last February. Towed back in. Plugs, which I had just put in, were whitish. LIttle aluminum on the PTO side. The next day, I shot some WD40 down the holes, rocked the clutch and got it running but very hard to start. I had no compression tester nor real tools at the time, so I put it away.

Went on a family vacation this year, pulled the engine and brought it home. Borrowed a fiberoptic scope from work as nothing looked bad in the exhaust ports, and found the PTO side had detonated the crown right at the top ring land on the exhaust side. Also found %$**## MICE had packed some sort of insulation and it's around the PTO side piston.

SO...running a bit lean in those temps, blocked cooling fins = the first time I have ever had one just lock up while riding it. Yep, had to ride a '72 Ski Doo TNT to the bar that day.

Since the engine is on my bench and I have the time, I want to split the case and inspect everything, clean out any debris from the piston etc.

The long block is still assembled, I already found a cracked plastic recoil pulley that would have left me potentially stranded, and a crack in the fan belt, so I will take care off all that stuff.

Hopefully it will weigh under 50lbs with the clutch etc off and I can take it as "baggage" when I go on the plane back up to MN this winter.

[Matt]

This is the puller. I sent you a PM too.
http://www.newbreedparts.com/newbreed/i ... uct_id=254

[400brian]

There you go Eric! Look the clutch over. These are different than the Comets, in that they use springs rather than weights. The springs can break, which I have seen. Spring and roller kits are available, but the plastic sliders for the splined shaft are pretty much not.

Parts for the engine should be available as well. Mice love to nest inside the engine shrouds, and the results are not good!

[EricR]

Here is the "wounded Deere" getting towed back!



I did get to return the favor later, when my pal Swede's Yamaha powered Scorpion sheared the grade 5 bolts in the drivers.

[JDT]

Eric the slug and bolt method will work just fine.

Damn rodents!!!!

Picking up a spare Salsbury clutch for parts is not a bad idea.
They were used by many brands in the early years.

[klonteig]

I believe the thread on the clutch is 9/16-18, which for me ended up proving harder and just as expensive to locate as the proper clutch puller itself. A fully threaded bolt without a shoulder is not an off the shelf item around here, and as soon as you bring something in, you're almost at the cost a puller....

[EricR]

Oddly enough, the day prior I rode it hard, about two miles down the lake at about 35-45 mph which is all I could hang on for skipping the drifts- we had maybe an inch and a half of frozen crust on the ground at my folks, so I hit the lake, which had much more snow. I rode it around on the logging roads back in the woods where there was more snow and cut some trails in the swamp, no problems that day.



I did a plug check and they were tan and looked even cylinder to cylinder. It was dropping a plug on cold start and bogging. I rode it like that to make sure it would be good to go when I hauled it up to the Pine River/Hackensack area where they had a lot more snow, to go meet up with Goose and Swede to ride.

[EricR]

I took it apart last night now that I have my clutch puller. What a baby piston, compared to the big diesel stuff I work with.