Way, way OT- old Polaris snowmobile

Sorry for getting waaaaay OT here guys, but I've contacted people who should know but never get back to me and scoured the internet and You Tube, and I bought and downloaded a shop manual, all to no avail!

My youngest boy bought an old Polaris Star snowmobile, an '85 model I think. The jackshaft (track drive shaft) bearings were bad, real bad. We could not get the secondary (or "driven" if you prefer) clutch off no matter what we did. Ended up cutting the shaft under the machine with a sawzall and we had to use a 20 ton press to get the secondary clutch off the shaft. Got the shaft welded back together fine and straightened it between lathe centers. I have another secondary clutch enroute because the original broke during removal, it was extremely tight on the shaft. I also got what is supposed to be the correct bearing kit which the bearings for the brake side fit fine. Problem is the other end of the jackshaft where the clutch fits is running about .997/.998 and the bearing was .016 or .017 thousandths smaller than that, which lines up with the bearing being 25MM (.984) as indicated. Everything I can find seems to indicate that the secondary clutch should be a snug, sliding fit on the shaft and onto it's key. But I can't find anything that spells that out in plain language. The interior of the old clutch is rough and hard to get an accurate read on, but is right around 1". I'm at loss at this point. Does anyone know for sure if that secondary clutch should be a "no puller required" type snug sliding fit as I think, or am I out in left field? There is nothing on the secondary clutch to give the impression it could ever have a puller attached- no holes, slots or threaded bores. I just don't know at this point.

Any help gratefully appreciated!

Have you tried to find the correct info from another site that is for a Polaris or least an old snowmobile?

Bret - I don't know the Star in particular, but looking at internet search pictures it looks like the same secondary design as all of the 80's -90's Polaris sleds.

If that is the case (and it sounds like it) - they were tight radially on the key, but if you had the bolt out of the end of the shaft, you could easily slide them back and forth on the shaft by hand - I remember I would put a light coating of grease on the shaft when I had those style sleds for ease of maintenance.

Another thing I was taught and did (not sure if this was right), was to put spacers under the shaft bolt that were slightly smaller than the OD of the shaft so that the secondary could "float" for better alignment with the primary. Like I said - not sure if that was right or not, but remember doing it.

Just replaced both clutches on mu Polaris UTV. Primary blew up and took out the belt and
secondary. The shop manual said the The secondary clutch was only to be torqued to 17
foot pounds. With a key yours shouldn't be on too tight. We just used a flat bar behind
the secondary clutch in several places to pry it loose. You might try to hit the clutch
with a rubber mallet to give it a jolt. Glad it wasn't you primary that has to come off.
Takes a special tool. We had the wrong tool in our fist attempt to get it off. Doing
that made so the right tool wouldn't work. The secondary is different internally so the
hydraulic pressure method won't work. Good luck!

The primary (clutch on the engine ) requires a special bolt removal tool. The secondary on the jack shaft should slide off the shaft spline after removing the bolt holding it on, so special tool required.
Here is a U tube video " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIm0yALiGdY "
Hope this helps.

Sorry, for get my previous post, that's for a newer style spline clutch.
For the old style, no special tools were required we used to take out the key replace the bolt holding it on and start the engine, slowly rev the engine till the secondary rotated to break it free from the shaft.

I worked on a lot of customers and race sleds. Arctic Cat mostly and all of them had the driven clutch greased and sliding on the
shaft. The reason it slid on the shaft was so the belt remained straight and not angled when the engine clutch closed on speed up.

(quoted from post at 15:43:38 02/09/21) Have you tried to find the correct info from another site that is for a Polaris or least an old snowmobile?

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Yes, til my eyes bled! But thanks for the idea.

(quoted from post at 15:49:08 02/09/21) Bret - I don't know the Star in particular, but looking at internet search pictures it looks like the same secondary design as all of the 80's -90's Polaris sleds.

If that is the case (and it sounds like it) - they were tight radially on the key, but if you had the bolt out of the end of the shaft, you could easily slide them back and forth on the shaft by hand - I remember I would put a light coating of grease on the shaft when I had those style sleds for ease of maintenance.

Another thing I was taught and did (not sure if this was right), was to put spacers under the shaft bolt that were slightly smaller than the OD of the shaft so that the secondary could "float" for better alignment with the primary. Like I said - not sure if that was right or not, but remember doing it.

Click to expand...

Okay, thanks. Your post lines up with some of the others and you all line up with what the manual says regarding the secondary having the ability to move a bit on the shaft to align with the primary clutch. I have absolutely no idea how they got that clutch on there as tight as they did. Maybe the interior corroded or galled over the years, but we used every method we could to get it to move short of heating the whole thing red hot and it wouldn't budge.I got the new/old secondary clutch this afternoon and will measure the ID and go from there. I'll leave it at sliding fit and find a bearing that will fit. Thanks to all who responded!

YES the secondary Should be greased at least once a season so it moves FREELY on the shaft this allows it to self align when the primary goes through its full shift and fully closed phases,, been running Polaris for 40 years and other brands since the 60's

For those that care, the new/used clutch fits the shaft just fine. I still have to source a sealed bearing for that side that fits the shaft, but that shouldn't be too bad a chore. Thanks for the help guys!