I Installed a New Secondary Clutch Bushing Today
Just thought I'd put some notes here for the fellas. A couple weeks ago I decided to do the right thing and spray some WD-40 on my secondary clutch like it says in the manual. Well after 5 minutes of riding that WD-40 cleaned out whatever gunk was holding my secondary clutch bushing together and dissolved it and the moving clutch started bouncing all around like mad so I had to take it back home, order and wait for a new bronze bushing to arrive ( 2 weeks).
Over the next two weeks I mentally and physically prepared myself for what was sure to be an epic battle between me and the argo. As I've found, any time I do anything more major than changing spark plugs on the argo, it turns into a bloody, sweaty, long, gruelling mixed martial arts style battle. Some battles last 8 hours or more, only to go into rematch the next day with no more than a single nights rest and no chance of recovery due to all the alcohol being consumed after the fight.
So anway this morning at 9am the bell rang and I went hard at it. The battle lasted only 5 1/2 hours this time, but it sure was an entertaining fight for any passers by. At one point I was upside down fully stretched out on the floor of the argo with my legs flailing out the side while a had the secondary clutch in a twisting choke hold trying to jam it back onto the input shaft of the transmission, it took at least 20 minutes but I finally got that thing back on at the end. It didn't want to go onto the shaft, just like the primary clutch when I battled it last month.
Anyway the important parts start here. The AMB-2 bushing from argo is an "Oillight" bushing that is sinterred bronze infused with oil. The manual simply states "A circlip holds in the bronze bushing... a new bushing will need to be pressed into place". That's about it. They don't mention that it is not possible to press the old warn out bushing back out of the housing. I had to use a cold chisel and a woodworking chisel driven by a hammer to cut through the bushing lengthwise down into the housing. Then I just sort of gouged out the bushing from the top edge until enough peices broke off that it became loose in the housing and I could push it out. There is a thin lip at the bottom of the aluminum housing, on the end that the belts riding face is on. The bushing presses into that and bottoms on it. Well I broke that all off completely removing the old bushing, but it didn't matter which I'll talk about after. I put some nasty gouges in the housing where the bushing sits removing the old one with the chisels of course. So I filed some of that smooth. Next I heated the clutch housing with a torch, took my bushing out of the freezer and tapped it in with a hammer and a 32mm socket. This is when I noticed that the heat in the housing heated the bushing and all the oil bled out of it and dripped all over the vice. So much for the "Oilight" bushing. Also, to get the bushing pushed into the housing far enough to exposed the groove and install the retaining clip, the bushing had to be pushed until it was EXTENDING about 1/8" out the opposite end of the housing, past the machined aluminum lip that I broke out earlier. This resulted in the clutch going back together with more space between the clutch halves than before, and now my belt rides down into the clutch further, so I don't have as low of a low speed range anymore. I meant to grind this part of the bushing off but I forgot to before I reasembled it, then there was no turning back. Also, the bushing inner diameter was about .006" TOO SMALL for it to go on the clutch shaft. I had to use 80 grit sandpaper wrapped around a spare axle, and spun the clutch half with bushing installed over the sandpaper using a cordless drill until it was the right size, then it finally was able to slide together. That's about it, sorry I took no pics, too much grease blood and sweat dripping from my hands to worry about touching a camera.
Cheers!
