Arctic Cat Primary Clutch Nut Stuck

malhovic

New Member
Oct 12, 2016
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Hey UTVU Crew,

I've got a 2012 Wildcat and haven't really had any issues with it until recently. I was driving up a paved hill, not pushing the SXS to any limits, when the drive belt broke. I wasn't aware of what happened and when the primary clutch started spinning freely the weights got free (but still inside the clutch) and banged around pretty good ensuring I'd need the outer sheath at least and associated hardware.

Anyways, that said, I've got all the parts but I can't get the primary drive clutch nut off. I've tried everything from a pneumatic impact gun (though to be honest it isn't being driven properly with a high PSI supply), we've put a nice size breaker bar on it and proped the clutch so it won't spin and just ended up breaking the fins on the clutch sheath instead. (Heat was applied as well, but only with a propane torch so nothing overly hot and we don't have any plans for an acetelene setup.)

Everything i've seen, read or heard is that this is a right handed nut so I'm sticking to the "righty-tighty, lefty-losey" methodology. Any thoughts? At this point i'm feeling like getting an electric impact might be the only solution, which is guaranteed to have over 300ft-lbs of torque behind it.

Is that right or am I just missing something plain and simple.​
 

///Airdam Clutches

Active Member
Nov 14, 2014
358
176
43
being on the arctic cat, since it spins counter clockwise, the nut should be left hand threads which would make it completely backwards. so you have been tightening it.

i take these clutches apart all the time on other machines. i have never needed to take the wildcat clutch apart as its usually taken off and replaced. but the same exact clutch is used on many other polaris machines. they spin counter clockwise. and therefore they are standard right hand leftey loosey threads. but everything on the arctic cat clutches in the past that are hooked to the crank and turning clockwise have always been left hand threads.

the exact same clutch is on the polaris 850, which it turns clockwise and its left hand threads. since the same clutch is manufactured at TEAM for the polaris and arctic cat alike, i would think that yours is likely going to be left hand threads and you have been tightening the nut the whole time.

since you cant purchase just one piece of the clutch, why are you taking it apart anyways? just buy a new one and replace the one you have thats about the only option you have.
 

malhovic

New Member
Oct 12, 2016
3
0
1
37
being on the arctic cat, since it spins counter clockwise, the nut should be left hand threads which would make it completely backwards. so you have been tightening it.

i take these clutches apart all the time on other machines. i have never needed to take the wildcat clutch apart as its usually taken off and replaced. but the same exact clutch is used on many other polaris machines. they spin counter clockwise. and therefore they are standard right hand leftey loosey threads. but everything on the arctic cat clutches in the past that are hooked to the crank and turning clockwise have always been left hand threads.

the exact same clutch is on the polaris 850, which it turns clockwise and its left hand threads. since the same clutch is manufactured at TEAM for the polaris and arctic cat alike, i would think that yours is likely going to be left hand threads and you have been tightening the nut the whole time.

since you cant purchase just one piece of the clutch, why are you taking it apart anyways? just buy a new one and replace the one you have thats about the only option you have.
AIRDAM, good to hear from you. I had reached out a few times to your company in an effort to purchase the wet-delete service but ended up going to the arctic cat parts site and just buying everything from the outer sheath out to, and including, the nut.

I was using this video to guide me through the clutch removal so that's what led me to believe it is righthand thread.
(See the next post for video and links since I have to have more than 2 posts to include those in my posts.)

If i was wrong this whole time, and with your reasoning since it does in-fact spin clockwise, i may have been tightening it the whole time. But re: the can't by parts and pieces, you can buy each individual piece of the clutch from Arctic Cat Parts Store (Parts 17-28 on their site with the associated quantities).
 

///Airdam Clutches

Active Member
Nov 14, 2014
358
176
43
i apologize. i should have asked earlier was it a new or old wildcat. i was assuming you had a newer wildcat because the two halves of the clutch are held together by a clutch nut. and you have to take it apart to get the two halves apart.

i am sorry. on the 2012-2013 wildcat that has the wet clutch, the front shaft that holds the primary together is a 32mm nut and it is in fact leftey loosey. it is held on with red loctite. you will not be able to hold it still and turn it no matter how big the breaker bar. the red loctite they use is a high temp 580 degree good stuff. you need a bad to the bone impact to bust it, or heat to melt it. use your propane torch but go to a hardware store and buy the MAPP gas its the yellow bottle it burns a lot hotter. i have done hundreds of these clutches over my lifetime and there have been instances where even my big ingersol rand titanium impact would not budge the nut and i had to use heat. one instance on a wildcat i remember years ago i kept heating it up and the nut still wouldnt budge and i heated the nut up so hot it melted all the sliders in the black fixed plate before the loctite melted out. you can tell when the loctite is ready to come apart you will smell a sweet smell. that means the loctite got up to temp and melted. then it should come off easy.
 

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