LT80 Clutch Maintenance

[amturnham]

Hello, can anyone give me any advice on cleaning and maintaining the clutches on my lt80 and where they are located as seen on the forums various posts but still unsure? thanks

[moetrout]

Clutches are under the left side case. You need to take out the foot peg bolts, then case bolts and the 2 oil pump screws. To get the front clutch off it helps if you have air and use an impact driver. Remove the nut on the front clutch and remove. Make sure you keep the correct order of everything as you take it off. I always lay them on the floor in the order they go. After the clutch is removed take out the 3 screws that hold the cap on the clutch. You will see the 6 rollers you always hear about and now all of those clutch mod posts start making sense.

Once apart clean all the grease out of it and make sure there are no gouges on the cover plate or the other piece (moveable face I think they call it). If gouged replace it. I just ordered the rollers the face plate and the moveable face and it cost me just over 50 bucks. If it all checks out put it back together and use one q-tip of grease for each roller (as suggested by LT80). Mine was gouged so I put it back together so the kids could still ride and since I ordered all new (needed it) I did not worry about further damage.

The rear clutch there is not much to do. Again impact gun helps to get it off. Check the pads and lightly sand to remove glazing. Sand in little circles. I used emery cloth.

That's the basic operation as I remember it from last week. I may have missed something so maybe someone will chime in and correct me. None of it is really all that difficult unless, like me, you find a case bolt that does not want to come out. I sprayed it, heated it, and ended up breaking an allen wrench. I was getting ready to grind the bolt head off when I thought I take one last shot at it and used and allen wrench AND some vise grips (lockable pliiers) at the same time to break it free.

Best of luck to you and post back if you have any porblems.

[amturnham]

ok, thanks for the advice but should I take two of the rollers out whilst I am cleaning/greasing as what Ive read says it makes it have more pull off? ? ?

[moetrout]

That depends on what you are after. When you remove rollers (ultimately think weight) from the front clutch you are taking away top speed but gaining more low end power. From all the reading I have done the conclusion I came to in my situation was to remove 2 rollers from the front and cut the rear shoes down. As I said the 2 front rollers removed give low end power but slow down the quad. Cutting the shoes means the engine has to rev up higher before it engages, so better torque. Then to offset the loss of top end speed regear by changing the sprockets. This could be done a couple different ways. You could simply put a "speed gear" on the front sprocket. Stock size for everything except 87-88 models is 10t front and 22t on back. A "speed gear" as you may see advertised is just a front sprocket with one or two extra teeth to gain speed. What I plan to do is get the 87-88 model sprockets that use the 428 chain in 13t/26t. The ratios of these sprockets should make more speed while the 428 chain makes the whole thing roll easier.

[amturnham]

ok, thanks I was also thinking of removing two rollers then adding a larger front sprocket

[moetrout]

That's a start, but if you really want to wake up that machine you should also cut the rear clutch shoes and shave the head .030".

[Monkeyfish]

If you REALLY want to wake it up send the motor to LT80(Jack) to get "Moore power"

[onebigzj]

Originally Posted by Monkeyfish

If you REALLY want to wake it up send the motor to LT80(Jack) to get "Moore power"

X2. jack is the man