I made a video showing what is required to fix a stuck clutch on a go cart by lubrication certain points. Just a video showing some small engine repair
Thank you! Been repairing and upgrading a used go kart with Predator 212 to make it as safe and dependable as possible. Clutch would make hideous noises from time to time and finally was seized and causing the go kart to drive off or die at idle. I followed your video directions, and so far everything is working better than ever. The idle has improved immensely, no hideous noises, no chain noises and go kart runs faster than before. I was a mechanic many years ago, but never worked on small engines. I was confused on what brand clutch to buy, but after seeing your video I thought maybe the clutch is salvageable… and it was! I realize you had ALREADY fixed your issue, but took the time to go back and video your solution. Above and beyond for the rest of us!
Thank you! That’s awesome I’m glad it got yours working! I was also in the same situation where I was struggling with deciding on a new clutch so I just went out on a limb and tried to fix this one lol
I see you're getting some mixed comments on what was right / wrong on this - and I still want to thank you for showing me how to assemble and dissemble the clutch and helping me understand how it all works! When I was your age I had built several go-karts and if clutch came apart, I had to go get a new one! hahaha! Now I'm 50 and playing with a tow behind mower with a centrifugal clutch and I'm going to to be taking it apart cause it's whistling .. wish me luck buddy! Keep on Wrenching and learning all you can! :D
that was sick, quick easy run through of what to do, and now my mini bike is running new! thanks dude, even though it wasnt very complicated, im just a pussy about springs, so i wanted to see how it really worked before i tore mine apart. my problem was, immediately after starting my bike, the clutch would engage and the bike would take off, or stall it. I didnt go for a ride but seeing the bike idle and not running away from me puts a smile on my face, after the grease. your the man for helping us cheapo's get every little bit out of our stuff, keep it up man!
Casey Newland u don't need snap ring pliers if you don't mind struggling with it. Just use something with a pick end and pry it apart. I didn't want to take off the inner snap ring. I was still able to lube it without taking the clutch shoes out. Just take it apart up to that point and degrease it. Then only lubricate the shaft housing within the clutch. Avoid getting any lube where the shoes make contact with the outer clutch housing.
I work as a go kart mechanic, & this is NOT what you should do. That grease is what's causing your overheating of your clutch shoes. You should never put any grease on the shoes at all, because the heat or centrifugal force of the clutch spinning will always let some grease get in between the shoes & the drum, causing slipping, resulting in your overheating of your clutch. The only thing you should be greasing or lubricating is the bearing or bushing. If your clutch is "grabbing", check the bushing or bearing, if it isn't that, your spring on the clutch shoes is stretched & needs replacing. They are both really cheap items, so it's all you really need to replace/service to keep it running.
+glasgowghost21 I would have to agree for the most part. I made this to show people how they can get their go cart moving if their clutch sticks. Of course the best option is new parts, but it's hard to beat a fix that is practically free.
I own a predator 79cc motorized bicycle my clutch seized up went to Google Google showed ur video.wow it's back to pulling wheelies. 11 tooth clutch 22tooth gear reduction 10 tooth shaft gear 50tooth sprocket on 28 inch mag wheel. Does 5600rpm with zip tie on governor about 50mph all day 68 hours on motor that I pull a 100 lb trailer with clutch always made noise now it freaking runs better than new sharing ur video with all my 79cc friends
Ok guys Once the big spring that pulls the clutch pucks in fatuiges its time for a new clutch .. as the rpm spins up the pucks move outward thus engaging the outer bell then you have foward movement .. .. when the sping is at its end of its life it will no longer have the tension to pull the shoes /pucks back it therefore disengaging the clutch .
Seriously, I like these types of videos Best if the creator has some common things go wrong--the things WE may face. Around the 9:30 point, a clutch might have fallen out. SHOW us how you dealt with that. What kind of errors might we make that aren't obvious? BUT this is the best repair video I've seen.
thanks man saved me a headache i got a go kart in parts from a friend she said if i fix its mine im a noob to this go kart stuff your video is what i needed. i subed and liked.
Thanks for watching and supporting me guys! Leave a like if this helped you out, and subscribe for more content. Let me know what I could be doing better!
I actually need some help. I have a vintage margay racing kart. It runs fine no issues only problem is when it idles the wheels spin like crazy like im giving it half throttle. I turned the idle down and that seemed to help a bit. But i feel like it could be something wrong with the clutch.. Any info you could share? The engine is a stage 2 briggs flathead 5hp.
seems like when that clutch gets up to speed it's going to spin that grease right out onto the drum and cause contamination and slippage but who knows I'm just a mechanic
Great video man! Just bought my nephew a used cart and noticed it took off like a bat out of hell once I started it....I was going to buy a new clutch but so much more fun to do it this way!
This is interesting. At the 2:34 point in the video you are holding the clutch drum. What is the bushing made of on the inner surface, brass? I just bought a new mini bike. I have it torn down to prep it before it is ridden. On inspection of the clutch assembly I found that they are using a caged bearing on the inner surface I asked you about. Sure it felt oily, but a bearing of that style needs high temp wheel bearing grease, not oil! On the reviews for the bike (Coleman CT200U) everyone is complaining about clutch noise and it needing service not long into the first ride. It's no wonder. A little bit of oil on that bearing will not last very long and there is the possibility of ruining that caged bearing if the problem is not addressed in time. IMO you are right on the money in this video with the proper and careful use of grease for this application.
+Deucealive75 thank you! And yes that is a brass bushing, mine hasn't wore out but I've heard that they wear out fairly quickly. That being said I'd think a caged bearing would be the right way to make one last, but it certainly needs to be able to withstand the temps the clutch sees during regular use. Maybe they went cheap on the bearing type lol I've been to hardware stores and seen brass inserts that could possibly replace a caged set up but that would be another video entirely lol I usually apply some lubricant directly on the inside of the bushing when I run it, but doing something like this with a caged may not work as well I'd be curious to see what can be done to quite it down.
Ok. If I was cleaning a clutch with a brass bushing in there I would clean both mating surfaces as clean as possible. Then oil the brass bearing, then wipe all that from the bearing and run both of those surfaces dry. Years ago I serviced cash sorting machines that used a similar setup with a brass bearing. I tried everything and running it dry worked the best. Least amount of wear and ran cleaner. The biggest problem with lubricants is that they can be quite a dirt magnet.
+Deucealive75 in the case of brass bushings you may know better than me, I just slather some grease on the inside of of the bushing. I tried some drops of engine oil (as I've heard used by others) and it got slung on my shoulder, caliper grease definitely did a better job of staying in the bushing. I almost wonder how well graphite lubricant would work
I had to hold it w a vice and lock jaws for the spring and even that took over an hour. The clutch still didn't function properly. I should have just bit the big one and put a comet torque converter on it. Live & learn
Yeah those clutches are high maintenance, i just use 3 in one oil and a little bit of CRC white lithium grease on the shaft. I put them back together completely dry just because it's easier to I get them back together that way.
Instead of adding grease polish the plates the cluches glide on you never want grease contamination flinging up to the bell it will slip and overheat and burn your cluth a dry clutch is better just clean pads and polish sidewalls to a mirror finish
Those are self lubricating you NEVER PUT GREASE IN THERE.... if the bone in your head can't understand that ... Use dry lube. But really you just clean it up....and put it together dry .....and you are probably missing a snap ring which is aggravating shoe drag due to the weak spring.... And shorten the spring so it releases correctly....that is free too. And all that was ever needed.
It kept engaging and then when the brake is applied slowing down, it wouldn't disengage and the engine kept stalling. I'm surprised yours worked w/o cleaning every side of the weights.
So my go kart was running fine 3 months ago when I started it, it would idel normally but I tried to use it and start it and it will take off every single time. It keeps running. Is it the clutch whats the possible issue?
Do you know how to remove the entire clutch with that bushing thing preventing it from sliding off? I can’t figure it out on mine. I want to just replace the entire clutch. Thank you if you’re able to help 🙏
Okay so my go kart cut off on me and when i try cutting it on it will slightly move forward and cut right out but if i hold the back wheels in the air they will spin but as soon as they touch the ground it will cut out
Not the kind of greasing I anticipated I took my clutch apart on a whip just to clean and paint much to my dismay the clutch swing arm for lack of technical term was essentially siezed in place so I unbolted all 3 and cleaned sanded cleaned sanded and sanded untill there were some dark pitted spot but no rust can't wait to ride I'm doing a new piston ring gaskets etc
my friend and I just took the go cart out I got recently and smoked the clutch. now whenever the clutch engages it stalls out completely. i have a hillard clutch and the bushing is cracked! i dont know if it was always like this when I drove. it has several hours since I got it. I considering just getting a whole new clutch but I wanted a second opinion
+Jeffrey Early you may be able to try this, I would replace the bushing for sure though. But if you cans find a decent clutch at a decent price go that route
What is the diameter of your rear wheel and what is your gear ratio? We are struggling with the engine bogging down on our kart, seems like it wants to go way too fast for what is a small off road kart
My clutch is brand new.. and its slipping... if I get on the road.. it starts to pic up speed... but in the grass.. it does not wanna move at all.. I'm not sure what I need to do
My go kart when I start it takes off before I’m even on it and idles super fast I messed with the idler screw above the carb but I didn’t help could it be the clutch or carb?
So I bought a clutch and when I was putting it on I used a mallet for the last part because it wouldn't fit all the way now the outer drum doesn't spin freely from the rest like it's has when I first got it and now I can't get it off any ideas why?
I have a coleman ct200 and it has no idle, every time it starts it goes and has not "idle" per se. I have tried tuning the carburetor so less gas would go in and it did not fix the issue merely took away my throttle control. I am hoping it is just a clutch issue but I wanted to know your thoughts.
@@honeybun4269 hey honeybun, I found out that my centrifugal clutch had burnt out, the only thing I can say is clean it up and give it another try but if that dosint work just buy an aftermarket from eBay I don’t think their to expensive. 👍 good luck
@@GageF22 Dont try what this guy said, your basically asking for your clutch to burn out again. Just try cleaning it up, NO GREASE! And if that doesn’t work buy a aftermarket from eBay. Good luck
You didn't mention much about the spring. I have a clutch just like it and I took the spring off rather than the inner snap ring. That was a mistake. impossible to get weights back on correctly. Is there a tool or trick to get the spring back on?
Why did you take the wheel and the drive gear off u could of removed the master link and the bolt for the clutch and take the whole thing off in one assembly and honestly they only cost 25$ unless ur getting a race clutch seems like a waste of time
Okay now i another problem because i have a different mini bike now. The clutch is literally grinding . Like when im idling i can she little pieces of metal like if i were grinding something with a grinder just no sparks.
+Yadiel Santana how does the clutch go on to the crankshaft? Mine just has a set screw that if it were loose I could imagine making a a grinding. The only real contact points on a centrifugal clutch that would make a grinding are the clutch pucks against the drum and the clutch collar/set screw (however it connects to the crankshaft) against the crankshaft. One thing that may help is that where there is grinding there will be heat so use a laser thermometer and start seeing what is most hot
+Micheal Caughey I don't think so, come clutches are just done. The squeal is interesting though I wonder why that would happen. I would definitely look at idle speed though, I had to set mine as well
The Feesher I just got the mini bike so luckily Colemans warranty will replace the clutch if that's the case. If it's fixable though I'll give that a shot
i dont trust a guy that uses snap ring pliers. only trust a guy that struggles with the snap right for 2 hrs trying to pry it off with a flat head screw driver and stabs his hands at least 5 times.
Never put grease on the inside of the drum housing,,any grease/oil in this area will only heat up melt down and make its way to covering the inside of drum housing causing slipping,overheating,then turns into a gummy substance were tiny particles of dust/dirt/grime will easily build up and lead to more clutch issues.this method of greasing the inside area of the drum may be a quick fix for a sticky clutch and will hold out a little bit in certain situations,,but theres much better ways to go about cleaning and lubrication of the clutch to last longer and be more efficient for practicality free also,im not trying to disrespecting your video we all started out at some point learning,,and at the end of the day its just a go kart not a Ferrari 😂
my clutch looks brnad new and it is engaging and making this terrible noise when it does. its doing it slot now and i dont know what to do because i dont have snap ring pliers and i dont have needle nose pliers and im broke lol:/ can i just try to grease the clutch without taking it apart?
Faded Grizzly I image that the noise will subside with use. If not, take it apart and grease is. But just like most other new parts there is usually a break-in period that must be gotten through before the part will work as designed.
