Shoe type clutches

4 Stroke Kart Engine Forum
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So I recently bought a 206 from a local dealer. I bought it as a "turn key"kit. The motor came with everything you needed to get the motor on the kart and running from throttle cable and full line to the clutch. The clutch that came with this was a Max Torque clutch. I got everything mounted and took it out to break in the motor and going out for my second 6 lap session there was an awful griding sound and banging. Then after about 10 feet the chain would pop off.

We found out this was due to the clutch breaking. One of the internal washers broke and allowed the drum to move left and right as much as it wanted and was causing the shoes to grab violently when they would engage. The owner of the the track recommended the inferno clutch and even set me up with springs to tune the engagement to what the local 206 class ran. After having that on there the clutch seems way beefier and the ability to tune the lockup is impressive.

I highly recommend the inferno but I was wonder if anyone had any other clutches they have tried they recommend or advise against.

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I use the Noram Stinger clutch with either orange or yellow springs on my LO206, and I’ve had decent success with it. I’d like to get better at tuning the right springs for the situation though.

3

I’ve been used to tuning disk clutches for years and coming back into the sport I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the tunability of these drum clutches.

4

Did you talk with the shop you bought the package from? I’ve used max torques and while they aren’t the most adjustable or fancy, they have been reliable for me.

5

Yeah I called them and they are going to refund me for the clutch.

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6

I’m glad to know that they are willing to refund for the clutch. It was a letdown that it was failing so quickly.

7

Good deal on the refund. No clutch should fail that quickly.

8

Jim at Max Torque is a great guy and super helpful. Glad to see they made things right.

I have one of these clutches, and it has been bulletproof for me.

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9

We use a Noram HD with green springs. I don’t think it is designed for that kind of high RPM engagement, it gets hot and lights itself on fire often. :slight_smile: Great for cold days.

Hilliard Inferno seems to be the hot ticket. But then, I may not like Max Torque but I am with James in that the best clutch is the one that works and is reliable.

As long as whatever you’re running engages where you want it to engage at you’re fine. Time to focus on chassis.

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11

We have run the Noram GE, Noram Stinger, Hilliard Fury and Hilliard flame. I like the Hilliard due to ease of maintenance and adjustments. From what my driver tells me, the Hilliards engagement is smoother between the Noram and Hilliard product.

In regards to one being a better performing clutch, I don’t know that the clutch pays too big of a role on the 206. Once you get engagement set where it needs to be, all of them perform well. We’ve won against and been beat by them all.

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