Is the clutch still good?

[Gary Lau]

I just changed a new clutch liner but the bell and clutch is tight.  How do I know the clutch is still good or not?  Thanks.

[Roger]

It looks like the clutch blades are spread ever so slightly.  This "could" be the source of your tightness.  You can compress them by applying pressure to make the gap appear equal for its entire length. 

I also notice in one of the photos that one of the needles in the one-way is not seated fully in its race.  I don't know if it cause for alarm but I would check it out. 

When I changed my clutch liner it was tight as well.  I was advised to fly it and it would loosen up.  I did and it did indeed loosen up. 

ROG

[Cliff Chmiel]

I used to use a feeler gage to set the clutch, be very care they can snap right off, on the clutch bell if after you fly and does not loosen, I would very lightly sand down the bell lining until it was smooth, believe it does not take much. 

[Rodney Kirstine]

Yeah, it looks like it is sprung a little.  I had one, recently, like that after a hot start that completely burned up my clutch liner.  Like Rog mentioned, you can compress it to bring it back in.  I used an arbor press and just put some pressure on it until I got the slots to have an even gap along their entire length.  As Cliff mentioned, there is always a chance that the clutch might break while doing this but It's really about all you can do.

+1 on inspecting that one-way bearing, also.  I ended up replacing mine when I was repairing the clutch because I had one of the needle bearings sticking out like that and then when I poked around a bit, it just came clean out.

[Cliff Chmiel]

another trick to do is put soft balsa in the slot, tries to keep you from going to far and snap it off, pick balsa out and use feeler gage make sure both slots are the same, 

[Mike Spano]

Yes, lightly sand the liner a little. Enough so when you start the engine,  you can hold the head with your hands and prevent it from turning you can then hold the head and idle the engine up a little.  A LITTLE!  To help speed up the break in. The clutch will finish breaking in during flight. It may take a few, but it will. If your clutch is sprung, do as the others have recommended.

[Richard Rollins]

+1 for what Gasser Mike said. I took the clutch bell off , put the nut back on the threads so I would not mess up the threads and put it in my drill and hold the sand paper to where is would be even and sand a little at a time.
Works like a charm. Got that idea from Jeff whom got the idea from Matt.
Rick

[Jeff_Barrett]

Yep ... Matt taught me that one himself at IRCHA this year. Stick the bell in a drill chuck and spin it while holding some fine grit sand paper to it ..... don't take too much off though!