While working on a 1971 Olympic a buddy and i ran into some trouble.

After the clutch engages it runs fine but the clutch will not disengage. The track keeps spinning no matter what we do. When we hit the break the sled dies out.

We have cleaned out the carb and rebuilt it. We have new gas in the tank and sea foam running through it. Any ideas on whats going on? And if so any hints how to cure this little problem? Thanks

Did you put a new belt on it? If the belt is too short it'll do the same thing as you describe. I'm not that familiar with the old Olympiques but my JD and a couple of Enticers have had the same problem. Are the motor mount bolts loose? Are the holes slotted so you can adjust the motor position? If all this is OK, pull the clutch and check for worn or sticky parts.

slapped a new belt on her and all that other stuff seems good to go. we pulled the clutch and nothing seems out of the ordinary. no really sticky parts or odd wear patterns. we cleaned and lubed it anyway.

not so sure its that clutch thats giving us problems now... thinking it might be linked to the carb again. it runs almost like the throtle is held open though it isnt... the idle has been tuned down and that doesnt stop it. we were tinkering with the other adjustments and nothing seems to be keeping the track from spinning like mad... :plain:

Is it moving slow enough that you can have a look at the clutches when this happens? That way you could tell if the primary is opening up fully when you let off the throttle and the belt is down in the primary where it should be.

But if you have a real high idle that would keep the clutch engaged also.

you can watch the clutches spin and the primary seems to be functioning just fine. the belt is down there where it belongs.

my buddy said that this sled was running great last year. he rode it around quite a bit but this year it hasnt been working right from day one. im not sure how he stored it, but i think all the things we have done to it would have cleaned any gunk out.

any other ideas? Thanks again

I can't think of anything other than a short belt. I remember there were a lot of different size belts back in the days of that sled. On the old belt, were the inside of the cogs being worn away or shiny from contacting the inside of the drive clutch? Do you hear any belt squealing? I don't think there is any adjustment on the driven clutch to change belt deflection in those old sleds so the only option would be to move the engine. I don't know why that would have changed from last year but maybe it's worth a try.

You can adjust the secondary deflection on some of the early Ski-Doos. I have a 1967 Olympic and a 69 body for parts and both are adjustable.

just got a chance to look at this little guy again the other day and the inside of the belt isnt really wore down, no more than you would expect with an old belt. there was some squeal but that can be attributed to grabbing the break and the belt not stopping other than that there is no squeal.

maybe we will give the clutches another look and see if something cant be adjusted. i am still of the mind that its something to do with the carb so thats going to get a good cleaning and maybe another rebuild. anyone know what the jetting is supposed to be on this type of carb or is it just a matter of getting it dialed in right by trial and error?

Thanks

Initial settings for Skidoo Olympique are 1 turn out on high speed screw and 3/4 turn out on low speed screw. These are for sea level so you can fine tune after engine warmed up.

thanks a lot retiredpop we'll give that a shot and see what happens.