I'm thinking about taking the clutches appart on my 1998 500 and cleaning them for the winter. Does anyone have any advice on doing this?

i did this last year, when you take it apart take the weights out and check the bushings, i replaced all mine last year. get all the old grease and sticky stuff out of the clutch and put new lub i there so when you put your weights back in the weight will move freely. thats what i did. made a lil difference but not too much. it was hardly noticibile but i think itts good for em.

Mindy, Use only TRI-FLOW lubricant in the clucthes. Just spray your finger and wipe a thin coat on the sliding surfaces. It is kind of expensive but one can will last forever. It doesn't attract much duct and does not get gummy or goey. Makes the next cleaning easier. If your sled has more than 3000 miles on it pay attention to the bushings on the sheave, cover, rollers, weights, and the six black buttons. This goes for both primary and secondary. Slop in any of these areas creates bind, kills upshift, robs power, and wears belts. To buy all of the wear parts from the dealer isn't too bad. around $80

Well, I got everything appart and cleaned up. Does anyone know what the stock secondary spring setting is? I put it in the #2 hole for now. Is this right? Also, do you push the helix down a half inch, then wind the movable sheave 1/3 turn, then press the helix the rest of the way down?

Yep, that's how it's done. You know you did it right if it's a pain in the ass if you are doing it by yourself, without a press.

So putting the secondary spring in the second hole is the stock setting???

Yep.

Great. Thanks for the help.