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Review: NorthStarRick's 800 Assault Clutch Kit

44K views 62 replies 33 participants last post by  The Silverback 
#1 ·
WOW! I'm very impressed with Rick's kit!
Most of you that follow my posts know that a few weeks ago I dropped off my fully warrantied 2017 Axys Assault at Rick's shop for a diagnostic assessment. My sled had suddenly developed an issue.(went from a 800 to a 600 in terms of power) I could have dropped it off at my dealer and they would have done their best to access the issue. Based on previous experience with my last 2 Poo's, I decided to bypass my dealer (who is great BTW) and go directly to New England's #1 Polaris guru...and not a Polaris dealer, NorthStarRick. As much as I like my dealer, I knew that Poo would only allow them so much diagnostic time and based on what the Digital Wrench found, they would find nothing wrong, maybe throw a part or 2 at it and tell me to just ride it. My snowmobile season is F-ing short and because I value MY TIME, I paid him to fix my Assault.
Rick proceeded to strip my sled down and test everything and anything that could cause my Assault to under perform. After finding nothing unusual, he went with his gut and changed my PV relay. This brought my Assault back to life and I was a happy sledder...aka...HHCS, Happyhardcoresledder. After riding a couple more weekends, I was fast approaching 2400 miles. The primary clutch was getting noisy and I knew it was time for a rebuild. I shipped my clutch to Rick for a rebuild. (yes, believe it or not, the Polaris clutch does wear out around 2500 miles on a 155 HP twin...as does Doo's clutch and Cat's clutch) I stopped by Rick's shop this past Thursday on my way to Pittsburg to have him install the rebuilt clutch along with his clutch kit.
Friday I did 150 miles in 55 degree weather. Absolutely amazing. My sled pulled RPM's all day and never disappointed. Rick's kit is the real deal. It's nothing special on paper...same primary and secondary spring rate's that everyone else is using...but the secret to his recipe is in his helix. I can tell based on my experience with many clutch kit's over the years that he's not using your typical angles in his helix. I was running a 50/44 that I purchased from SSI. Rick's kit holds the RPM's better thru the entire range without sacrificing top end. What Impressed the most was how consistent the performance was. Even the stock clutching starts to loose RPM in warm weather. Rick's kit was only down 100 RPM. Today I did a quick 60 mile loop in 18 degree temps and my RPM's were spot on. Backshift is great. His kit really wakes up the Assault and just makes it a blast to ride. Like I said, I've purchased many clutch kits over the years and most end up being a disappointment. Rick's kit is the real deal. It make's an already great sled, even greater!
 
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#2 ·
Glad to here it's working great for you. I spoke with Rick in early January about purchasing Two of his kits one for our Assault and the other for our Pro x sb, he said his helix was on back order I gave him my name and contact info he was going to call me when they became available, Four weeks later I called again he did not answer I left a detailed message still have not herd from him. Consider yourself lucky.
 
#3 ·
sorry if we didn't get back to you. timing has been terrible this year on getting parts, product etc. we are one of if not the biggest buyers venom has.

it got to the point people were pre-paying for kits. we just couldn't fill all the orders. and the guys that paid up front had to be sent out first. this usually exhausted our helix supply. even if i order 1000 helixes i only get them in batches? 10-20 maybe? at a time. venom has a lot of other big customers also slp,bmp, etc.

this and i work on 150 plus sleds, help sponsor two iron dog race teams, and try and test some new stuff we are working on. not enough time in the day.

just fell at the wrong time i guess we apologize for that. i don't answer my phone much during the day. i can't as i won't get anything done. i also had a issue with my cell phone carrier in january. was only getting some messages and not others? to many messages they told me?
 
#4 ·
Rick how is the best way to get in touch with you..would like to have my clutch done...or get the kit..I'm in no hurry looking for next season..2600 miles so far def will be over 3k by end of season..2017 SBA 800
Thanks!
 
#8 ·
For those of you who do off trail riding you don't have to worry about holding rpm's with Ricks kit either. I was riding in 2-3 feet of powder on some untouched power lines the other day and there was no loss of rpm,s. 8350-8450 never even struggled! My skis hit the snow only when i got to the top of the hill. I was smiling so hard it hurt!!
 
#17 ·
we worked hard on this particular sled knowing this would be off trail way more then a pro-s,x,xcr. we thought it would have been more of a challenge? but honestly when you have the kind of power this animal has stock? it makes it way easier to work with.

keeping it pulling without dragging rpm's down in the steep and deep is always tough. then to turn around and have it run triple digits on a lake top or hard packed open area is kind of unheard of.

we found a little trick that is working very well. sometimes a hunch pays off? sometimes it doesn't?

our kit is just as good off trail as on. that's what we were trying to do. how it turned out has even surprised us?

we like the 1.352 cobra track. it's a very good on trail track and works better then most would think off trail. matter of fact rmk's have a tough time keeping up with a assault on a uphill run in the snow. in real deep snow then a bigger longer track will always be better. but it surprising where this sled will go with that track.
 
#15 ·
I agree. Ricks clutch kit works good along with the secondary bearing and shims.

Had to adjust belt couple times after belt break in

clutching works smooth and grabs good when you mash it

max rpm around 8350 on long flats

no loss of power since new. :fistpump2:


Ive seen a few others stock primary springs broke this yr. I guess the stock ones are not that great
 
#16 ·
I'm another satisfied Rick's Clutch kit customer.
No sense repeating what others have already said.
He is a busy man and hard to get sometimes. I'd suggest you just keep trying until you snag him.
I'm running....
1.6" Ice Cobra
1.81 Gearing
Rick's Clutch Kit
SLP Pipe Set

I'm 300lbs dressed and pulling my arms off with a shit eating grin. Sometimes have to laugh aloud in my helmet to myself. Trail and Off Trail she just pulls so dam hard that it's a riot!! I'm not a guy that cares about pulling over 100 but she will pull over a 100 with ease in any conditions I've asked it too. I don't need perfect conditions for that action either. I've yet to actually hang onto the throttle long enough to know exactly what she's got up on top. I roll right into 103,104,105 in a hurry. After that extra digits come slow and I let off the old girl. His Kit is pretty nasty in ALL the areas that I care about.
I've tried the SLP Clutch Kit and the Gabe's kit in my Pro-S. Thought I'd try his kit in my Assault. Rick set the Hook hard on me. I highly recommend his set up. :buttrock:
 
#25 ·
to answer some questions on our clutch kits. stage 1,2,3 pertained to the 2015 axys pro-s and pro-x sleds.

stage one is the gear change to 23/40 a 1.74 ratio with a 120/310 drive spring and 2 delrin washers. cheapest way to gain some corner to corner get the clutches/belt to run cooler. and a stepping stone to stage 2.

stage 2 was the gearing, iqr tensioner, full clutch kit. helix,springs, weights,and delrin washers.

stage 3 was a stage 2 with a pcfc power commander with a pre installed dtr. 4 h.p. increase map.

yes the assault kit is different then a pro-s, pro-x, and xcr. no gear change as the 23/40 with the cobra track is spot on. the helix leans more to off trail then a kit for a pro ride axys. less clutch weight. 10-68 instead of 10-70's.(track length and off trail load) a different drive spring then what has been used. same blk./grn. 140/220 driven spring.

since we started the stage kits things have changed. sled and rider specific kits are now the norm. and we sell just a helix or springs or what ever guys want?

not many kits are the same? rider weight, studs , track lug height, track length, pipe or no pipe, etc. all play a roll in what we do.so basicly each kit is now custom tailored to each sled/person. this will continue as now we are offering SLP magnum force weights, thunder products guide washers etc, as add on's.
 
#28 ·
Ok we ran multiple different setups last night. Both sleds SBA with 1.352 cobras. Both 168 1.75 power points, stock gears. He was started with 10-70 120/310 with ricks helix with 140/220 and 2 delrins he was pulling 8150 on previous hard pack. I had 11-70 weights with 140/310 and stock secondary with 2 delrins and pull 8350 on previous hard pack. The conditions were terrible for testing. Trail out in front of my house was slush and couldn't get accurate starts from a dig. We moved to the lake that had slight slush in front with 10" of fresh wind blown snow. Not ideal but equal playing field. All tests 1000ish'. First test he would jump by a sled and then dead equal. He had a slight bog so looking at it his belt was way too low, I adjusted it and added 10-68 to get the rpm up. He was now pulling 8200 but so was I due to the load from the slush and deep drifted snow but 0 bog. We then put 10-68 in mine and ran again. Mine was actually worse only pulled 80-150 and not nearly as snappy. He would jump me 1.5 and hold it slightly pulling up top. I then swapped back to 11-70 and 140/330 primary spring. He would then jump me by 1.5 sleds but I would pull him up top, again I could still only pull 8150-8200. Too low for me but I think it was due to the heavy snow pulling my belt into the secondary with the wimpy 120/200 stock secondary spring not holding the belt. Here is the game changer. We swapped secondaries. I thought he was a cheating bastard every time by jumping on me. Well I jumped him by 2 sleds and drug his ass by 3 and kept pulling. Fluke? so we did it again. Now that cheating bastard did jump but I quickly, within 60', pulled past him and drug his ass hard. We swapped ricks secondary back into his sled and messed around a bit. He kept wanting to go back to his 10-70 weights. He felt it pulled harder but could only pull 7800 rpm. We tried the second angle which was better and 8000 rpm. I couldn't beat it into his head no matter what G weights he runs he needs to be at 8300 rpm. He was stuck on the more grams he had was more hp reguardless of rpm. What ever, so I proved him wrong. Put the 10-70 back in with position 1 and again he would jump me by a sled and I would drive right around him on the big end. Not because his clutch kit was bad but because he was only pulling 7850 rpm. Way below the 8300, leaving 5hp or so on the table. I have ricks helix coming friday and we will test more apples to apples. That way we both get the same jump and can test various weights and see what works best for each sled.
I was extremely impressed with his helix, gave 2 sleds out of the hole and pulled hard compared to a stockish setup. I will be at infinity raceway saturday and I can't see how we won't do well on the assault in stock 800/1000 with my 120lb wife on the sled with the new helix and spring. Ricks clutch kit works, period. I have never purchased a clutch kit from a aftermarket company and had it work as stated. I have since always pieced my own kits together with success. This is the first kit that off the shelf does what he says it does. Congrats to us cause rick's kit works. Thank You Northstar Performance.
 
#29 ·
Can anyone send a pic or tell me where this PV Relay is that is causing some of the rpm loss issues??? My Polaris dealer has ZERO idea what im talking about - thanks in advance.

Lennstang and Northstarrick had it sorted out with success - we have 3 new sleds - two are having the same issue.

appreciate it
 
#31 ·
I haven't been to every dealer but the dealers that I have worked with seem all the same in regards to cleaning up sleds lacking in the performance rpm area. They all dig as far as Polaris pays them to. If your looking to get your rpm issues cleaned up by a dealer "Under Warranty" GOOD LUCK!! They will change a belt and maybe a primary spring and send you on your way. I like my current dealer BUT it is obvious that nobody wants to work on sleds for free. We can only slightly bash the dealers. The problem is in the hands of Polaris not opening the door wide enough to allow dealers to reach out further to fix issues. They read the Forums and they have good technicians that know how to fix shit. Consumer buyers have to eat shit and like it. If you were somebody important they would find the issue and fix it. Racers and sponsered riders would surely see there issues taken care of.
JUST MY TAKE...
 
#38 ·
Here's the closest thing I've seen anywhere on someone that has/used both Gabes and Ricks clutching. With Video's.

Indy 600 clutching | Polaris Snowmobile Forum

Sounds like he started off using Gabes, went over to Ricks and couldn't get it to work right and is now back to Gabes.
Here's a video of NSR Rick testing his clutching out. Wonder if the timing system beams are behind the sheds? Or just further up the driveway.

https://www.facebook.com/NorthstarP...96818942939/10154196815252939/?type=3&theater
PM sent
 
#35 ·
Long Gone Leo, im not sure if you were being serious on the first video or not...obviously the second video was a joke, but Northstarrick WAS the reason i went with the Gabes kit - he complimented the kit and bragged about it exclusively - i havent been happier since! I am super happy he suggested it. He seems to be one of the few "GO TO" guys on here, that is legit - so when he spoke, i listened!
Maybe he has another kit of his own now? or is just rebranding Gabes kit?? Who knows... all i know is my gabes kit was extremely impressive....
Now i just have to get the engine issue sorted out - maybe i should order one of NSR's kits to do a comparison - two identical sleds in the stable. :bc2:
 
#56 ·
Here's a video of NSR Rick testing his clutching out. Wonder if the timing system beams are behind the sheds? Or just further up the driveway.

https://www.facebook.com/NorthstarP...96818942939/10154196815252939/?type=3&theater
BUSTED!!! I used my kids account to post this. I haven't posted on HCSer in a LONG TIME. Not worth it anymore, get jumped on by moderators, because were not a advertiser. Even if it's just helping guys out with things other than clutching.

Didn't post anything negative about NSR, just thought it was funny.
 
#39 · (Edited)
this is the axys assault thread. we can't fix something when nobody calls us with problems? no my kits are not gabes kits. that was 4 years ago that i recommended his 600 kits.

a lot has changed since then. we don't do much indy 600 stuff so we aren't as up on them as maybe we should be? nobody has these in my area at all.

our main focus is on the axys and assault sleds.

not every kit is going to respond on every sled the same. so some testing and adjusting will at times have to be done? all i know is the iron dog guys tested everything out there and went with our kits. but again these are axys pro-s sleds. not indys. at a local radar run the assault with our clutch kit destroyed everything there. badly. indy's 850's, etc. didn't mater. not all will see the same results? maybe i got lucky? but lenn's sled absolutely rip's. no tweaking at all. a
lot have been this way some not so much? there have been under lying problem's on some? if your sled doesn't perform real well stock compared to others? a clutch kit won't help it? it will make it worse. so if your sled especially a 2017 assault isn't pulling rpm then you have other problems? these are usually the other way? to high of rpm not to low.


we don't do videos of our testing and won't. to many guys knocking us down so nope not happening.
 
#44 ·
Rick how about sending me your clutch kit for the Assault. I'll run it on my timer compared to my tuning and see how it works.
If it's any good then I'll send ya the cash...:lol:
Just a little humor man, I am sure it works well! :bc:
 
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