Duraclutch Pre-Sales Information

The following is not from Duraclutch, this is a Hunterworks Statement

This is a old tech article some parts may no longer be applicable

Read Warranty Info on main page

The main purpose of this article is to set some expectations of the Duraclutch, it is not bullet proof and can be torn up like anything else if abused or used in a manner it just was not designed for. What has spurred this article is feedback from a few customers who did in fact abuse it knowingly or not and have their warranty denied. As of today Hunterworks has sold over 600 Duraclutches in the three years we have been selling them with just 3 warranty claims denied. In all cases the customer was offered another clutch at a reduced price though.

We could write a book 10ft thick about what not do with a Duraclutch or any clutch for that matter but I will hit some high points that have come up over time.  On warranty, it simply covers manufacturers defects not abuse.

Tires: Large tires tear up a lot of parts not just clutching. If your vehicle came with 26" tires I would not go over 28-29" tires Duraclutch or not. My general statement is never go over 3" above what stock tires are on your vehicle. Power is lost at a rate of 8% for every inch you go over stock, gear ratio goes higher with the larger tires and life span of a lot of parts goes down quickly.  If you must go over that then almost always use low range as you can wear the clutch paks out prematurely which is rare but can happen. Is there a limit on tire size that you can run with a Duraclutch? No, we have a customer with 38" terminators but the limits of the clutch are exceeded with that, he must never get out of low range and really needs a gear reduction.

Example: Had a customer in a Ranger 900 which high range is high geared anyway on a Ranger with 29" tires and he only rides slow like 5-10 mph most of the time and he was using high range and he started to wear his clutch paks out in a short period of time. The vehicles owners manual states when to use low range, that does not change with a Duraclutch. Just because you can't slip a belt don't get a false sense of security that you can't hurt the clutch. Use low range when driving that slow. For the record, a Ranger is geared too high in high range for what it is normally used for. Make this a crew cab, add four people then say 30" tires and above it is a recipe for disaster under the right conditions. Duraclutch or not, use low range when you should use low range.

Another customer had 33" tires on a 800 RZR with no gear reduction and was complaining about the clutch paks were slipping when he got it deep in the mud and could not turn the tires over.  The simple answer is, he went to far with tires for his vehicle and nothing was going to get them going in that situation. If he had say 28" tires I bet it would turn them just fine.

Gear Reduction: A gear reduction is an aftermarket set of transmission gears or what is called a portal lift/gear reduction done at the wheels that you have installed aftermarket, not something that comes from the factory.  A gear lift or internal transmission reduction needs different flyweights in your stock clutch or Duraclutch. If you have light weights because you have really large tires and then you do the gear reduction the stress and load is off your clutch but the light weights will have less clamping force on the belt in the Duraclutch or stock clutch and under the right conditions it can slip the belt and cause you some issues. With a gear reduction you will have much higher rpm and might not notice the belt slipping.  Let this go long enough it can destroy the clutch

Example: Customer with 34" tires on a RZR 900 bought portals, he didn't tell us and truthfully we didn't know this was an issue at the time. He needed to swap back to the heaviest weights we have for use with the gear reduction. Blunt statement, so I will apologize up front!!! It is not Hunterworks and Duraclutch's responsibility to test and figure out what all other aftermarket parts do and don't work with our products. We will be learning with you when it fails, just too many parts out there that affect clutching to know it all, experience is the ONLY teacher. 

Water: You have to keep the water out of this clutch or any clutch. If you get a clutch really hot and even get a splash of water on it, it can crack and break, all clutches are aluminum and when hit with water will crack and break.  Just water in a normal temp clutch OEM or Duraclutch will work with the belt and aluminum and wear right through the primary pulleys, crazy how this happens and the belt is not destroyed. I have seen it a lot on the RZR forums with stock clutching and seen it one time with a Duraclutch.

Thick Mud: Thick mud where you can't get the tires moving may or may not be a place to ride with a Duraclutch, the clutch paks can slip. Mud riding is a slower style of riding but with a high load when you are down in the muck, stuck with tires not moving, almost all clutches have trouble here.

Slow Technical Riding: This is where the Duraclutch really performs!!  All depending on your tire choice but again this is the best conditions for a Duraclutch but you can over power it, if you get your tires in a some rocks that you can't turn them, get off the gas and get the winch cable out.  Just read a great review on a guy with a RZR 900 used for rock crawling with a Duraclutch, he understands it and loves this clutch system.

The Duraclutch is the most successful clutch system I have sold at Hunteworks, it has just been a handful of issues that have come up that cause problems. If the clutch was not $1200 then this would not be an issue, when a $1200 product gets torn up due to abuse whether the person realizes his activity is abuse or not neither party wants to pay for a replacement. I can promise you, Duraclutch has no issue sending out a new clutch when it is a defect, seen that a few times.  Hunterworks position is a bad one, we are in between the customer and the manufacturer who makes the decisions on the warranty. Once again, only denied I think three times in the two years we have been selling them.  As of today's writing, this fiscal year the number of units sold by us is over 210 so I would say the issues is very small and not likely to affect you.

If after reading this, you are not sure you want a Duraclutch or not, feel free to call me to discuss it even further than this article is taking it.

I plan on adding anything crazy that happens over time we are unaware of to this page. I never want to mislead anyone, I want you to know the limitations of what you buy from us.

Todd