Why top speed is important on clutching

I ask people all the time what is top speed and top speed rpm all is during troubleshooting a clutch whether they have a clutch kit or not. Why is it so important when you may not drive anywhere near top speed?

Simple, it tells us the health of your vehicle and your clutch.

Examples I use, hey man my RZR 1000 won't go past 65 and hits the limiter or hey my RZR won't go over 65 and won't go over 7000 rpm. One is a physical clutch issue like a spider nut backed off in the primary and other is a low power issue.

Lots of variables there though especially on the low power, could be the size of your tires, elevation, weight you added, how much air you have in your tires, sand or something worse such as engine issues etc.

Variables on the hitting the limiter too soon too, the most common is the spider and spider nut backing off but it can be other clutch issues, worn primary, worn secondary rollers, shaft spacing is off etc.

Even though I say these things on a daily basis I decided to put it in text form for anyone to read and to point to when I get an email on the weekend and I don't have to type it all with my thumb on my phone!! LOL

Real world problem and the need to know this info for me to help the person figure it out is this.  Have a guy with a clutch kit in a RZR 1000, he has a four seater, 32" tires, drives mostly around 30 mph, has a Dalton kit and is still going through belts and of course he wants to know why. 

My dilemma is my knee jerk reaction is, you have a heavy four seater, have too big of tires for it and you are driving too slow but to make that determination I simply need to know what top speed is and top speed rpm. Where he lives it is hard to get that info and for me to help I am usesless until he finds this out once again why?

I can't tell him where his issues lie until I know what top speed is and RPM. So if it bangs off the limiter at all really but at any speed other than what it should he has a physical problem with his clutch that needs to be repaired, it is not a clutch tuning issue.  The ONLY time this occurs and it is a tuning issue is if you didn't read the instructions and you are waaaaay off on clutching set up. So lets say he finally gets the info and it does bang off the limiter and it turns out to be the spider nut backed off in the primary, get it fixed and his belt burning issues go away for the most part and he now only has to tend with a heavy vehicle, with too big of tires and driving slow so his belt usuage goes down but not cured.

I always joke with people on the phone when they say they don't have a place to find it and I say, "I don't care, you got to find a place and get it for me to help you" It is that important.

Todd