ATVPT

ATV Product Review

Product:                    Dalton Plain/White Primary Clutch Spring

Test Duration:             8/2005 to 11/2005

Machine:                   2003 Kawasaki Prairie 650 (Stock OEM secondary spring and belt)

Review Date:           11/7/2005

Location tested:      Northern MN (Elevation 1100ft)

My first impression looking at the Dalton spring, I notice it has heavier diameter wire, and is about ½” longer then stock. Installation of the primary clutch spring on this model takes about 1 hour. On a difficulty scale of 1 to 10, I would rate this 4. It’s relatively easy to do, but proper care and attention to details is very important when dealing with the clutch which is made from cast aluminum and can be damaged if proper steps aren’t taken such as appropriate tools and torque specifications.

After the installation, I was pushing on the clutch to verify proper movement, and found it took noticeably more force to push it in, as it should. After assembly I just like to manually test any moving parts as much as possible, its just good practice.

 Testing duration of this spring was about 2 months. During that time, my riding was about 80% moderate to aggressive trail riding. With trails consisting mostly of hard pack dirt with plenty of high speed straights, along with low and high speed cornering. These trails also had plenty   jumps and occasional mud holes. The other 20% of riding was done off trail “boon docking” through mud, swamps, bush and technical obstacles such as downed trees, boulders, steep hills. Also some utility work was tested, towing logs and pulling trailers loaded with wood etc.

The spring engagement was about 1750rpm (stock is 1270rpm). There is a slight delay (stall) compared to stock, the stall being 500rpm above stock is hardly noticeable, which felt comfortable for me. You can feather the throttle until engagement, then let off and listen for it to click back in, with the stock spring you never hear this, its normal with a higher stall spring.

 Overall the greatest improvement over stock is low and mid range throttle response and back shift. I did not observe any performance changes in top speed. In trail riding conditions where average speed is around 20-30mph, this spring performs above OEM in acceleration. The “Hole shot”, climbing from a mud hole or acceleration from a corner will be improved with this spring. Combined with Stock secondary, I noticed a slight backshift improvement; however a different secondary spring would benefit this greatly. I did not notice an increase or reduction in belt performance, although a longer trial period would be needed to show that.

The OEM spring set up is designed to suit the need of a wide range of rider types and support machine life. If you want a little more hard punch out of your hole shot and low to mid range acceleration, I would recommend trying this spring.