Exploding clutch.

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

I’ll get some heat, that’s fine so long as it saves someone else from making my mistake.

I know better and it was a careless momentary lapse of awareness. Doing some repair work and had the clutch drum off. Dropped some fuel down the carby and pulled it over. It started, the clutch span, stretched the springs and the shoes went flying.

Fortunately it just hit my knuckles and nothing else - swelling and cut but minimal pain. I could have been blinded, lacerated my throat or smashed my teeth.

Never spin a C/F clutch without a drum on.

 

[Canyon Angler]

Ow. Thanks for admitting the mistake to warn us. Glad you're not hurt worse.

Did a number on those springs, didn't it?

 

[4CornersPuddle]

Way to go, Tom! Glad you didn't suffer more damage.
I once, after changing a rim sprocket for a friend on his Husqvarna with outboard clutch, fired up the saw without bar and chain in his driveway.

Naturally, the untightened clutch unscrewed itself and took off down his drive and out into the street. It did a great job of dodging traffic and came to rest in the middle of a lane.

Lessened learned.

 

[John Lyngdal]

Everyone makes decisions that afterwards seem so obvious that they were a bad idea from the start.
Glad that the damage to you had was minimal.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Ow. Thanks for admitting the mistake to warn us. Glad you're not hurt worse.

Did a number on those springs, didn't it?

Thanks mate, it did didn’t it!

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Way to go, Tom! Glad you didn't suffer more damage.
I once, after changing a rim sprocket for a friend on his Husqvarna with outboard clutch, fired up the saw without bar and chain in his driveway.

Naturally, the untightened clutch unscrewed itself and took off down his drive and out into the street. It did a great job of dodging traffic and came to rest in the middle of a lane.

Lessened learned.

Thanks mate, that’s crazy, glad your incident wasn’t bad either!

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Everyone makes decisions that afterwards seem so obvious that they were a bad idea from the start.
Glad that the damage to you had was minimal.

This is so spot on! Thanks John.

I recall reading somewhere a chap was oiling his motorbike chain with it in gear while holding a cloth around the chain. It caught, took his fingers through the rear sprocket and made minced meat of them. Another example of something so obvious. Small careless lapses in judgement and thought, yet somehow are overlooked at the time.

 

[lone wolf]

I’ll get some heat, that’s fine so long as it saves someone else from making my mistake.

I know better and it was a careless momentary lapse of awareness. Doing some repair work and had the clutch drum off. Dropped some fuel down the carby and pulled it over. It started, the clutch span, stretched the springs and the shoes went flying.

Fortunately it just hit my knuckles and nothing else - swelling and cut but minimal pain. I could have been blinded, lacerated my throat or smashed my teeth.

Never spin a C/F clutch without a drum on.

View attachment 977641


View attachment 977643

Experience! The best teacher.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Experience! The best teacher.

Spot on!

 

[Dean-O]

Had an outboard clutch come off while doing a short test run to see if the saw ran, clutch came off and made it at least 100 yards across the back lot at work. That was many moons ago. As everyone else in this thread has said, lesson learned and it happens to the best of us at one time or another.

 

[67L36Driver]

I’ve done three similar to that but, the drum was in place.

The clutch unscrewed itself on deceleration.

The parts are in the school yard across the street. Somewhere……….

Always have the cover in place. [emoji1696]

 

[pioneerguy600]

There is a clutch somewhere up in the ceiling of the old shop I used to work out of. That space up there has 2 feet of blown in cellulose insulation, no way I was going to to go up through the access hatch about 30' away and crawl through the insulation looking for a clutch. The young fellow that started the saw about crapped his pants, then turned ghostly white. It didn`t hit him so all was ok, I had many spare clutches to fit his saw.

 

[TRTermite]

This is so spot on! Thanks John.

I recall reading somewhere a chap was oiling his motorbike chain with it in gear while holding a cloth around the chain. It caught, took his fingers through the rear sprocket and made minced meat of them. Another example of something so obvious. Small careless lapses in judgement and thought, yet somehow are overlooked at the time.

Experience! The best teacher.

All you have to do is SURVIVE.

 

[TRTermite]

Did something similar on a Homelite little XL Half of the clutch went flying somewhere. Took a sec or three to get hold of the kill switch the way it was Dancing around on the table. This was outside several years ago, i have yet to find the missing piece ,,

 

[KASH]

Many years ago I launched a Jonsereds brand new not fully tight clutch into a moon lit -40 below nite .She landed in the waiting arms of a snow covered spruce never to be found.I learned never start a saw unless the chain is on it.
Kash

 

[rogue60]

Makes me squint watching vids with guy's piss revving saws with no chain or clutch cover on! LOL

 

[holeycow]

Phew! Glad it wasn't worse!

I ...musn't ... forget ... that ... lesson...

 

[GenXer]

I did that a few times checking on an oiler, it spun like a top on the shaft for a good minute.

 

[trains]

 

[Cricket]

This is so spot on! Thanks John.

I recall reading somewhere a chap was oiling his motorbike chain with it in gear while holding a cloth around the chain. It caught, took his fingers through the rear sprocket and made minced meat of them. Another example of something so obvious. Small careless lapses in judgement and thought, yet somehow are overlooked at the time.

A guy that worked in my Dad's long-ago metal finishing company, watched the old timers spin the big nuts onto the polishing jacks with their fingers, and thought he'd be cool and do the same - only they all did it bare-handed - all you were going to lose was a little skin, if anything went wrong.

He did it in a pair of those sort of loose fuzzy work gloves. They got the thumb to the hospital along with him, but it was too mangled to put back.