Patriot vs Tomar vs Horstman

Jeff Glackin · Joined: 22 Jul 2012 Posts: 16

Can anyone offer experience based opinions about the clutches available to karting. I run in Yamaha Masters and currently have a Patriot clutch that I bought used. It needs to be replaced and I am just considering all my options. Thanks!

Dan Rudd · Joined: 15 Oct 2009 Posts: 198

I can't speak to the Patriot because we've never run one but we've run both the Horstman and the Tomar and I will swear by the Tomar all the way.

Do a search and you will find several threads discussing the issues with the Horstman clutches. My experience was with the HDC5 and that they were just plain junk. The baskets and discs were constantly breaking. It seemed to be a problem where the discs and the baskets engaged.

My experience with the Tomar is with the TD23-2. The Tomar has proven to be bulletproof for us. We've run very successfully in both sprint and road racing. Rebuilds are a snap and can be done right on the motor in a couple minutes. Our Tomar has performed flawlessly and never let us down.

Just my .02

Dan

Jerry VanDeusen · Joined: 26 Sep 2001 Posts: 415

to hard to get horstman parts all they care about now is motorcycle clutches now

Jeff Glackin · Joined: 22 Jul 2012 Posts: 16

Thanks for the responses guys. I cant say anything bad about the Patriot. Being a rookie driver and getting it used make it tough to judge the quality. I race with some guys that run at the front of the pack though and they have had some issues that have them questioning the switch from Horstman. A well known race team in Indy uses the Tomar clutch which makes me want to try it.

Anthony DePalo · Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2012 6:27 pm Post subject:

The L&T Mini is a very good clutch too.

Jeff Glackin · Joined: 22 Jul 2012 Posts: 16

Dave Mears · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:38 am Post subject:

Jeff,
All the clutches you spoke of are good clutches, we've ran all three but have personally found "my" maintenance/repair cost on my Tomar clutch over the season to be less... Just IMO as a friend
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Kyle Kuntze · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 1:43 pm Post subject:

Horstman clutches can't be too bad...I won Daytona on a bone stock clutch and a driver I tuned for finished in the top 5 at Norway. They still make parts for this clutch, I recommend calling them if you have any problems or need to place an order.
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John Salsbury · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 5:02 pm Post subject:

We have used the Tomars for several years and have been satisfied with them. I can't say they would be better or worse than any of the other brands. There have been a couple of the Patriot clutches being tried at the local track. They do look good, but both had some initial startup problems. We still run pipes on the yamahas locally. It seemed like both people had difficulty to get them to engage hi enough. They kept turning in the screws to raise the engagement and as best as I could tell, it seemed like they got "coil bound". Putting on a set of stiffer springs resolved it from what I was told. After that, it has worked fine.
I don't know if you have to specify what you are going to use them on when you order one or if possibly they were doing something wrong. If you have been having similar trouble, maybe you might try a set of stronger springs before replacing it?

Robert Bujdoso · Joined: 20 Sep 2010 Posts: 87

L&T clutches have always worked well with me back in the Junior can days!
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Jim Stine · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:56 pm Post subject:

Jeff Glackin · Joined: 22 Jul 2012 Posts: 16

Jeff Glackin · Joined: 22 Jul 2012 Posts: 16

Jeff Glackin · Joined: 22 Jul 2012 Posts: 16

John Salsbury · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:06 pm Post subject:

If it helps any, we have a tight hairpin at our track and when the patriot clutch karts came out of it, you could hear a strange vibrating sound. After the new springs, the sound went away as well.