02-21-2018, 07:52 PM
Michael, if you have the McCulloch-style tapered crank in your West Bend, you may use valve grinding compound to lap your clutch hub to your crank. Once that's done, you do not have to use a key. Apply a few small dabs of the compound to the tapered portion of the crank, shove the clutch hub on and rotate it back and forth quite a few times. Take the clutch off and wipe the crank clean. Look for a uniform gray color on the taper. If it's not uniformly gray, repeat the process until it is. Clean clutch and hub completely with solvent, and install the clutch. Apply a good drop of BLUE Loctite to the threads and torque the nut to the specified torque. I've been using 280 inch pounds (23.5 foot pounds) on the 3/8" clutch nuts. Ted