Peterson Engineering EZ Clutch Kit for Meade 14" LX200GPS / LX400

When installed, lightly tightening the clutch knob with two fingers is all that is required to hold even the most unbalanced scope firmly in position. You'll no longer have to turn the declination knob uncomfortably tight or risk having your knob popping off as you tighten it to it's breaking point. Meade's design utilizes a "wet clutch" system where two steel plates engage the aluminum declination drive gear. The space between these plates is lubricated to prevent the aluminum gear from galling and having aluminum chips falling onto the worm gear drive below. The EZ Clutch Kit converts Meade's clutch design to a "dry clutch," adding a specially developed friction plate to the system. While the "obvious" fix was to add a larger knob as was used on the LX200 "classic", Meade's new smaller "stylized" knob comes with a smaller weaker screw thread. It is generally considered poor engineering practice to tap an adjustment bolt into aluminum, as steel abrades aluminum causing the aluminum threads to wear out quickly. Only the last 1/4" of the 10-24 steel clutch bolt threads into the aluminum trunion, and the excessive force required to clamp the wet clutch plates will lead to premature failure of the aluminum thread. Since a larger knob would result in larger forces and accelerated thread wear, we spent bit more time with the engineering and developed this easy clutch modification. EZ Clutch forces are light and will prolong the life of this critical aluminum thread indefinitely. The modification procedure is simple, and the 4 page photo illustrated instruction sheet contains detailed step by step instructions.