Well here's my new tool to tighten up the clutch plates on that particular model of Ryobi trimmer.

Basically I grabbed an offcut of 25 x 6 mild steel bar of a handy lever length, and put screws in to create pins that can engage the clutch plates. See photos below.

The tool had to be double ended, because to get the clutch plates off, the pins have to be spaced 47mm apart, while to tighten them on, the pins have to be 50.5mm apart. I just used some 3/16" BSW dome-head screws that were in one of my screw jars, they were a nice fit, but a bit long, hence the washers on the back-side of the tool, just packing the screws up so the projecting pins are the right length (3.4mm). I drilled my screw holes 4mm and tapped 3/16 BSW - handy I got those BSW taps on eBay a while ago. To let the engine shaft through, I drilled a 10mm centre hole. That the steel bar has mitred ends is just because it's an offcut from another job.

Now to see if it works, as in, to get the clutch plates down really tight so that the flywheel can't lift and strip its spline off when running. Stay tuned.

[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]