| Author | Message | ||
     Natexlh1000 |
I was stuck in traffic for 3+ hours today and my clutch started to act "funny" it was dragging a bit and also it slipped when I leaned on it in third. after it cooled down, the clutch seemed to act normal again. I have a bunch of miles on my bike now but I would have thought it would just slip when it was wearing out. not BOTH drag and slip! Perhaps I simply have it adjusted wrong? | ||
| Tramp |
while you were stuck in traffic for 3+ hours, did you leave the scoot in neutral, or did you have the clutch lever depressed while sitting in gear? I see more toasted clutches from this activity than nay other. shut you scooot down in stopped traffic, or, better yet, ride slowly along the shoulder, passing the pareked cars. your is an aircooled machine. even the little cooling fans won't saved it in stopped traffic, if it's running. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
stop and go. I pop in it in neutral at lights. Stupid Providence! Making my poor bike hot. | ||
| Tramp |
dumb ol' providence..... | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
So... theories? The plates are "kissing" when I am sitting there and heating up? | ||
| Jackbequick |
Driving plates are turning, driven aren't, got to be some friction going on. Then there is the throw out bearing, that is probably only engineered for brief periods of use. I had some issues on finding neutral on my M2 at first. And it got worse as the bike/tranny got warmer. But once I got the clutch actuator, clutch lever, and primary chain adjustments all in perfect harmony all those problems went away. But the detent is shallow, spring force light, and it is easy to skip over it. From 1st or 2nd gear I often nudge it into neutral without using the clutch at a roll before stopping. Moving my foot forward under the shifter (gertting it up on my instep) to gives me better leverage and feel for finding neutral, I often do that if I wind up stopped and still in gear. Jack | ||
| S2pengy |
suggest getting rid of the spring clutch plate if it is still installed | ||
| Tramp |
always a good plan..... | ||
| Jackbequick |
Someone else mentioned doing that a while back, and replacing it with either one or two regular plates. I've never seen a spring plate out of the clutch pack and the manual does not show much detail of it or explain it. I assume its intended purpose is to spread the plates out and reduce drag with the clutch disengaged. Is that right? And there is no difference in feel or drag with it removed? Or is there some other benefit? Jack | ||
| Grndskpr |
while you were stuck in traffic for 3+ hours, did you leave the scoot in neutral, or did you have the clutch lever depressed while sitting in gear? I see more toasted clutches from this activity than nay other. From which activity or both, IE is it bad in both cases or just one, if so which one thasnk R | ||
| Samc |
I've been told that the spring plate is to reduce clutch rattle, but that's clearly wrong (like almost everything else presented as internet "fact"  . A wet clutch really doesn't rattle much, and I've never noticed a noise difference. What it really seems to do is broaden the clutch engagement; the spring plate kind of "eases" the engagement because it takes a little clutch pack compression to compress the plate. With no spring plate, it's a little more sudden (not dramatically so). Note that newer bikes don't have the spring plate, and apparently don't miss it. By the way, if your clutch is fried, you can get the Barnett "extra plate" Kevlar clutch pack from Jireh Cycle cheaper than a couple of plates from the dealer. | ||
| Jackbequick |
Thanks for the details Robert, I guess the spring plate (I've not seen one) is like two plates with springs between then. When/if I have to replace my clutch I'll definitely have a look at that Barnett pack. I got very fond of Barnett clutches way back in the 60's. I was riding my '58 Triumph in the dirt a lot. Almost any kind of laydown or fall over could get the original cork plates slipping if you had enough oil in the primary (the "automatic" chain oiler could use it up if you did not keep an eye on it). That problem went away with the Barnetts. Jack | ||
| Samc |
More details. The spring plate is like two plates with leaf springs between them, held together loosely by brass rivets. Normally, the two plates are about 1/8" apart when relaxed, in as close a contact as possible when compressed. A common failure mechanism is for the rivets to shear, loosening the springs to fall out. They stay inside the pack, but what then happens is that at some point you can't disengage the clutch because of the drag from the extra trash inside the clutch pack. Some tramp metal eventually finds it's way into the primary. If you see brass in your primary drain, your spring plate has failed. Ask how I know...... | ||
| Tramp |
Roger asked: "while you were stuck in traffic for 3+ hours, did you leave the scoot in neutral, or did you have the clutch lever depressed while sitting in gear? I see more toasted clutches from this activity than nay other. From which activity or both, IE is it bad in both cases or just one, if so which one thasnk R Rog- In my experience, putting the scoot into neutral, and then releasing the clutch lever, is far and away the lesser of these two eviles. Like I said, though, I follow the shark ethic and "Keep Moving", by riding the shoulder very slowly, or else I shut the mill down for protracted of fwd. sta}sis... | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Dammit. I need one of those clutch spring compressors now, don't I? | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Do we get some sort of discount from american sportbike? | ||
| Tramp |
They're very easy to fabricate from a short length of of 3-4" steel pipe, a small piece of steel and and a nut... | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Took the cover off just now. Smells "roasty". The fluid usually doesn't come out dark like it did either. So this pipe should surround the hub? | ||
| Samc |
It should rest on the outer edge of the spring, and allow you to pull on the center with the bolt. Heck, anybody who'll pick up their bike from a tree limb for service outta be able to whip something up (looked at your profile). There's a thread in KV on clutch stuff that has photos, including pics of a self-disassembled spring plate. (Message edited by samc on September 24, 2005) | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Man that was easy! Thanks for the tips on the clutch compresor.  The red pipe is from the outer tube of a cherry bomb and the aluminum bar is from the side of the road. I think you can guess where I got the well nut What an easy design to work with! |
