Wierd clutch noise

[crazy steve]

I have thought about that for degreasing, but some here said that it turns aluminum black.

It will eat the aluminum, as well as discolor it...

[skids]

it's the oven cleaner.

I have thought about that for degreasing, but some here said that it turns aluminum black.

[Yard Dogg]

Usually you can find a Timken replacement for any bearing. Just find a vendor who has a chart you can use to look it up by dimension. They even have most bearings in full ceramic if you want to drop some serious money.

[trbig]

Mine was from my middle drive. It got all over everything by the time I noticed. I had an extra with me and John had some oil, so no harm... except the oil that is baked on to my exhaust that nothing seems to take it off. Tried brake/carb cleaner, Simichrome... thought about a rag with some brake fluid on it next. If that doesn't work, it's the oven cleaner.


kflyboy, if you have the clutch cover off, you can just grab your whole clutch basket and try to move it side to side and up and down. It may have a little in/out play, but that's normal. No movement should be possible side to side. And as far as I know, if that bearing is out, you'll just need to find another star plate. I took one of those bearings out and tried to find a replacement, but no luck. Doesn't mean it's not possible, but I didn't find one. Luckily, I had a few extra star plates.

[natemoen]

Take it easy Dogg, we're just messin' with each other.

If Tod would put his drain/fill plugs back in and tight he wouldn't leak so much oil.

Wait a minute....Tod misplaces his drain plug too?!

[DAVINCI]

Oh, boy...reminds me of an old friend.....

Who left his fill plug home....

[kflyboy]

clutch starplate bearing

+1. Good idea! Otherwise, when was the last time you changed the oil? Have you switched to your winter viscocity yet? 20W50 is too thick for 45° mornings. It may also have water in it from condensation that doesn't get evaporated on short runs.

Thanks for all the great insights. Last month I installed a new Barnett clutch and springs and Valvoline 20-50 dino motorcycle oil and filter. I will pull the case and check the bearing on the star plate. If it is bad, is it a special order bearing or something I can buy locally? I hope it is not the clutch shaft bearing. I have no place to pull an engine.

[Yard Dogg]

Oh I'm okay, I was just joking.

[BA80]

Oh dear lord I'm outta here.

Take it easy Dogg, we're just messin' with each other.

If Tod would put his drain/fill plugs back in and tight he wouldn't leak so much oil.

[trbig]

LOL.. I forgot to put a little grinning icon... except that I'm serious about that last statement! Greg's thick skinned (And skulled) so he can take it.

[Yard Dogg]

Oh dear lord I'm outta here.

[trbig]

Since yours BURNS about 10x what mine leaks, sounds like you better switch.

[BA80]

It's GOT to be that crappy oil you keep recommending to others.

If my engine leaked like yours does I would use the cheaper oil too.

[trbig]

Never had one make that noise. It's GOT to be that crappy oil you keep recommending to others.

[BA80]

I had a bearing go bad on the main clutch shaft. It let the whole clutch basket wiggle. There's a small bearing in your star plate that gets no oil. Your throwout bearing assembly rides on this bearing. This wiggling clutch shaft wiped out two of those small bearings that were in the star plate before I realized what was going on. I could hear this bearing squeek as I let out the clutch. Not every time at first, but it finally got that way

So, even if your clutch basket isn't wigggling from a bad bearing there, (Case splitter to get to it) the little bearing in your star plate could be, due to 30+ years with no new grease. That'd require removing your clutch cover and star plate to check, so might as well throw in some Barnett springs if you do go that far to check it, and never have to worry about clutch slippage again.

If you remove your star plate, you can hold it between two fingers on the center race and spin it and see if it spins nice and smooth, or like it's rolling down a gravel road like mine were.

Not saying this is what you're hearing, but just throwing out things I've learned and had go wrong.

If he's getting the same occaisional squeal I'm getting when taking off from a stop it's not a bearing noise, it's a friction material noise.