What joy, busted my star plate.

[foxjohnc]

After putting a new tranny and clutch in my XJ I went to reinstall the star plate. After busting one already I made sure to be extra careful. Tightened them in a crosshatch pattern and everything appeared to be in order when POW went my plate. Busted off on of the corners. I am aware that they are not available anymore but does anyone have one to spare? I will call the local bike wreck yard monday but they are nothing more than high paid crooks. Seems that I am just cursed. So far today I busted an intake manifold bolt of of my 10,000 mile engine and then the easy out snapped off in the hole. Looks like I will be using my 25,000 mile engine for some time to come. Have a spare head somewhere but finding it is the hard part. Now I busted the star plate. Man, I swear that I must have been VERY bad in a past life.

[strom]

You can probbably get one made...
the downside is, it's not gonna be cheap
the upsides are, it's gonna be stronger and you're gonna have one.

LP

[chevy45412001]

star plate

If this is it ,I don't have one...lol . Whats it worth?
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

[Ken Talbot]

Hey, all you guys with welding experience - wouldn't it be possible to fix one of these if it breaks? I'm guessing you might need to use some sort of jig to hold the broken bit in place, and some grinding/filing/dremel work after that. Is this just wishful thinking?

[foxjohnc]

Hey chevy, I am VERY interested. My email server is down right now so I can only recieve mail, not send. I suck at making prices so what is it worth to you? Am anxious to get my maxim back on the road.

[John]

I have one for sale. Pm, or e mail me for details.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Ken,

My machinist friend has done some aluminum welding and forging, I'll ask him about the possibility of repairing these parts!?
T.C.

[foxjohnc]

Since the aluminum is cast and is very brittle, I would think that welding would be out of the question. May be wrong though.

[newmaac]

Foxjohn, I am not familiar with the Star plate, but I have several parts motors that I can get clutch parts from.
If you get me a part number from Bike Bandit, or one of the other parts fiche sites, I can see about pulling one for you.

[kf4anm]

alumaloy

[TopCatGr58]

It's the Pressure plate assembly part #:
2H7-W1635-00 HTH?
T.C.

[newmaac]

Foxjohn, did you want for me to pull that part, or have you already taken care of it??

[chevy45412001]

alumiloy

i wasn't impressed with that alumiloy stuff.I'm not a rocket sicentist but i could not get it to work on a part that wasn't stressed,let alone on one that holds your clutch together.Just my 1/2 cent worth,by the way i got it all boxed up and ready to ship if still interested.

[foxjohnc]

Chevy, you have email.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey John,

Now might be a good time to mention that I, too, have broken a star plate when I did my first clutch discs replacement. The shafts from the #2 plate that the springs sit on/around can sometimes get positioned so that they catch on the lip edge of the end of the star plate.


Just using the cross hatch pattern won't ensure that you won't catch that lip, as you have regrettably found out!!

That's why I use a 10mm socket on the end of a long extension and handle it like a screwdriver with my bare hands, NO WRENCH, and slowly walk around the plate tightening the bolts 1/2 to full turn each. And during the early part, I push on the star plate to rock it a bit to ensure that the posts aren't getting caught under/on the lip of the star plate. I get in there close and visually inspect it partly thru to see that the posts are being guided into and under/within that protruding lip! Then once I have the bolts tightened down "BY HAND" to where I can see the plate is well seated, THEN I get the torque wrench and do the final 7 lbs of tension! I've since had to re-attach 4 plates on other bikes and my own, no fractures since then! HTH.
T.C.