Couple of clutch questions...

[myac455]

Got my engine flipped over today and started to pull the gears to have a look at the engagement dogs. Haven't got them out yet but was taking a look at the clutch.
All the steels are .073 -.075, and all the frictions are .113-.115..Does that sound good?
Also , are they supposed to be blackish looking, or brown ,originally?
Thanks in advance.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Marc,

Okay, the steels don't really wear much, just make sure that you can still see the dimple pattern on their surfaces, and lay them FLAT on a piece of sheet glass and make sure that they are truly flat and not warped, then good to go once you clean/devarnish them.

No, the frictions should be BROWN, so they have probably gotten burned as well as varnished a bit. Also, doing your US/Standard conversion to METRIC, looks like they are about 2.85 mm thick. New OEM is 3.00, and minimum thickness is 2.80, so looks like the frictions are DONE anyways. Would recommend doing any other measurements in Metric from here on.


Most folks say you can do well with many of the variety of aftermarker brands for the frictions, Vesrah, EBC, BUT you want to also replace the SPRINGS, and these you want to get the BARNETT brand ONLY, the others just don't hold up and compress and get sprung relatively quickly and then you end up with a slipping clutch!

T.C.

[myac455]

Hey Marc,

Okay, the steels don't really wear much, just make sure that you can still see the dimple pattern on their surfaces, and lay them FLAT on a piece of sheet glass and make sure that they are truly flat and not warped, then good to go once you clean/devarnish them.

No, the frictions should be BROWN, so they have probably gotten burned as well as varnished a bit. Also, doing your US/Standard conversion to METRIC, looks like they are about 2.85 mm thick. New OEM is 3.00, and minimum thickness is 2.80, so looks like the frictions are DONE anyways. Would recommend doing any other measurements in Metric from here on.


Most folks say you can do well with many of the variety of aftermarker brands for the frictions, Vesrah, EBC, BUT you want to also replace the SPRINGS, and these you want to get the BARNETT brand ONLY, the others just don't hold up and compress and get sprung relatively quickly and then you end up with a slipping clutch!

T.C.

Thanks, TC
I already looked it up and then converted the number back to decimal. LOL
I new they were marginal , and I guess quite evenly overheated.
The springs were my next question. I always used Barnett clutches, but haven't bought one lately. Scared to see what the price difference will be.
I will at least get their springs.
Now, on the metric thing...I've been clearancing clutch packs for about 40 years,..in thousandths! Doubt I'll change my ways now.
You might hear me talk about 14 mm plugs, and I DO know my wrench sizes.

Thanks again

[myac455]

Looks like I'll order the Vesrah frictions and the Barnett springs off Ebay.

I'm sure they'll be fine.
Some bike people are just like some car people. No maintenance, and run them into the ground.
Dry, dragging clutch cables, no freeplay adjustment etc. will ruin a clutch faster than horsepower will.
Most of the time, I use B-W replacement frictions in racing automatic transmissions. They will do just fine if the trans is built correctly and maintained and not over-heated by the owner.