Clutch teardown with pics

Hi all,

Last week I posted about clutch problems I was having -- that seems to be lost when the forums went down this weekend. The short version was that I could never get the clutch adjusted so that it would work properly even after replacing the cable and actuator down near the drive sprocket.

I thought the plates might be warped or something; someone else suggested the clutch hub sleeve and/or basket may be notched and causing the plates not to separate. I think the latter is what's going on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbil...7594234305205/

In some of these pics you can see some wear on the outer basket where the friction plates make contact. These surfaces are still smooth to the touch, but the inner clutch hub sleeve on the other hand has notches where the steel plates make contact. Since this piece is ~$40 that's what I'm going to replace first. I'll report on how that goes in about a week when I get the parts.

thx

m

[Sid Squid]

It was me!

Your photos show some marking for certain, but they're not close enough to tell if they're that deep or not, could you stick up a piccy that shows the marks nice and close?

Hey Sid,

Yeah, I should be able to get a better pic once I get the sleeve out of there. I don't have a socket which fits this bigger bolt, I measured 27mm, does anyone know if that is right?

thx

m

[northwind]

Hmm.

Yep.

It's a clutch alright The basket doesn't look all that bad, I'd say it's better than either of mine and they still work just fine. If you want to try "process of elimination" I can post you a whole clutch out for you to try? But it'd be wednesday at the earliest I reckon.

Okay, a couple more pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbil...7594234305205/

I took this apart and I think I should probably replace the basket too. There are no sharp gouges in this piece, but there are some depressions where it is worn. In one pic here, you can see I've held a ruler up to one of the edges and you can see light through where the low spots are. I can't get a closer pic with my camera or it's all out of focus...

It was a 27mm bolt BTW...

thx

m

[northwind]

Looking at that, I doubt it's scored enough to cause you a problem... Sid Squid's a far better man to advise, I'm sure he'll be along in a minute But both of mine are more worn than that and still work fine.

Hi Northwind, is your hub clutch sleeve notched? Can you feel sharpish edges where the wear marks are?

thx

m

[northwind]

They;re a bit notched, I filed out any edges and smoothed the whole thing over a little, thinking that for the application hard edges are the problem. But that's just a precaution, I've never had any problems with either.

I don't see anything that would account for bad clutch action. Are you checking the plates for flatness? It would be good to know what the real cause of your troubles are.

Hi all,

So, I won a used clutch on Ebay last night so I figured I could destroy my current one

So, I filed down the rough spots in the hub and the edges of the basket, not until they were completely smooth or anything, but just to take sharper edges out.

I put it back together this morning and it works like a champ. I just put 25 miles on it and I can't see any issues... I guess when the full clutch comes, I'll just hold onto it for when this one gives out.

thx

m