| Author | Message | |||
     Arcticktm |
Thought I would post my summary here to be of more use in future searches. Here is my experience replacing my stock fried clutch with Energy One Extra Plate kit for Sportster/Buell. You must be careful, as the kit is NOT A DROP IN REPLACEMENT as Energy One claims. They are a few years out of date on Buell clutches. Summary: My stock '06 XB12X Uly clutch was totally fried. I measured the friction stack, and it was .030"+ below the minimum spec per SM. Installed Energy One Extra Plate clutch kit, including a 15% stiffer than stock diaphragm spring. Pretty straightforward, though the spring seat was a bit confusing to get in the right order, having never worked on a HD clutch before. I bought a spring compressor tool from Energy One as well. It was much cheaper than H-D, but not great quality, as I had to chase the threads with a tap. It worked fine after that. NOTE: I got the "extra plate" kit, but had to eliminate 1 of each plate to match the stock # of plates (I used 8 friction, 7 metal)and get near the stock stack height. These kits are all set up for replacing the double riveted plate that HD/Buell used to use, but our newer bikes (2005+?) do not have these. I also ended up removing the "narrow" friction plate (since all the frictions were toasted, of course) and the 2 metal rings that fit inside it (1 is a seat, the other a wave washer). Anyway, the stiffer spring gives a bit more aggressive engagement than stock, and I liked that. Still using Formula+ oil. Clutch soon began to give me some very grabby starts, that adjustments could not get rid of. In Spring of 2008, I lowered the primary gearing using the XB9 parts, from American Sport Bike. I like the lower gearing. Summer 2008 update – clutch developed and has continued to suffer from VERY grabby starts, no matter how slow and smooth the clutch lever is let out. Clutch cable and clutch freeplay (in primary cover) adjustments do not help, and are all in SM spec. Tore apart Energy One clutch, called Energy One, and began troubleshooting in August 2008. Spreadsheet attached is from SM specs and my measurements of my parts with electronic calipers. August 8, 2008: Based on above, the Energy One steel plates are each .0064" thinner than the stock Buell plates. This makes the clutch pack too small with the Energy One parts. You cannot simply add in the extra friction and steel plate from the Energy One kit, as this makes the stack too big to fit. ENERGY ONE DOES NOT SEEM TO UNDERSTAND THIS! Bought all new H-D steel plates. Put back together with Energy One frictions, H-D steel, and went back to stock diaphragm spring, plus new Formula+ oil. This makes clutch pack measure close to what a new OEM clutch should, but replaces the stock narrow friction/wave washer setup with another set of normal friction & steel plates. Note that I tried to deal with Kent at Energy One about this, but he stopped returning my calls and emails in August. This “fix” ended up costing me about $65 more to buy new H-D plates, not counting new oil and gasket for primary cover. As of April 30, 2009 and 2K miles later, this seems to be working well. Clutch is much less grabby, even with lower XB9 gearing that I have in the bike.
| |||
| Arcticktm |
Update to the story: The "shudder/judder" grabby starts came back quickly, even with the proper stack height and the OEM steel plates. I noticed that the official H-D name for the spring washer was called "judder plate" or something like that, so I though I might try putting that back in. Went and bought all new parts (spring washer, backing washer, and narrow friction plate) for yet ANOTHER $60 (friction plate alone is a ridiculous $26). I installed these 2 days ago. I noticed the clutch basket where the narrow plate is supposed to go has a slight step in it, which was causing the "extra plate" from the Energy One kit to wear with a step in it slightly. I put in the narrow plate/spring washer/backing washer, but kept the other 7 Energy One friction plates (since buying new HD frictions was too expensive). Only 1 ride so far today, but so far, so good. Engagement is much smoother and not at all grabby so far. Again, watch out for these kits, they are NOT plug and play. | |||
| Arcticktm |
Just an update to say that 7 months and several thousand miles later, this last setup is still working excellent. Great feel and engagement, and the shudder/judder has not returned since putting back in the OEM narrow friction plate setup. I am disappointed in Energy One, but it still cost me less than buying all stock HD parts, though it took me a lot of extra wrench time to get there. | |||
| Arcticktm |
10k miles later (18k on main fiber plates)and still working great with the April 2010 setup as above. | |||
| Nillaice |
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/disc us.cgi?pg=prev&topic=32777&page=643575 Ymmv | |||
| Arcticktm |
Nilla, What was the point of the above link to a thread that appears to be about rear engine mount removal? I don't get the connection. It appears now (2014) that at some point Energy One must have realized and corrected (hopefully) their mistake. I now see they have a separate Buell XB only clutch kit on their website. Hopefully it avoids the hassles I had above, though it will still replace the stock judder plate with a normal size friction plate/steel combo. That allows them to claim a friction area increase while keeping their kit simpler (no special plates needed). |
Clutch measurements