| Author | Message | ||
     Denfromphilly |
My Clutch is dragging big time and I had to adjust the cable and ramp/ball three times in the last month for the same problem. I bought a new cable and installed it, took out the slack, readjusted the ramp and have the same problem. Is my clutch shot? Any other things to look at? I have 18,000 miles, 99X1 some perf mods and I ride pretty hard. Any good aftermarket assemblies I can buy? Does American Sport Bike sell clutches? | ||
| Jackbequick |
Den, The Buell clutches are generally consider pretty bulletproof, capable of real high mileage. They do have that thing where the rivets let go on the spring plate in the middle of the clutch pack and it comes apart, that can cause the clutch to get strange. Some replace the spring plate with one driver plate and two driven plates. You have to pull the clutch and disassemble the clutch pack to do the work, the SM shows a special tool for getting the clutch apart but there may be a shade tree way of doing it without the tool. Jack | ||
| Buellistic |
TAKE THE "SPRING PLATE" OUT AND THROW IT AWAY !!! Replace it with two STEEL PLATES and ONE FRICTION PLATE ... The SPRING PLATE usually lasts about 50K miles, then goes BAD ... | ||
| Jackbequick |
Den, Email me at jacker at midmaine dot com if you're interested in some used plates. I can give you have two steel and one friction plate. I bought a full set on eBay a while back and that gives me some extras. My intention is to pull the spring plate on mine the next time I get the primary open. Jack | ||
| Denfromphilly |
What about the special tool that my manual says is needed to dismantle the clutch pack, where can I get that? So what does the spring plate do? I assume it's not the same function as the pressure plate? Can I get friction and steel plates without buying a set? Thanks Den | ||
| Denfromphilly |
Thanks for the offer Jack, I will write..Den | ||
| Buellistic |
Den: JIM'S in CALIFORNIA ... SPRING PLATE: So LADY SPORSTER Riders would have a "SMOOTH CLUTCH RELEASE"(has not been in SPORTSTER CLUTCHES SINCE 2001) ... BUELL Riders do not need it ... PRESSURE PLATE: same as for a car ... STEEL & FRICTION: From Jackbequick or any other BUELLer that has spares ... | ||
| Denfromphilly |
ok, so to get this all straight, I need to drain and pull the primary cover, remove all the ramp and ball stuff, remove the clip around the clutch to expose the big left hand 1 3/16th nut. Lock up the stator and clutch with the tool from American Sport Bike and loosen the stator and clutch nuts with my air wrench. Replace usual broken shift detent clip and hammer pins back in per normal, get detent square to shift drum, install new clip that will break when shifted for the first time. Dismantle the clutch with the special tool, remove spring plate, treat with great indignity and prejudice, install freebie friction and steel plates and reassemble with clean threads, loctite, torque etc and tell the ladies they can no longer ride my Buell. Take a ride, smoke a beer. Miss anything? | ||
| Buellistic |
Den: The CLUTCH BASKET remains on the bike !!! When you get it apart to the CLUTCH BASKET, you then remove the PRESSURE PLATE ... You can get the CLUTCH PLATES out then ... "PLEASE" GET A MOTORS MANUAL SO YOU WILL HAVE SOMETHING TO GO BY !!! And get a PARTS BOOK for the "YEAR/MODEL" of you BUELL ... | ||
| Chasespeed |
Den, if you dont have a manual, let me know, I may be able to help out... PM'd you my number... Chase | ||
| Denfromphilly |
I have the factory service manual and just gave it a quick look this morning. I did not get the impression that the clutch basket stayed in. Does a motors manual have more practical info? Thanks...Den | ||
| Buellistic |
FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL = MOTORS MANUAL ... | ||
| Jackbequick |
Den, I emailed you, I'll mail your plates in the morning. You don't need air wrenches for the nuts, and one of them is a left hand thread!! You can make a locking bar, I made one out of a piece of fibreglas that is 1/4" thick, 1" wide, and 4-1/8" long. I'll see if I can post of photo of it. I think what Buellistic is saying is that you could leave the basket on the bike (and thereby avoid removing the crankshaft and clutch nuts and removing the rotor, primary chain, and clutch as a group. But it you want to inspect or work on your tranny, you really need to remove the clutch. The special tool unloads the internal snap ring that contains the spring pressure so that the snap ring can be removed. The special tool also releases the pressure slowly and safely so the plates can then be removed. With the basket out, you could probably figure out a way to unload the snap ring and remove it without the special tool. Like using a press or something. I'm sure the tool is a way to do it quicker and safely. The SM shows the process with the basket off the bike, I'm not sure it is essential though and I'll bet someone here knows the answer to that question. Also, I have a tuber, you have an X bike, that may make things different. Or not. Jacka | ||
| Henrik |
Den; you're correct, if you need to get to the detent plate and the shift drum, you will need to pull the clutch basket. Henrik | ||
| Oldog |
Hey Den!, If it aint broke dont fix-it pull the inner pack as described, Lafayette is correct, unless there are other issues I would not pull the primary chain & clutch basket. JBQ That was stand up there man! | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Mine lasted 52K. The "spring plate" rivets went as described above and it made my clutch drag badly. I made a clutch compressor with a bar of aluminum with a hole in the middle and a section of thinwall pipe. Make a bridge over your clutch with the release screw sticking through the hole and use the nut from the primary cover and a screwdriver to compress the clutch. Don't go crazy here! just enough to get some slack behing the retaining ring. I used a pick to remove the retaining ring and then the whole shebang can come off! It's actually EASY! More easy than my kawasaki dirtbike. More easy than my ironhead. Hey! I just remembered that I took pics... | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
OK I doctored them up for public consumption: here is my $300 tool:  Note the familiar clutch adjustment nut on the "bridge". Here is the retaining ring you're after:  Remember, you don't need to crush your clutch's soul. Just compress it enough to get the clip off. After the clip is out, the spring and your tool come right out without any drama. | ||
| Jackbequick |
Nice work Nate! Thanks for the details. With apologies to anyone that sells nicer ones, here is my primary locking bar.   It was cut from a scrap piece of piece of 1/4" thick fibreglas made from multiple layers of layed up cloth (good quality fibreglas work, not chopper gun crap). It is 4" long and 1-3/8" wide. The length is semi critical, the width is not, and the ends were gently rounded to sort of match the primary sprocket. It does not look strong enough but has survived three uses without the least bit of trouble or damage. It takes a *lot* of pressure to create a compression buckle failure in a 4" span of good 1/4" fibreglas. Den, I'll put that locking bar in the package with the plates and you can send it back to me. Jack (Message edited by jackbequick on April 29, 2006) | ||
| Oldog |
Hey Nate like the Guinness commercial there "BRILLIANT!"  | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Yay! people love me.  I wish you weren't all men.  | ||
| Denfromphilly |
Hey thanks for all the advice and parts too. I like the clutch tool, I have parts here that will work for that, cool! Jack thanks for the clutch parts, the whole procedure looks pretty straightforward. Hope to be back on the road in no time! Den | ||
| Denfromphilly |
Ok, I got all the parts and tools and got the clutch off today. The spring plate had broken rivets and they chewed up some friction discs. The clutch is all back together again, it's a very easy design to work on! I decided to put in the Baker smooth shift kit too since the detent plate if crooked...again. I am at the point where I am trying to get the stator off. The bolts are loose and the manual suggests a puller. There is no place to put it and I don't want to break any windings. What do I need to do to get the stator off? Thanks...Den | ||
| Jackbequick |
Den, So you worked out something like Nate showed and disassembled the clutch on the bike? I guess that worked okay? The mention of a puller for the rotor is that you can put two bolts in the threaded bolt holes on the front of the sprocket and use a flat bar or steering wheel type puller to remove the rotor if necessary. But mine came off easily with a tug by hand. My service manual implies that, with the rotor removed of course, the stator coils should lift off as an assembly after the four Torx screws are removed. I don't see any mention of using a puller for the stator coils. The four stator mounting Torx screws are one time use items and new ones are to be used for reassembly. I did not disassemble the clutch pack when I worked on mine, I left the clutch assembled and removed the rotor, primary chain, and entire clutch assembly together. To do that I removed the sprocket shaft nut and the left hand threaded mainshaft nut (behind the clutch adjuster) and slid the rotor and clutch both off at the same time as an assembly. The rotor slid off the stator coils easily except for countering a little magnetic resistance between the magnets (glued to the inside the rotor) and the stator coils. The magnets and glue are fragile, no banging or hammering is allowed. The service manual is a little confusing in that it starts by telling you how to take the clutch apart first and then, in the next section, explains that it can be removed without taking it apart. I did not know about spring plates when I had my clutch off. I learned about those later and got a set of used clutch plates ($10 plus shipping on eBay) so I could replace my spring plate but have not done it yet. I'm at about 6,000 miles and think I have some time before the typical spring plate failure, I'll probably do it this winter. I really wish you would get that all back together and let me know if the spring plate replacement concept is okay. You are my test case. :>  Just joking, don't mess around and miss the riding season! Jack |
