OK, last two years haven't been good to me.....in my clutch dept or the time to ride dept...which is why this is so particularly odd.

My pain is a 1979 FXEF with low miles on it. Stock. Clutch has some sort of tamer plastic discs, and an aluminum had. A little "sqeeky" at idle but goes away when you engage the clutch. OLD Barnett Racing friction discs. Stock steels.

Last year, after getting the bike out to finally ride it, I get it running, go to grab the clutch lever, and the lever has a pile of slack in it.....like approaching half way loose. I thought that I had somehow shucked a T/O bearing. Dropped the RH side trans case off....to find a perfectly good bearing...and everything else. I then figured perhaps the cable wasn't seated in the lever and it popped back in place.....I'm reaching here...over active tech mind.....so I adjusted the rod to bring the clearance back to proper.....and took off riding for the season.....as much as I could....which wasn't much. At all. Puny amount of seat time. Disappointing to say the least. But clutch works great! Other than the little bit of squeeking and groaning that the tamer bits seem to cause.

Now we had some great weather last week, and I fired up the bike again! Went to put it in gear, and the stinking clutch lever was super loose again!!!?????? I went to start adjusting the cable, and remembered that this was a physical thing where you pretty much set it once to get clearance from the arm to the starter....so dropped the clutch cover off and adjusted the rod clearance up about half to full turn tighter.......

Nothing has loosened up....except the cable slack! This cable is not under tension at rest...so can't be "stretch!"

About the only thing I can see is that there is a lot of clutch material on the inside of the primary cover....around the clutch cover area.

This is an old Barnett Racing clutch disc set from 1979-1980 and has been rock solid.......

I did some work on the trans, gaskets and a pilot bearing, and found that the clutch basket disc (riveted in place on the 5 finger thing...) was loose, so had a local shop put a new whippy dippy kevlar one in or something like that.....45's Forever sells them...(San Jose). All is good.....until this.

What I am wondering (sort of out loud) is if anyone has seen clutch material decompose to the point where the clutch adjustment changes while sitting! I mean I rode the bike just fine....put it up for the winter....came back to it and the clutch was hosed. NEVER have had this in the almost 30 years that I have ridden this bike.....damn that looks old on a screen!!!!! Have never had to touch the clutch except these last two years...to adjust anything. Get on and ride!

About the only thing I could have done, is mic'd the clutch pack at some point in the past to use as a reference....but I didn't so have no idea where I was in relation to how thick the clutch discs are now.....

This is a very strange issue....and any insight would be appreciated!!!

Cheers!
Steve

 

Can anyone speak to new discs, which to avoid and which are good? Don't need racing material....just a good disc to operate in a "damp" environment!

Thanks!
Steve

 

Barnett Kevlar. And yes, I've seen old clutch friction material just disintegrate. Just had to happen 45 miles from home; made the ride "interesting", LOL.

 

I think this should be good!
Barnet # 302-30-10005



5 disc Kevlar from Barnett. 'Bout $80. Looks like a stock-ish replacement type.


They also have a 6 disc unit, that requires an extra steel disc for some reason.......


I think I'll stick with simple!!!


Thanks pococj!!!
Steve

 

is the clutch hub moving on the input shaft?

 

Freebird,

No movement that I can discern. Seems pretty good, but I will triple check once I pull the clutch pack out....! Make sure the nut and lock tabs are still in tact.

Thanks!

 

After tearing the clutch down last week, I think I found my culprit. Me!

My friction discs appear fine for the most part. However, the steel discs are toast. Looks like when I did my last work on the bike clutch, that I probably soaked the friction discs in parts cleaning solution (clean...) and even though I road the bike (not that much ) there was something left on the discs that after sitting for some time, caused rust to form on the steels.

As the rust formed, it allowed a buildup to occur, and this buildup on the steel discs was bad enough that it pushed against the clutch pressure plate, changing the adjustment!! This is what was making it look like the "cable loosened up".....

The cable wasn't loosening up....the clutch pack was growing thicker!

So, new steels are en-route......for the new friction discs..... no cleaner next time!!! Except for maybe carb cleaner..... we'll see!

Had I ridden the bike more....this probably never would have happened....duh!

Cheers!
Steve