I have a factory manual. There's another discussion in the forum that talks about not having to disassemble the clutch to remove it, but to remove it a complete assembly. No special tools required. How do I take it out as an assembly? Thanks.

 

To take the entire clutch assembly off (basket and all) you do not need to remove the actual clutch pack/plates. Just use a snap ring tool (or in my case a screw driver and lots of cussing) pull the little clutch adjuster plate. Then the reverse thread tranny main shaft bolt is right behind it.

 

No compression tool needed for this?

 

Nope. If you just need to pull the primary to then pull the inner cover just pop off the snap ring to access the main tranny shaft nut. Hardest part will be the snap ring. Once you pull that the entire thing will slide right off. Now if you need to replace the clutch itself then yes you will need the tool. Oh and when you go to loosen the tranny nut the tire will spin on you. Put the bike in high gear and have someone press hard on the rear break and it will hold it enough. You can also do it yourself if you are good enough!!!! And remember the main nut is reverse threads.

As a side note Harley’s design is flat out stupid. Primo clutches use a diaphram spring like HD and you can change it out in a matter of minutes by pulling the 5 or so bolts. BDL’s is the same but they use the separate springs. I guess with HD’s it is cheaper to compress everything than using the separate bolts. Plus it makes you have to take it to the handy dandy service department.

 

I appreciate all the replies gents. Once I get all my parts, hopefully you won't hear from me until I post about how awesome the ev27 cam is and how dry my garage floor is.

 

I think you will like the cam. On my bike when I hit about 3000rpm and above it just keeps on climbing

 

I haven't been into my primary yet but suspect I will soon. I just noticed an oil spot under it. I just put an EV27 cam in my FLHT and like the other guys said its pretty easy. Just follow the manual. I picked up a used bearing puller off eBay and used the old cam to pound the new bearing in place.

 

Good tips in all of the above. When you put the inner primary back on take some RTV and put a thin layer on the bolt bosses where they contact the tranny. Sometimes oil can weep through there with the "wet" primaries, remember the primary was originally a "dry" design. Other than that make sure everything is squeaky clean!!! Don't forget to scrape/cleanout all the dried loc-tite out of the compensator and tranny nuts and use only TWO DROPS!!! of loc-tite. Hope this helps.
John

P.S. Don't forget to lube the running surfaces of all the seals so that they don't wear out on start up.

 

What are bolt bosses, and what should I lube the seals with? Primary oil?

Should I align the engine and tranny while I have all this apart? Is there a way to check the alignment? Thanks again for all the replies.

 

Bolt bosses - where the bolts go through the inner primary (look kinda like chair legs with holes through them on the tranny side)

lube the seals with primary fluid

If you didn't move the engine or the transmission they should be fine