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Just the opposite myself, and without the judder spring plate, clutch becomes more of an on/off switch, and on heaver touring frame bikes, lots of judder when you try to launch the heavier bikes hard without a judder spring plate in play.
Hmm, not in my experience, friction zone is just fine, and no juddering, whatever that is.
'97 was the last year for the spring plate on touring bikes, 98+, there's a steel seat, a narrow conical shaped damper spring steel and a narrow fiber that goes in the clutch first, then the normal stack.
On my 97 RK, I replaced the spring plate with an extra fiber plate and the friction zone didnt change I slip the clutch with my foot on the rear brake and feather the throttle routinely, no difference. I also got over 100k trouble free miles on the oem spring plate I replaced it on Danos advice. He generally knows his stuff, but I havent had the same on/off clutch engagement he experienced.
put slack in the cable adjuster near the front frame down tube ... adjust the clutch pack out 1/4 to 1/2 turn ... finish adjustment with cable adjuster ... IIRC making the cable adjuster longer will move the friction point farther away from the grip, making it shorter will move the friction point closer to the grip ...
Speaking of initial adjustment, I turn the allen wrench watching the oil squeeze out from behind the snap ring for the starting point. I used this photo for a reference.
On my 97 RK, I replaced the spring plate with an extra fiber plate and the friction zone didnt change I slip the clutch with my foot on the rear brake and feather the throttle routinely, no difference. I also got over 100k trouble free miles on the oem spring plate I replaced it on Danos advice. He generally knows his stuff, but I havent had the same on/off clutch engagement he experienced.
It actually takes a friction plate plus two steels to replace the spring plate and the actuation on my clutch was still good too after going that route...but the squeal drove me nuts so I went to the judder spring setup. Not everyone gets the squeal and some say it goes away after awhile.
back off clutch cable adjustment at front of bike mid cable all the way in,
Loosen outer nut a few threads, then use L allen wrench to tighten inner bolt, to the point that with the long end of the wrench to the right, bolt just seated home, hold the right hand side of the allen wrench up. Hence raise right end, let it fall under it own weight, and that is intial set point. How bring allen wrench back to left for half a turn, and hold the inner bolt there as you tighten up the jam nut, check fluid level, then put cover back on.
Now go back to cable adjustment, and you can dial in the place where you want the clutch lever to work. Myself, since like to have clutch fully engage at end of finger lenght, leave a little more slack in the lever, then the suggested amount.
If you still have problems with the clutch at this point, did not pull the lever with clutch out to screw up the other side ball alignments to plates, then time to pull the clutch out to check its plates and spring plate for problems, or maybe damage to the basket and hub spines that where not cleaned up, for someone having a spring plate come apart on them before you got the bike.
If you need to pull the clutch out to check it and parts, get the clutch pressure disc compression tool, so your not breaking ears when you go to remove the large C clip.
It actually takes a friction plate plus two steels to replace the spring plate and the actuation on my clutch was still good too after going that route...but the squeal drove me nuts so I went to the judder spring setup. Not everyone gets the squeal and some say it goes away after awhile.
Correct, I was talking about the extra plate replacement clutch packs, Alto, Energy One, Barnett.
Why would it squeal?
Correct, I was talking about the extra plate replacement clutch packs, Alto, Energy One, Barnett.
Why would it squeal?
Think of the spring plate in the Harley, or even the concave spring washer in the later clutches, as the springs in a standard pressure plate.
Hence when the clutch friction and steel discs go to lock up quickly/hard as pressure is applied to them, going to cause the plates to want to Grab/load up/ slip/ over and over again ( judder) and the Anti judder system in the clutch prevents such (gives the clutch plates a place to adsorb those shocks and slightly slow down the lock up.
In a lighter bike, less load to clutch from high engine torque and trans speeds match up, but on a heaver bike , hard/fast clutch still slipping hard with motor and trans speeds not matching and you off the lever, the judder noise can sound like the belt is stripping the teeth off the belt (but coming from the clutch itself).
As for 08xl1200r solution of losing the problematic spring plate that the rivets start to fail and cause problems to take out other parts, and going with the later style Judder system on the older clutch basket and hubs, will have to look into it. https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/MrYAA...X/s-l1600.webp
But, Kind of lost on the stacking method, since up to 1997 back outer basket not squared edge/flat bottomed for the spring disc to drop in first, like the later 1998+ type baskets below with outer bottom channel for the concave washer springs in the first place.
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This right here^^^. Make sure the cable has plenty of slack, tighten the clutch screw until it just makes slight contact, then back it out 1/2 turn, then adjust the cable until you have just enough slack for a dime to fit between the end of the cable and the clutch perch.
I have mine set at 1/4 turn out and that seems to work well.
This tends to happen if people don't collapse the adjuster in the clutch cable before adjusting the centre adjuster. Go back to square one and start the adjustment process again, if you haven't already.
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