Clutch Vibration looking for Ideas Early 84 (3 finger clutch)
Still going through the bike it is new to me as of 3 months ago it is an an early 1984 Softail on a Santee rigid frame (or at least has that Motor, primary and tranny combo it's titled as special construction per a Santee frame with Delkron cases so no way of knowing what it truly left Harley as or if it was assembled off a parts shelf and has no true Harley origin) I pulled the Primary to replace the charging system and cure a slipping clutch while I was in there. When opening the primary I found the primary to be a sealed setup (no more factory primary oiling system) and it over filled, half the clutch basket submerged in what appeared and smelled to be 90wt gear oil and also the tranny was completely loose 4 main stud nuts loose and 5th bolt missing.
What I have done- I aligned and tightened down the tranny, installed a complete new charging system (rotor,stator and reg/rec) reinstalled primary compensator, chain and original clutch hub with new key and seals and original basket, cleaned all original fibers and steels with brake cleaner (they were coated and glazed but flat with new or close to new thickness of fiber material per measurement) and scuffed the fibers to remove the glaze, reinstalled per shop manual the rest of the clutch adding new aftermarket billet pressure plate (J&P cycles sourced) and closed her up with new primary gaskets and all other primary seals replaced with new. Filled primary with ATF (not really interested in starting a discussion on proper primary fluid) to correct level just touching bottom of basket.
And now for the reason for this post-The clutch slip is gone but what I now have is a pretty good vibration when engaging and disengaging the clutch enough to where I am concerned with hurting the tranny output shaft bearing and related parts. The vibration only happens during the clutch engagement when taking off from a start as best I can tell, it was not there before the disassembly but this may be due to the tranny being loose and soaking it up from that I don't know. Also I get a very slight grab at a stop with the lever pulled in not enough to move the bike just enough to feel a slight occasional surge.
What I am thinking- I found a few marks on the back of the clutch hub (like it may have been removed by the pry and whack method in the past and not by a puller which I used) and this may have warped it. I am looking at buying a 5 finger hub a nylatron ring and related small parts to make the swap but I would be interested in any other ideas and or suggestions as to what may cause this vibration so I could investigate them also, so any and all suggestions are welcomed TY!
Last edited by Whitey22; Jul 27, 2015 at 01:41 AM.



