Clutch Question
Thread Starter
|
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,981
Likes: 48
From: Northern Illinois
Clutch Question
Had something weird happen today...at least I think it was weird.
I took an advanced riding class a few weeks ago. For 4-days, me and the other students did a lot of slow speed Cone work where we spent a lot of time slipping the clutches on Police Road Kings. We were told that because they were "wet" clutches, it wouldn't hurt them. Even after beating the heck out of them for the 4-days, the clutches didn't need any adjustment.
Today, I went with some friends to do some practicing in a parking lot with my '12 Limited.
After about 45 minutes of practice, I hardly had any clutch left. I had to let the lever go all the way from the bar before the clutch would engage. The cable was tight, my 1/16" to 1/8" was gone entirely.
I just adjusted the clutch about a month ago via the Service Manual, and up until my practice session today, all was good.
I barely made it home, I really had to baby the clutch or it would just slip.
When I got home, I waited for the bike to cool off and then adjusted the clutch. All is back to normal now, clutch engages strongly, just like before the practice session.
Yes, I was slipping the clutch today, but no worse than when I was taking the class on the Police Road Kings.
Bike only has about 15,000 miles on it.
I just can't figure out how a little practice session today really screwed up the clutch?
Any ideas? Is the clutch trying to tell me that it's going to need replacing soon, or was today just a goofy deal?
I took an advanced riding class a few weeks ago. For 4-days, me and the other students did a lot of slow speed Cone work where we spent a lot of time slipping the clutches on Police Road Kings. We were told that because they were "wet" clutches, it wouldn't hurt them. Even after beating the heck out of them for the 4-days, the clutches didn't need any adjustment.
Today, I went with some friends to do some practicing in a parking lot with my '12 Limited.
After about 45 minutes of practice, I hardly had any clutch left. I had to let the lever go all the way from the bar before the clutch would engage. The cable was tight, my 1/16" to 1/8" was gone entirely.
I just adjusted the clutch about a month ago via the Service Manual, and up until my practice session today, all was good.
I barely made it home, I really had to baby the clutch or it would just slip.
When I got home, I waited for the bike to cool off and then adjusted the clutch. All is back to normal now, clutch engages strongly, just like before the practice session.
Yes, I was slipping the clutch today, but no worse than when I was taking the class on the Police Road Kings.
Bike only has about 15,000 miles on it.
I just can't figure out how a little practice session today really screwed up the clutch?
Any ideas? Is the clutch trying to tell me that it's going to need replacing soon, or was today just a goofy deal?
Road Captain
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 634
Likes: 8
From: Plum & Nearly
Your clutch and the police clutch are exactly the same with one exception. The police clutch runs a 165 KgF diaphram spring which is heavier than yours. This produces more clamp load when the clutch is fully engaged reducing the chance of slippage under load.
That said, your clutch was probably just taking a good set, but be mindful that once it slips in most cases some damage was done to the discs/plates. It will not detonate on you but it could slip again under load. The other thing I would suggest is setting your internal adjustment at 1 turn out from seated. This allows for more expansion of the clutch rod (air gap) without taking away all of your cable slack when creating more heat from using the "gray" area.
That said, your clutch was probably just taking a good set, but be mindful that once it slips in most cases some damage was done to the discs/plates. It will not detonate on you but it could slip again under load. The other thing I would suggest is setting your internal adjustment at 1 turn out from seated. This allows for more expansion of the clutch rod (air gap) without taking away all of your cable slack when creating more heat from using the "gray" area.
Road Captain
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 723
Likes: 62
From: Cape Cod, Ma.
Sometimes a re-adjust of just the cable will help. After running some re-fresher classes for the area departments we had a few clutches get like that after some cone work. I just put a bunch of slack in the cable and re-adjust. For most that works. If that doesn't then an internal adjustment is needed. I find that if a bike hasn't done a lot of cone work the cables seem to stretch. After a re-adjust they seem to be fine.
Neil
RDMC
Neil
RDMC
Thread Starter
|
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,981
Likes: 48
From: Northern Illinois
Your clutch and the police clutch are exactly the same with one exception. The police clutch runs a 165 KgF diaphram spring which is heavier than yours. This produces more clamp load when the clutch is fully engaged reducing the chance of slippage under load.
That said, your clutch was probably just taking a good set, but be mindful that once it slips in most cases some damage was done to the discs/plates. It will not detonate on you but it could slip again under load. The other thing I would suggest is setting your internal adjustment at 1 turn out from seated. This allows for more expansion of the clutch rod (air gap) without taking away all of your cable slack when creating more heat from using the "gray" area.
That said, your clutch was probably just taking a good set, but be mindful that once it slips in most cases some damage was done to the discs/plates. It will not detonate on you but it could slip again under load. The other thing I would suggest is setting your internal adjustment at 1 turn out from seated. This allows for more expansion of the clutch rod (air gap) without taking away all of your cable slack when creating more heat from using the "gray" area.
Thanks, I've got it set now at 3/4 turn out, think I did 1/2 turn out last time. I'll try a full turn out next time and see how it feels.
Sometimes a re-adjust of just the cable will help. After running some re-fresher classes for the area departments we had a few clutches get like that after some cone work. I just put a bunch of slack in the cable and re-adjust. For most that works. If that doesn't then an internal adjustment is needed. I find that if a bike hasn't done a lot of cone work the cables seem to stretch. After a re-adjust they seem to be fine.
Neil
RDMC
Neil
RDMC
Really hoping that's what it is, this is the first time I've done any real cone work with my bike. I did the full adjustment (internal and cable). Hopefully the cable has stretched all it's going to by now.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 2,422
Likes: 14
From: Fla
Any stretching is going to create slack in the cable, not make it tighten up...
I would tend to believe, (since it sounds like you've only done the clutch adjustment yourself once), that maybe it wasn't actually adjusted correctly? Don't like using that word in this case though. It took me several times adjusting the clutch to realize, that when you are tightening the clutch adjuster screw to the 'first contact' feel it may still need to be tightened a little more...
What I do when I'm tightening the adjustment screw, is when I first feel contact as I turn the screw in, I back off about a quarter turn and then turn it forward again. Usually, it will go about a quarter turn further in before I feel contact this time. I do this until it no longer seems to be going in farther, (waiting for sexual 'innuendos' from GypsyLady!),
.
Most times I have to back off and tighten the adjuster screw to the feel of contact about three times. Remember to work the clutch lever while making the adjustment also.
Seems like this aids in removing the slack between all the parts, before tightening the jam nut. Works for me anyway...
I would tend to believe, (since it sounds like you've only done the clutch adjustment yourself once), that maybe it wasn't actually adjusted correctly? Don't like using that word in this case though. It took me several times adjusting the clutch to realize, that when you are tightening the clutch adjuster screw to the 'first contact' feel it may still need to be tightened a little more...
What I do when I'm tightening the adjustment screw, is when I first feel contact as I turn the screw in, I back off about a quarter turn and then turn it forward again. Usually, it will go about a quarter turn further in before I feel contact this time. I do this until it no longer seems to be going in farther, (waiting for sexual 'innuendos' from GypsyLady!),
. Most times I have to back off and tighten the adjuster screw to the feel of contact about three times. Remember to work the clutch lever while making the adjustment also.
Seems like this aids in removing the slack between all the parts, before tightening the jam nut. Works for me anyway...
Last edited by Def Mute; Jul 3, 2014 at 01:57 AM.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
mi2az
General Harley Davidson Chat
10
Aug 1, 2011 06:03 PM
TRacer
Sportster Models
1
May 24, 2011 11:50 AM
