So, the clutch was not engaging - so I took it apart, cleaned up the plates and the friction plates and now to put it back together - how tight do I go on the bolts that hold the clutch plates? If I tighten them all the way against aluminium plate, then it seems that I cannot spin the inner basket freely without engaging the outer basket. I "fingertightened" the bolts so that I can spin the back wheel (inner basket) without engaging the outer basket. However, tightening them all the way up seems to have no play - and I can no longer engage the clutch and spin the inner basket by hand.
Clutch plates are the right thickness, springs are in spec, etc. Beating my head against the wall - Clymer is silent on how to set the clutch up - only how to take it apart.
1967 Superhawk, Colorado based
Clutch Assembly
No play, with inner and outer baskets locked together equals engaged clutch, that's what you want. When the outer is spinning faster than the inner, that is a slipping clutch. Common causes of slipping clutch are,
1- those bolts aren't tight 2- clutch lever not adjusted correctly 3- oil not designed for wet clutch (energy efficient oil) 4- of course excessive plate wear. Not an all inclusive list I'm sure. 63 CA78
Thanks for the help - I think (in all the exhaustion of trying to figure out what the hell was going wrong) I may have been less than crisp in the description of the problem.
The clutch lever, when actuated, depresses the clutch rod, which moves about .125". However, the clutch will not separate - so the motorcycle in neutral to start the engine, pull the clutch lever, put in gear - and the gears engage, killing the motor. My assumption is that the clutch is not separating when the clutch rod is depressed. So, we pulled off the clutch plate, cleaned all the plates (thank god for the previous post about how one plate is thicker) put it all back on, fully turning the clutch plate bolts as far as they will go. However, when the machine is in gear - engine off - we push in the clutch rod as far as it will go, and then try to spin the back wheel by hand. And it is stuck. So we back off the bolts, to where the clutch plates can separate - but should that be the way? How do I know when we have either (i) over tightened the bolts, and the clutch plates cannot separate, or (ii) not tightened them enough? I think that there is a very limited amount of "lift or push" on the actuator cam. If you have the handle doing all the adjustment then the clutch will not disengage. I am not positive on the adjustment of the cam (the doohickie on the side case). Perhaps someone could walk you through that part. Excuse me if I am giving bad advise, but this is what I remember from working on my Scrambler in the 60's.
Try loosening the adjustment on the lever (at the handle bars), then adjust the cam on the side case until you start to get some tension on the handle. Tighten the lock screw and then make the final adjustment at the lever. I hope that makes sense, but if I'm wrong I am ready to learn too! If I understand you correctly, when you pull in the clutch lever, the actuator/cam/lifter in the cover is fine and pushes the push rod and you have seen it lift the pressure plate 3mm. So that suggests that the lifting part is all OK.
But even with the pressure plate lifted, the plates are not separating and the clutch is not disengaging. Is that what is happening? If so, the plates are stuck together for some reason. Did you fit the separator springs between the plates? I'll be honest I tend to leave them out. Yamaha used rubber rings to do the same thing. Springs are designed to be done up until they bottom - unlike Brit bikes of the era. Loosening the springs should make no difference when the clutch is lifted. Just to go back again. You have looked at the clutch with the over off and have seen the pressure plate lifting? Yes?
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