Subject: Grabby clutch reappears
Author: Ian Adkins
Date: Sep 7, 2003, 6:32 AM
Post ID: 1714429258
Hey All,
Well....after 200 miles, and what I thought was a good fix to my grabby
clutch woes on the White Eldo, the problem is reappearing. The good news is
that I now have some experience with the progression of this problem and can
come to some concrete answers. Let me know if you folks agree with my
hypothesis.
When I first bought the bike the clutch was VERY grabby...almost unrideable.
As I would ease out the cluth, trying to feel for the plates to make
contact, nothing would happen and then all of a sudden it would grab and
lurch forward (hey...maybe the bikes new name :-)). This problem was less
evident when the engine was cold. The bike operated fine once rolling.
I pulled the engine but there were no noticable indicators of something
wrong. The splines of all components looked good....the clutch plates had
lots of thickness. There was a fair bit of clutch dust in there but nothing
gummy. I replaced the clutch plates....realigned the flywheel (it was off),
lubed the splines and bolted everything together.
When I first ran the bike everything was nice and smooth. Clutch plates
engage evenly and the bike worked like a dream....until 20 miles ago. After
spending a good day with my buddy Ed....riding about 80 miles the grabbiness
is reappearing...getting progressively worse. I can feel the uneveness of
the plates making contact as I engage the clutch. The grabbing appears to be
consistent with engine rotation.
The clutch operates smoothly so I don't think there is any binding in the
cables. If the problem was with the tranny I think it would have been
evident as soon as I ran the bike after the apparent fix. I don't think the
problem is in the splines of the tranny hub. I replaced the clutch plates
but not the intermediate plate.....
My thinking is a warping intermediate plate as it gets hot. I have yet to
retest the bike when cold but will do that sometime today.
Any thoughts?
...Ian