Topica Loopframe_Guzzi Archive
 

Subject: RE: Grabby clutch reappears

Author: rccla-@comcast.net

Date: Sep 8, 2003, 7:26 AM

Post ID: 1714439655


Hi all,

My 72 Eldorado does exactly the same thing as Joe describes and has since I
bought it last fall. I had just decided it must be a quirk of the bike and
have lived with it. It does not vary depending on whether bike is hot or cold.
It has been consistant as long as I have owned it. So I am interested too.
Also mine has a tendency to jump out of first gear while idling with the
clutch disengaged such as at a stop light. Other than that trans operates
fine. Does not jump out of gear under a load. When I bought it it did it
regularly. I changed trans fluid and put in a semi-synthetic gear lube and it
stopped jumping out of gear for a period of time but has gradually began doing
it again. Any ideas. Thanks as always.

Rex Clark
 Ian,
I have the same problem with my V-7 Sport. I replaced
the clutch hub with the 4mm spline unit & replaced the friction plates
with the Sureflex items, all sourced from MG Cycles. I also changed out
the springs. My bike doesn't lurch forward like the clutch is either off
or on, but when warm it hooks up pretty fast & sort of shudders, not
smooth & progressive. My pressure plate, intermediate plate, & ring gear
were smooth, and I took great care to clean the splines inside the
flywheel spotless-no notches there either. I lightly lubed the hub &
flywheel splines with BMW spline grease & made sure there wasn't a trace
of contamination on the friction surfaces. I have no trouble with
disengagement-I can easily slip into neutral when stopped & it will
easily go into 1st hot or cold. The only thing I can think of is the
friction charicteristics of the driven plates. I look forward to hearing
what the list has to say.


Ian Adkins wrote:
 
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



Joe in St Louis

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