a few clutch questions

[pegscraper]

It's becoming evident to me that my clutch is needing some repair. It has lasted 53,000 miles, and now it will slip if I get into the gas even moderately hard. Is all that's happened here for the clutch to slip that the spring has gotten weak? For a stock rebuild, assuming the steel plates and friction discs are still usable, is it basically just replacing the spring with a new one?

 

I've never been into a motorcycle clutch, or a clutch on any other vehicle either. So referring to TT's clutch article, I have a few questions. The upgrade consists of what parts, exactly, the heavier PCW spring and a full size plate in the back? Is the Barnett pressure plate a part of the upgrade, or is it a same as stock replacement? How do I know if the pressure plate needs replacing?

[Carbon_One]

Go ahead and get the PCW kit. It's not a hard thing to change. You'll save money going with this one over the Barrett too. You'll get a pressure plate, gasket, a half plate, and if I recall perhaps a retaining clip.

In all likelyhood you won't need to replace any discs. Having changed a couple kits so far I haven't seen any friction discs that needed changing yet as they were still in specs. Others can attest to this as well.

Larry

Edited October 6, 2008 by Carbon_One
spelling

[pegscraper]

I thought the kit came with a bunch of discs and parts that a lot of people weren't using. No? I can't even find their kit on their website at the moment.

[RedRider]

I might recommend hitting Sears for a set of mechanic's picks. They are about $8 for a set and they are handy for pulling out the plates when doing clutch work.

 

RR

[GeorgeS]

Or, just replace the Stock Springs, with a new set. Easy job, and order a new gasket.

[pegscraper]

I really ought to have the upgrade with the hp mine makes. And I might not be done yet. I have a couple more tricks up my sleeve.

[1BigDog]

I went with the Barnett set-up 4 years ago, along with new carbon fiber discs. Havent had an issue yet. At 53k since you are already in there I would just go ahead and replace the discs too. If you see any burn marks on the steel discs or they are warped, replace them too.

[2WHEELSFORME]

Call John Gayne at PCW, super nice guy who will take the time to talk to you and explain things. You can get the springs, one plate and the gasket for $75 plus shipping or if you want the disks also it is $155 plus shipping. He promises it wil be better than a stock clutch. His number is 518-346-7203.

[Sideoftheroad]

Oh sure. Now you post this. LOL

[flb_78]

There is only 1 spring in the stock set up. It's just a wavy disc. The PCW kit is the Speedstar disc for the Roadstar Warrior, another friction disc, and a gasket. If you're clutch has been slipping for a while, you may want to go ahead and get new fiber discs. They're only like 8 bux a disc.

 

The Barnett Clutch kit replaces parts in the stock clutch and converts it to a multi spring setup. You can then get different springs to make it tighter if needed. If you were to get the Barnett setup, do not get the kit with the Barnett plates. The factory ones are superior amazingly. There's a fella on the warrior forum using the Barnett setup on his turbo nitrous warrior and the clutch does not slip. Bike dynos just shy of 200hp without nitrous.

 

If you plan on keeping the bike another 53,000 miles, I would replace the fiber discs and get the Barnett setup. It'll be the last time you ever touch the clutch internally.

 

I replaced my clutch with all factory parts. I also removed the half disc and substituted the full disc for it.

[Hotrod]

Can you replace the pressure plate disk with the replacement upgrade from PCW before

your clutch starts slipping, to prevent any future problems?

[Carbon_One]

Can you replace the pressure plate disk with the replacement upgrade from PCW before

your clutch starts slipping, to prevent any future problems?

 

Yes as that's exactly what I did when I converted my bike to a trike. After getting it on the road I noticed that I could feel some clutch slippage when getting on the throttle hard. With the bike now being an extra 400 lbs I figured it'd only be a matter of time before I was replacing everything. So I made the decision to put in the PCW kit upgrade. At the time I put the kit in my bike had about 20k on the odometer. I've added another 10k + so far this year and haven't had any problems since. All of my steel and friction discs were in excellent shape at the time. It really only needed that little extra stiffness the stronger pressure plate added.

Larry

[V7Goose]

The stock clutch spring is a single flat spring - the PCW replacement is thicker and stronger and uses the stock pressure plate. The Barnett pressure plate is pretty, uses new coil springs, and costs a lot more. Since the pretty goes away as soon as you put the case cover back on, there doesn't seem to be much benefit to me.

 

You can read my write-up on the PCW kit here:

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22927&highlight=clutch

 

Goose

[MAINEAC]

The stock clutch spring is a single flat spring - the PCW replacement is thicker and stronger and uses the stock pressure plate. The Barnett pressure plate is pretty, uses new coil springs, and costs a lot more. Since the pretty goes away as soon as you put the case cover back on, there doesn't seem to be much benefit to me.

 

You can read my wire up on the PCW kit here:

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22927&highlight=clutch

 

Goose

 

The benefit is having a clutch that should last for 100K+ miles

[V7Goose]

The benefit is having a clutch that should last for 100K+ miles

Sorry, a different pressure plate will have zero effect on how long the clutch lasts.

 

The strength of the spring, no matter what type, WILL have a big effect on the life of the clutch, and I suspect the PCW spring is plenty strong enough to make the clutch last just as long as the Barnett springs.

 

Admittedly, I have no factual basis for this statement, since my bike currently only has 55,000 miles on it (still has the stock plates, with the PCW spring added 15,000 miles ago), But I'll let ya know when I roll past the 100K mark! IMHO, any wet clutch with proper spring weight that is not abused will last at least 100,000 miles. The stock clutch spring on the RSV is not acceptable.

Goose

[1BigDog]

Ya know, all this talk about clutch springs and pressure plates remind me of one very important thing......WHATEVER SET-UP YOU DECIDE TO GO WITH ALWAYS, AND I MEAN ALWAYS REPLACE THE STOCK BOLTS. Even though the torque specs are less than 7 ft lbs there is a good chance that you will snap off a bolt in the basket. With the Barnett I replaced the hex bolts with allen head bolts. And yes, I did try the stock bolts and one of them broke off before I even came close to the torque setting. A gentle nudging with the easy-outs worked, luckily for me.

[pegscraper]

Well, in the clutter of information that was given here, I have finally deduced the answers to my original questions. It took a while for some of them to get addressed. But I think I finally understand the clutch thing. I've just never had to fix one before, in anything. I was actually to the point of skipping any clutch thread here because they were always confusing to me. But the time had come for me to wade through it. Odd for me, as there's not much about an engine that I don't know.

 

I have heard not to tighten the bolts up to spec, but just to get them snug and use blue loctite on them to keep them from loosening.

 

My clutch has only slipped on me a couple times when passing, or trying to. It slips more than that when accelerating from a dead stop before hooking up the first time. I'll be very surprised if any of the discs are burned and need replaced. PCW's kit sounds like the best option for me. If I can manage to not hammer the engine too hard, the clutch may just last me until winter time, which is maintenance season around here. It's right around the corner.

[Squeeze]

I was researching another Issue when i stumbled upon this .... http://vmax.lvlhead.com/tips/clutch.htm

 

It's Vmax but will give you most of the Information. Replacing the half Disc with a full Size is called DoubleD Mod in Vmax Slang

[pegscraper]

I thought the Double D mainly referred to the thing having two stock springs in it. No?

[Squidley]

I thought the Double D mainly referred to the thing having two stock springs in it. No?

 

That was my understanding too, but it's only with the 1200cc setups as they still used the separate springs.

The 1300cc Ventures have the 1 wavy spring. BTW I have talked several times with John Gayne at PCW, the spring that he sells has a harder Rockwell rating so it doesn't fatigue as fast as the stock ones do. I have installed at least 6 of the PCW clutch kits in various bikes and they work wonderful.