Not too sure if "pressure" was the right word, anyway: I changed my clutch plates, but for some reason I pull the clutch in and nothing? It's still loose as. Did I not tighten up the clutch pressure plate enough or the springs that keep it in place? I noticed on the clutch pressure plate, there's a center screw which you can adjust?
I believe you are refering to the clutch lever being loose here? You did not happen to find a small ball bearing on the ground by any chance??? It fits up the tube of where that adjusting screw you mentioned goes in to. Without that there is nothing to push the pressure plate off the friction plates when you pull the lever. Just from memory it would be very small, about 5mm dia ???
Alright, turns out that the end of the clutch cable wasn't pushing the pressure plate out. Now it's "half" getting into gear, that being, bike indicates it's in first gear (neutral light disappears), there's more resistance if I push the bike but it's not 100% in gear. Could this be due to not enough pressure from the springs? I think I need to do them tighter. Not too sure what new clutch plates feel like, so I thought it was tight as it is and loosened them up a bit. Looks like I'm taking the hard route but any advice would be nice.
Ok if your plates are new (presumably you soaked them in bike engine oil overnight first ?) they should be thicker than the old plates. That means that the pusher rod (part 19) that comes thru the center of the clutch shaft, will have to travel further towards the pressure plate (which is now further away) to lift it off the clutch plates. The pusher rod (part 19) is driven by another vertical shaft (part 20) which is connected to the end of the clutch cable. Between the pusher rod (part 19) and the adjusting shaft (part 4) that is in the pressure plate, is where the small ball bearing (part 18) sits inside the centre of the clutch shaft. This allows the non rotating pusher rod to push the rotating pressure plate clear of the clutch plates and reduce the friction and no longer drive. The ball bearing does not usually come out of the shaft but I have had it happen to me. I doubt your springs will have less tension now that you have new plates fitted. I would think that proper adjustment of the clutch would be where the lever has a bit of free play (maybe 5 or 10mm movement at the end) before resistance is felt on the lever and the pressure plate starts lifting. Please describe better the symptoms as I am still a bit unsure exactly of your problem.
Okay, I adjust the springs by tightening them up to the proper torque setting. I was being over-cautious due to breaking it before. So there is pressure in the clutch and it is pushing out the plate when I pull in the clutch (as it should). So, all the parts etc are in order it's now just about adjusting it I'm guessing. I managed to get the sensors to indicate the clutch is in to let it start (as in, the gear isn't engaged), however, there is still some resistance once I pull the clutch in (suggesting it's slightly still in gear). Letting go of the clutch (and assuming it's in gear) does increase reistance a bit, but you can still push the bike forward with a bit more grunt. I'll try adjust the cable from the handle bar tomorrow. Just wondering, the cable at the end of the lever, to make it "loose" or "tight" which way is it supposed to go (just to make sure). So far I've been able to work through it using common sense, but now it's just stumped me. I don't want to pay a mechanic defeating the purpose of doing it myself. I'm so close.
i got a question on the topic can you adjust the clutch cable at the end where the clutch is rather then at the lever.... mine is all the way out (at the lever) and id like to bring it in abit
As far as I know you don't, because that's why I changed my clutch plates in the first place. It's a sign that they are worn out and need replacing, hence why you can't adjust it.
I take it you mean its is in gear but will allow you to start the engine with the clutch pulled? do you mean it takes effort to push bike ? If so, that is normal if in gear. Clutch is still slipping. Where did you get the new plates from? are they brand new? Did you measure the thickness of the new plates Vs the old plates? Screw adjuster in to the body of the lever to make the lever loose and the plates tight.
Mine used to slip a for a moment when I did a gear change at full throttle - but the plates wern't worn when I checked them. I suspect it might have been the oil I was using taking a short second to escape from between the plates. I even packed the springs to increase the pressure, but it did not help much. By the way the spring min length is 28mm and clutch plate min thickness is 2.8mm
i think dave is right you must have lost that small ball bearing since you can't find it and, from memory you can adjust the cable at the engine lever
I am not so sure ... without the ball, the clutch would not release at all.. I.E. the push rod would be able to travel far enough to lift the pressure plate, and therefore Katatonic would not be able see the pressure plate lift or be able to push the bike if it was in gear. If katatonic only worked on the bike with the clutch plates off while it was on the side stand, gravity would retain the ball in the guts of the clutch. They "usually" only fall out if the bike is level or leaning to the right. It sounds like the cables/lever adjustment need to checked and then possibly the adjuster in the centre of the pressure plate needs setting, although the manual does not show any adjustment settings for this.
When I was rebuilding the GS I had a bit of a clutch slippage problem. Clutch plates where fine, the problem was the pushrod actuator was worn from use causing excessive free play. Once replaced it returned the friction point on the clutch lever back towards the grip instead of nearly all the way out. If you look on the diagram above it is part 20, 21 and 22. It only cost me $20 for a new one on the GS. Worth a look anyway. Missing parts are never a good sign.
i always thought that there were 2 rods and the ball sat between them. maybe i'm seeing double <!-- s:alcoholic: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_all_coholic.gif" alt=":alcoholic:" title="Alcoholic" /><!-- s:alcoholic: -->
Hey where is the best place to buy the clutch plates and everything else needed for a rebuild? Also what sorta price are we looking at? cheers,
