broken clutch plates?

[stainlesscycle]

found 2 broken friction plates when i went to investigate why my 200 wouldn't shift into 1st. i thought the scorpion was bad, but found pieces of clutch plate restricting movement. any idea what causes this? basket and hub looked fine/not grooved, and plates weren't worn below spec.

[dank]

could just as well have been poor quality building material. the manufacturer may have gotten a bad batch of the stuff, and when fatigued, it broke. im curious, where would you get a new clutch from? not just the plates, but maybe the basket also? and is there cross over? i may or may not have to replace parts in my clutch, so knowing were to get them would be fantastic.

[stainlesscycle]

i have bought used baskets and resurfaced the fingers. i have a spare basket or 2 to cover potential problems..

[GMP]

If I had to guess, I'd say its either from bad shock dampers, or more likely from the additional clearance between the plate tabs and fingers of the resurfaced baskets. Its easy to not think of the abuse this mechanical interface takes, that is until you own a dry clutch Ducati. Both wet and dry clutches function the same and are in a constant state of self destruction, but on the Ducati you are constantly reminded of the increasing wear and gap by the increasing rattle as it is not damped by the closed cover and oil bath. The larger the clearance, the more time the plates have to gain energy before they slam into the basket fingers. In ten years on three different GGs I never broke a clutch plate, but I never filed a basket either.

[stainlesscycle]

this wasn't on a filed basket..i'm thinking it was just worn friction plate fingers - i've been experimenting with stack height and have been slowly adding cr250 frictions into my stack (since i have a bunch, and they're dirt cheap).

i have a few dry clutch ducs, and know the destruction.. on a totally different tangent, the duc quiet clutch mod is very effective at eliminating the destructive clunk/clunk/clunk of the basket when in neutral. you still get the jingle/jangle when you pull the clutch in.. i have gotten many years outta baskets and clutches that i used to replace every 6-10k miles. i haven't replaced a clutch since i switched over to the mod.....

[dank]

ok let me get this straight, honda cr250 plates work in our clutches?

[GMP]

Probably the same cause then just from wear at a different point.

A bit off topic, but are you refering to the quiet clutch mod that adds the friction plate under the stack to force the pack together with the basket? I never tried it but like you some have had good results. On the flip side some also feel the axial force introduced to the mainshaft bearing may cause problems. I'm going to get a Barnett basket with the stainless inserts, from what I hear they hold up real well.

dank, yes Honda CR250 plates fit, but the frictions are a bit thicker, so you have to consider the stack height.

[dank]

im more lookin at steel plates, mine may be warped. what years CR? any? and thanks much!

[stainlesscycle]

Originally Posted by GMP

A bit off topic, but are you refering to the quiet clutch mod that adds the friction plate under the stack to force the pack together with the basket? I never tried it but like you some have had good results. On the flip side some also feel the axial force introduced to the mainshaft bearing may cause problems. I'm going to get a Barnett basket with the stainless inserts, from what I hear they hold up real well.

yeah, i know that bearing is not designed for axial load, i have not had an issue...but it has made basket wear almost non existent. i don't know if it's a trade off in the long run.. i have not heard of any bearing failures, to the best of my knowledge it's just conjecture. you're not loading that bearing much, you're basically just changing the runout to zero.

[GMP]

Your right, there have not been any documented failures, just speculation. Its probably fine, especially if you cut the added plate so that the preload on the pack is just enough and not too much. I should try and find a couple old frictions and play with it.