Clutch '08 SDR

Hello,

Two weeks ago, Riding with my buddies, my clutch started slipping. Actually, it was the fourth thing to go wrong on that ride. I left the house before sunrise and I noticed my license plate bulb was out. No big deal, these things happen. During the ride, my right side mirror went limp (I understand it happens after 40). Then there was a little bit of moisture inside my instrument panel and later the frigging clutch. It was interesting that all my buds made the same comment. - How many miles? - 12500 - That's strange since you don't abuse the clutch. -

I took care of the 3 minor issues as I ordered a clutch kit for the LC8. (Apparently same parts for SD and SDR)

SD 2007 - UK

60032010000 steel disk
60032011000 LINING DISK 2,8MM 0
60032111000 LINING DISK OUTSIDE 2,8MM 03 £17.40 Y
60032012000 LINING DISK TURN OUT 2,8MM 03 £20.90 Y
60032034000 BELLEVILLE SPRING 2003 £18.25 Y
60032035000 THRUST WASHER 2003 £5.00 Y

60032011010 CLUTCH KIT LC8 03-13 £203.80 Y

SD 2008 - USA

60032010000 STEEL DISC 2MM 03 10
60032011000 LINING DISK 2,8MM 03 9
60032111000 LINING DISK OUTSIDE 2,8MM 03 1
60032012000 LINING DISK TURN OUT 2,8MM 03 1
60032034000 BELLEVILLE SPRING 2003 1
60032035000 THRUST WASHER 2003


SDR 08 - UK

60032010000 STEEL DISC 2MM 03 £4.60 Y
60032011000 LINING DISK 2,8MM 03 £9.82 Y
60032111000 LINING DISK OUTSIDE 2,8MM 03 £17.40 Y
60032012000 LINING DISK TURN OUT 2,8MM 03 £20.90 Y
60032034000 BELLEVILLE SPRING 2003 £18.25 Y
60032035000 THRUST WASHER 2003 £5.00 Y

60032011010 CLUTCH KIT LC8 03-13 £203.80


SDR '08 - USA

60032010000 STEEL DISC 2MM 03 10
60032011000 LINING DISK 2,8MM 03 9
60032111000 LINING DISK OUTSIDE 2,8MM 03 1
60032012000 LINING DISK TURN OUT 2,8MM 03 1
60032034000 BELLEVILLE SPRING 2003 1
60032035000 THRUST WASHER 2003 1

I went to my buddy Mark to install it today and it was easy enough. Pretty straight forward. The interesting thing is now the clutch seems its not releasing. I buttoned it up, turned the engine on, clutch in (Harder pull than before) release the clutch and nothing. No movement.

Counted the fiber and metal plates I had discarded and the count is the same. Removed plates and re-installed and still nothing. There is quite a bit of play between the last fiber and the pressure cap. And when I clutch it, the pressure cap moves but the fiber and metals do not.

Oh SD.net gurus. What did I do wrong?

Whilst changing clutch plates did you remove the clutch slave cylinder and the pushrod?

If so you may have omitted the small ball bearing that goes in the slave cylinder after the rod. This would result in the problems you are having.

Assuming that you have fitted the right number of plates in the right order and everything else on the clutch side correctly, there should not be any play between pressure plate and clutch plate pack so my immediate thought is that either the pressure plate is worn, which I doubt as you had at least some clutch action previously, that the clutch rod is not correctly seated in the pressure plate, or, assuming that you removed the clutch slave and clutch rod, that you have reassembled the clutch slave incorrectly and the clutch rod is holding the pressure plate away from the clutch pack, eg is the clutch rod locking pin correctly seated in the slot in the clutch slave mounting bracket?

If the pin is not in the right position, though, and is jammed in the mounting bracket, it would effectively lock the clutch rod and it would take a lot of force to bend the pin and allow the rod to move a little, so again unlikely but possible and may explain hard clutch action.

PS - did you pull the clutch lever with the clutch disassembled?

Did you remove and reinstall the spring and washer that sits in the back of clutch pack?

"The interesting thing is now the clutch seems its not releasing. I buttoned it up, turned the engine on, clutch in (Harder pull than before) release the clutch and nothing. No movement."

Now are you saying that the clutch is not engaging when you release the lever? Or it is not disengaging and allowing the bike to move freely while in gear?

Hydraulic back pressure possible if the reservoir is overfull but unlikely, I would have thought - try refitting pressure plate, with reservoir cap and any excess fluid removed, and push rod properly seated in pressure plate - my guess is that the top hat end of push rod is bearing on rear face of pressure plate, and therefore holding pressure plate off of clutch pack, and not sitting square in the hole in the pressure plate.

Ah! I read your OP as clutch not engaging, eg freeplay between top clutch plate and pressure plate = pressure plate not clamping clutch plates together........not disengaging would not allow the bike to move freely in gear with the clutch lever pulled.

If memory serves me well;

The clutch push rod at the slave cylinder end has a small rod/pin running through it at 90 degrees, this is a locating pin which needs to be mated up with a receiving groove at the slave cylinder end. If you pushed the rod back in from the clutch basket end, you may not have got the locating pin mated correctly.

Great info. I’ll try that!

Done!!!. Apparently the arrows in the clutch basket and the pressure cap need to line up. Who would’ve thunk it.
It truly is a 20 minute job.

Hell yeah, glad it was a simple fix.

Now sign your waiver and go for a ride

I've not been riding the SDR because I had something in the back of my mind nagging me that I had assembled the clutch incorrectly.

I took it apart tonight and I was right. I inserted the outermost fiber plate in the middle of the pack. During reassembly, I noticed that all of the tabs of the middle plates were painted green. And there was a red tab in the middle of the pack. When I took it apart tonight, I saw the red painted tab fiber plate is the outermost.
I was not able to find much info or how to's since it's such an easy, straight forward job. The only video I found is this Italian guy and he moves the last plate one notch to the right as to not align all the indentations. I don't speak Italian so I don't know what his logic is.


Sorry but I could not embed the youtube video. (See 5:15)

Does this look ok to you or would you move the last fiber plate one notch to the left?

Going by manual what you have in photo is correct.
Note that within the fibre disks there should be 2 different disks both have a different material designed to run on aluminium, the larger of the two being the first you fit.

Yes, The material of the first and last disks is black instead of brown/copper color

Aye, first and last friction disks are different from the rest - first one has larger id to allow for spacer and spring rings and last one should be rotated in position by one notch - some debate whether standard plates should be installed with notches in tangs aligned or randomly installed to ‘balance’ clutch pack.

Did you soak friction plates in engine oil for 24 hours min. before installing..........?

Moving the last plate back a notch is what the manual says and what I've always did with a standard clutch. No idea what the logic of this is!

When I swapped over to a Suter slipper clutch it uses the same plates and I can't remember whether I did this in that clutch.