It's big, red, shiny, and it goes up and down when I pump it ...

You got me

 

Well I emailed Dodger. It had to be done

 

Salad Dodger says...

 

Suspect the slave cylinder not releasing the clutch properly. Does it go
away if you don't use the clutch for a while?

It could just be plates though.

 

It had a new slave only 45,000 miles ago. It did improve a lot, but it
didn't cure it completely. It's getting the fucking lot this time: new
plates, lifter, spring, master cylinder kit, and fluid.

If that doesn't fix it, I guess I'll have to do another 45000 miles on
an iffy clutch.

<fingers crossed> - though I doubt it, as it doesn't let go gradually.
It either lets go completely, or grips properly.

--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/KH500A8/TS250C
|_\_____/_| ..75127../..18653.../..3196./.19406
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 PM#5
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 WG*
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4
'^' RBR Landmarks: 12 Pts: 220 Miles: 914

 

Is there an unwritten smiley at the end of that, or are you really
that pathetic?

 

Bastard! I'm too trusting, innit?

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

It was like back in the old days.

 

Best wind-up I've seen for a long time. Take a bow, Simon.

 

<applauds>

 

We try our best.

 

This is after you engage the clutch I take it?

If so then something in there must be preventing the clutch from going
fully home. We can disregard things like car oil, worn plates, knackered
springs, the plates in the wrong way round etc because it does engage and
grip when it has a mind to.

So the choices you are left with are :-
1. The clutch release mechanism doesn't release the clutch properly.
If you compare this to front brakes I wonder if the slave cylinder is not
going back properly. This could be a fault with the master cylinder if it
does not allow the fluid to return. Worth checking.

2. The clutch is released properly but the plates are still held apart by
grooving in the slots. Make sure all the slots in the clutch cage (drum)
are nice and smooth. No burrs on the inside etc. Check the steel clutch
plates for flatness on a sheet of glass or something dead flat. Replace
the friction plates anyway now you have it apart. You could replace the
springs as well.

 

Plates all looked fine, all had friction pads, though they were *very*
smooth. Oddly, as it's a wet clutch, there were dry patches.

The new vice was firmly into chocolate teapot territory wrt
compressing the clutch pack: had to molish a Heath Robinson affair,
using tyre levers, 10mm sockets, and G-clamps. Worked, though the new
circlip pliers weren't a great help.

Getting the fucking thing back into the engine was a right git,
though. It has to be assembled as a unit before threading it onto the
driven shaft's splines. Of course, the tabs on the friction plates
don't then line up with the grooves in the basket.

Cue much dismantling /reassembly.

Anyway, it's in now, torqued up, new lifter assembly fitted, and cover
back on. Alternator back on and connected. Every thing goes round like
it should.

I'm putting a new m/c kit in later.

Spring replaced. Not *much* different in "dishing" to the old one,
perhaps 1mm in all.

All in all, quite a satisfying weekend - especially as the lift cost
less than the labour charge for fitting a new clutch.

By the way: top tip if you ever visit Machine Mart Docklands - the
side door is only six feet high. Worth remembering if you're wearing
trainers with thick soles, and don't want a lumpy head.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/KH500A8/TS250C
|_\_____/_| ..75127../..18653.../..3196./.19406
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 PM#5
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 WG*
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4
'^' RBR Landmarks: 12 Pts: 220 Miles: 914

 

Oh, I've done *proper* clutches. This isn't proper.

<tenterhooks>
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/KH500A8/TS250C
|_\_____/_| ..75127../..18653.../..3196./.19406
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 PM#5
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 WG*
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4
'^' RBR Landmarks: 12 Pts: 220 Miles: 914

 

You have machine mart on the Highway. Not open on Sunday tho'. Where's
your forward planning

See above.

Staked, castellated or Nylock ?

Don't use stanley knife on a aluminium gasket face, it's ok on a cast
iron face. Use a wallpaper scraper and a solvent.

Cheers

Paul.

 

Or even a plastic scraper, safer still

'Hog

 

Yes, where possible. I've used gasket paper before now to varying
success [1], but it's fiddly on motorbike casings as the face widths
can be very thin. I've also re-used old gaskets (without Hylomar) where
they haven't adhered to the gasket face, and come off intact. Best to
check the faces are true too, use a decent straight edge.

nah, The ally is soft, but not that soft. I use several sizes of
blunt(ish) wall paper scrapers. These have a bevelled edge, rather than
a square edge, a square edge will leave marks or shave off thin slivers
of aluminium if you're not careful.

Cheers,

Paul.

[1] Usually on a Sunday evening when i've no other choice [2]
[2] & When you start annealing copper sump plug washers on the stove ...

 

I suppose it's the difference between working on your own kit or for
someone else who is paying for the privilege. I recall I used to find
very hard plastic scrapers in a DIY and cans of something really lovely
that destroyed entire ecosystems while lifting old gasket paper.

'Hog

 

Well, I tried not to distinguish too much between the two. Gasket faces
are clean enough on a customer car/bike/van/truck or your own.

When you're playing with someones brakes for money ferinstance, as I
used to do, there's a certain duty of care involved in getting it right
in both cases !

Cheers

Paul.

 

Just use the blade. Unless your hamfisted. Millions of people have been
doing it for ages.