Clutch still slipping...

[bwthor]

I purchased these Vesrah Heavy Duty Clutch springs from Dennis Kirk.

The plates and discs were well within specs, but I'm still getting a slipping clutch. Plenty of free play on the clutch adjuster too. The previous owner was a college kid, and he could have easily put the wrong oil in before I got it, but I've probably done three changes since then with Castrol 4T 20-50w.

I lightly sanded the steel plates when I had it apart as well. Should I go ahead and get some new discs and plates? Other springs?

 

[joebgd]

My clutch slips in high gears even 3rd, it's all stock engine, I feel like idk if it would ever not slip they would have to be exponentially stronger springs to not slip at all. I would like to here from folks on this.

 

[Brassneck]

You say there's free play on the adjuster...Are you refering to the lever or the one on the side cover?

 

[bwthor]

You say there's free play on the adjuster...Are you refering to the lever or the one on the side cover?

I purposely made sure there was plenty of free play at the side cover, to make sure I wasn't applying any force to the push rod.

 

[Brassneck]

I purposely made sure there was plenty of free play at the side cover, to make sure I wasn't applying any force to the push rod.

Well shoot. There goes my idea.

I haven't had clutch slippage aside from adjustment issues... and once those are dialed in, slippage went away. (I'm running stock springs/plates). So not sure what options there are other than new plates. Sorry, i can't be more help.

 

[jay760]

Check the plain plates again sometimes they start to blue from being so hot and warp, just had to go through all of mine as it was slipping in high gears.

 

[bwthor]

The steel discs were not blued in any way, and when I sanded them, I didn't notice any warpage, although I wasn't specifically checking for that.

Two specific questions...
1 - Are those Vesrah springs OK, or should I have gone with another brand?
2 - If regular engine oil was used, can this permanently wreck the friction discs?

 

[5twins]

I would think those Vesrah springs are OK. Usually, any stiffer than stock aftermarket spring does the trick. I started out with the MikesXS no-name springs and they fixed mine. Eventually I replaced them with a brand name because I found they had sacked a couple MM after just a few thousand miles. The clutch wasn't slipping again .... yet, but I figured it was just a matter of time.

I suppose it's possible the wrong oil could have ruined your plates. Lighter weight modern car oils are "energy efficient". They have additives to make them more slippery. Unfortunately, those additives also make wet clutches slip. If that's what happened to yours, maybe they'll flush out eventually, but maybe not. Maybe the plates are toast. Also, there have been several reports here about old plates just being bad, even though they weren't worn too thin. Replacing them with new ones cured the problem. I guess it's possible that due to their age, some of these old original plates are just failing. Maybe the cork bonded to them is just getting too hard to grip anymore.

All I've ever used were old (in spec) plates. I could never bring myself to drop the $70 to $80 (or more) on new plates that I felt I just didn't need. But, now there are lower cost options out there. I don't know how good they are, but they might be worth a shot .....

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CLUTCH-FRI...8EAAOSwDfxa6L1B:sc:USPSFirstClass!14075!US!-1

For a bit more money (but still reasonable), Cruzinimage also has clutch plates. Reports on all their other products are good so hopefully these plates would be too .....

https://www.ebay.com/itm/80-83-YAMA...082694?hash=item25a58a1fc6:g:tiMAAOxyDLZR-fiV

 

[gggGary]

I have a few miles on madness now with the ippytatoo 8 plate conversion and 6 barnett springs, I reused the factory steels and put in 8 new frictions, one new steel. Previously even with Barnett springs the rather high powered 750 motor would slip the clutch after 5,000 RPM. Want to get a few thousand more miles on it, but so far no slipping. Careful clutch line routing, lube, and perch renovations, clutch pull is quite reasonable, neutral easy to find even when sitting still in gear.
New perch bolt; machined to fit new reamed bushing in clutch lever, moly grease.

 

[gggGary]

Honest I wasn't the one that mauled up that perch with vice grips!

 

[5twins]

I find axle nuts to be the most abused, lol. Apparently, nobody back in the day owned a big enough wrench to fit them.

 

[joebgd]

I'm going to do a search but can someone post a link and or info on 8 plate conversation.
I know people like to use diesel oil with zdp, wouldn't that be bad or worse than regular motor oil for clutch slippage?

 

[gggGary]

Here's the big thread by ippytatoo http://www.xs650.com/threads/alto-8-pack-clutch-kits.33806/ I did this on madness, clutch not slipping.