Interest in 8 plate clutch conversions?

[gggGary]

Question is being a thiner friction plate does it have any more likely hood of making or cutting marks into the boss?

We haven't heard of any issues yet. When the Arimid plates come in I might open up madness and swap, can look then. there's prolly 15K on those Alto plates.
@Signal has put a lot of sidecar racing miles on his alto plates and I know he's had the clutch apart. He didn't report any issues.

 

[bosco659]

I did the 8 plate conversion 4 years ago (5,200km on them) and they have worked very well. Very smooth engagement and no slippage on my essentially stock engine.

I switched to 15W40 Shell Rotella last year iirc. I believe the oil change (from 20W50 BelRay mineral oil) improved my clutch performance too. I always felt I had some clutch drag happening, even with 7 plates. This winter I disassembled the clutch and dressed the very shallow grooves that had worn into the clutch basket and this seems to have reduced drag even more. The basket otherwise looked in great shape.

I’ve swapped clutch springs several times. Originally I had HD springs from XS650direct and with 7 of their heavy duty plate variant. Those plates chattered on initial engagement so they had to go. I installed Barnett springs but that contributed to too hard a pull for my old hands. Last year I switched to EBC springs. It’s still a fairly hard pull but it’s the best I’ve managed to get (new lubed, rerouted cable; short arm on worm gear; one piece push rod; Magura lever). I threatened myself many times with doing a hydraulic conversion but haven’t pulled the trigger on that yet.

 

[gggGary]

short arm on worm gear;

Looong arm reduces the pull.

 

[ThatXS650Guy]

If the 8-plate conversion will allow me to find neutral at stop lights... count me in.

 

[bosco659]

Looong arm reduces the pull.

True but I was trying to maximize plate separation. Maybe I’ll go back to a long arm? Just need to find one now.

 

[gggGary]

back n forth tween the TX and Madness today. It's amazing how much easier Madness is to pull. Redid the perch on the TX and lubed the cable but think it needs a new MotionPro cable. Not sure of arm lengths on either bike.

 

[zrx1100]

Definitely thanks gx3 for getting this together. Also to the brothers on throwing ideas out to get this going again. I feel like this was asked and not an issue in another thread. I would go from 6 to 7 and keep my 1980 with little extra bits for chatter help.
Question is being a thiner friction plate does it have any more likely hood of making or cutting marks into the boss? Either way I'm at a point where just extra air coming in my clutch will slip way to easily so I want to improve that w a better metarial and extra plate.
EDIT:mostly try to run rotella 15w40 ( it does have that zdp(zink) more than average oil. It's a diesel oil allot of guys use and recommend. About 16k I'd say easy miles probably runs like new when tuned up right. I'm starting to want to keep more v for ignition and changing to led in rear brake piolet box gages and plate light. I don't want that slip anymore. Definitely taking power where it is needed for fun!

We haven't heard of any issues yet. When the Arimid plates come in I might open up madness and swap, can look then. there's prolly 15K on those Alto plates.
@Signal has put a lot of sidecar racing miles on his alto plates and I know he's had the clutch apart. He didn't report any issues.

there is definitely a difference in the contact point area to the basket's housing. The fliction plates on the stock (and EBC replacement) 7-plate clutch on my 78E have 'flared' contact tabs, while the Aldo plates do not. The stock fibers measure 2.7mm at the contact point. I don't have the measurement for Aldo fibers, but in the photo the tabs look like they are about the same thickness as the clutch steel plates ~ 1.4mm. So the contact area for the stock 7 fiber plates is 7x2.7mm = 18.9mm (times the tab length), while for Aldo 8 plates it is 8x1.4=11.2mm (times the tab length). Significantly lower. I guess there could be risk long term. At the same time, because there is an added steel, the contact area on the boss is higher and the stress on it is lower.

 

[Dunc]

I'll need another set soon as I'm building a 750 277 for a mate.

Got the clutch plates, thanks again gggGary!