commando mk II clutch

Coming home from the WY rally my clutch started to slip a bit between 2 & 3. This happened once before a little over a year ago and the situation was cured by removing the plates and cleaning them after noticing some black grit had collected between them. This time the friction plate splines on all but one plate had literally been worn off. No metal shavings were in the primary. There was the same grit that needed to be cleaned out of both the inner and outer clutch hubs.
This is a remanufactured bike with 13000 mi and has been ridden judiciously. No burnouts, I don't ride it above 5500rpm and then only rarely and I blip the throttle on downshifts. Obviously the friction plates have to be replaced but I have questions. Is it possible that metal shavings have collected on the magnet of the alternator? Is there a history of inferior quality friction plates? This doesn't seem to be an acceptable wear factor. Any info would be appreciated.

Do you feather the clutch a lot

Could be a lot of things causing problem...weak springs, cable adjustment...

matisse said:

Coming home from the WY rally my clutch started to slip a bit between 2 & 3. This happened once before a little over a year ago and the situation was cured by removing the plates and cleaning them after noticing some black grit had collected between them. This time the friction plate splines on all but one plate had literally been worn off. No metal shavings were in the primary. There was the same grit that needed to be cleaned out of both the inner and outer clutch hubs.
This is a remanufactured bike with 13000 mi and has been ridden judiciously. No burnouts, I don't ride it above 5500rpm and then only rarely and I blip the throttle on downshifts. Obviously the friction plates have to be replaced but I have questions. Is it possible that metal shavings have collected on the magnet of the alternator? Is there a history of inferior quality friction plates? This doesn't seem to be an acceptable wear factor. Any info would be appreciated.

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If your friction plate splines wore off, they were aluminum and will not be stuck to your rotor magnet. Not inferior quality, just Barnett's choice of material. The up side is the soft aluminum plates do not wear the expensive clutch hub. Steel plates would not have worn off. After replacing my clutch hub, I shelved the sintered bronze/steel plates in favor of the Barnett aluminum. after 5,000 miles, I observed some spline wear, if I get 15K, I'll chuck 'em.
Who/where/how was your bike remanufactured?

If 15000 is all I can expect I'm a little disappointed. I've had other Commandos that had better clutch life. The bike was remanufactured by Doug McCadam and otherwise has been basically problem free. Replacing the friction plates really is no big deal. I just want to be sure there isn't a problem with the material.

I can't belive this, I have owned my 74 Norton since new, I am still running my orginal clutch plates ( steel and Bronze) I have ridden my bike 6 days out of 7 and has done just on 140,000 miles,(the only time off the road was for rebuild) I have run it with nomal motor oil (it do not like motor oil as it will slip) I have run with the lightest oil I can fine from fork oil to tranny oil to 2 stroke oil, (my gear box oil don't get into my primary) and I still had problems with slipping and dragging but not as much, the best way is to run a dry clutch, (belt drive) but with a few issues with my belt drive I am going back to chain, but I still want to run a dry clutch, every one says the steel and bronze plates will wear out your clutch centre, well I have just replaced my clutch centre for the frist time in 140,000 miles, yes they do wear, but I think I have done good.

If you do run your clutch in oil you will have to keep pulling your plates out to clean them it all depends when they start to slip or drag, but its all part of any maintenance that is needed, I can't understand how so many poeple have so much troubles with their clutches with so low miles on their bike.

Ashley

matisse said:

If 15000 is all I can expect I'm a little disappointed. I've had other Commandos that had better clutch life. The bike was remanufactured by Doug McCadam and otherwise has been basically problem free. Replacing the friction plates really is no big deal. I just want to be sure there isn't a problem with the material.

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I have complete set of steel/bronze I'll sell, measure .125" T

Have you read these works yet? Great stuff. Thanks Dave!
http://atlanticgreen.com/clutchpak.htm

http://atlanticgreen.com/ndnsclutch.htm

My bikes a MK3 and like ashman's is still on the original bronze bits ( though only 46,000+mi). I clean them every once in a while when they start to drag and neutral gets tricky to find at a stop but other am happy with them. The driven splines show a bit of wear but don't effect operation. What may chew up NEW alloy clutch plates is using them in OLD somewhat worn baskets. Just a guess really. Maybe someone has actual experience with this?

From what I'm hearing the friction plates have a fairly limited life span. I'm going to replace them with Barnett plates make sure the hub isn't worn clean the bearing and get as many miles as I can before doing anything whole hog.

matisse said:

From what I'm hearing the friction plates have a fairly limited life span. (snip)

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IMO UNtrue...
I have a stack of clutch plate almost a foot tall (flea market acquisitions which I buy , or barnett gimmee's ) 98% have almost unmeasurable wear. Even high mileage bikes usually show little wear. Of course hot rodders and drag racers results differ.
My first choice and recommendation is always a thick clutch solid fiber, clutch rod seal and don't over fill the primary.

You don't need a clutch rod seal, I find when you fill the gear box up using the over fill drain or oil level drain what ever its called, I find it over fills the gear box, when I fill my gear box I use a messuring cup and only put in the reconmended amout of gear oil, I also when I have my clutch apart I lightly put grease on my clutch rod, I have been doing this now for 37 years and I have never had any problems with gear oil getting on my clutch plates.

Ashley

ashman said:

You don't need a clutch rod seal, I find when you fill the gear box up using the over fill drain or oil level drain what ever its called, I find it over fills the gear box, when I fill my gear box I use a messuring cup and only put in the reconmended amout of gear oil, I also when I have my clutch apart I lightly put grease on my clutch rod, I have been doing this now for 37 years and I have never had any problems with gear oil getting on my clutch plates.

Ashley

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That's an interesting observation, one I've never heard before. Does the level settle far below the oil level drain hole when you use this method?

I have also never seen the need for a seal and have never had gear oil migrate into the chain case. I fill the gearbox till oil runs out of the fill level plug; when it stops draining I reinstall the plug. Been doing that since my first Commando back in the 70's.

What kind of gear oil do you use? It's my understanding that the "newer" gear oils have additives that are acidic enough to have a deleterious effect on the gears

"deleterious" Wow, who's the guy with all the education?
I just use any standard gear oil of the proper weight and have never seen a problem. I did a gearbox rebuild last year to replace a layshaft bearing as a preventive maintenance thing and everything looked fine.