Surflex clutch plates

Experiencing relatively hard clutch pull recently. It's become worse lately since putting a few miles on the bike since the top end rebuild.

I pulled the primary and clutch mechanism apart. Lots of dust from the quite worn Barnett plates inside the clutch basket.

Surflex plates are readily available from Norvil. I ordered 4 Suflex and 4 new steel plates as suggested to replace the worn Barnett clutch and steel plates on the 70 Commando. The steel plates are not worn, but I decided to replace these while inside the clutch mechanism anyway. There are 4 Barnett plates and 4 steel plates in the existing setup. I ordered 4 Surflex, 4 steel plates and a new pressure plate as suggested on the vendor's website.

In attempting to change the plates, I could only fit 3 Surflex and 3 new steel plates along with the new pressure plate. The Surflex and pressure plates are thicker than the parts they are replacing.

Clutch pull is marginally better with the new plates, with selection of 1st gear from neutral also more positive.

Has anyone also experienced only being able to fit 3 Surflex and 3 steel plates in a 750cc pre Mk3 bike?

I assume the clutch back plate is not removed when I fit the new Surflex and steel plates?

freefly103 said:

Surflex plates are readily available from Norvil. I ordered 4 Suflex and 4 new steel plates as suggested to replace the worn Barnett clutch and steel plates on the 70 Commando. The steel plates are not worn, but I decided to replace these while inside the clutch mechanism anyway. There are 4 Barnett plates and 4 steel plates in the existing setup. I ordered 4 Surflex, 4 steel plates and a new pressure plate as suggested on the vendor's website.

Click to expand...

The standard "4 fibre plate" Commando clutch has 4 friction plates, and 3 plain plates, plus the (thick) pressure plate.

http://www.oldbritts.com/1971_g8.html
http://www.oldbritts.com/nor_comm_71_8.html

A fourth plain plate is sometimes added as a "shim" to adjust the stack height for a lighter clutch action.

http://www.oldbritts.com/ob_clutch_info.html

http://atlanticgreen.com/ndnsclutch.htm
http://atlanticgreen.com/clutchpak.htm

freefly103 said:

Has anyone also experienced only being able to fit 3 Surflex and 3 steel plates in a 750cc pre Mk3 bike?

I assume the clutch back plate is not removed when I fit the new Surflex and steel plates?

Click to expand...

Do you have the original clutch sprocket with the two little pins locating the innermost plain plate ? If so, can you see the pins ? If you do and don't, maybe there is another plain plate stuck in the bottom of the basket. I can fit 3 plain plates and 4 Surflex plates into the clutch on my '70 without any difficulty.

Greg

Three Surflex plates, four plain plates and the original (thinner) pressure plate fitted perfectly and solvd the hard clutch pull problem. Along with a new Venhill clutch cable, the clutch pull is transformed to a barely two finger pull.

Thanks for your comments.

freefly103 said:

Three Surflex plates, four plain plates and the original (thinner) pressure plate fitted perfectly and solvd the hard clutch pull problem. Along with a new Venhill clutch cable, the clutch pull is transformed to a barely two finger pull.

Click to expand...

Hopefully, you mean FOUR Surflex (friction) plates and three plain plates? :?

The thinner pressure plate is for use with the "five plate" (5 friction & 4 plain) clutch. :|

Correct, 4 Surflex, 3 plain.