Cleaning clutch plates

N

Nick

Full member
Hi all,

I've got the Atlas clutch apart and the friction plates appear to be in tolerance. The springs have been replaced so they are in good order.

The clutch has always been iffy but I made matters worse by running the bike on oil intended for a car (still 20/50 but guess it has the wrong formulation) - things did improve when I put in Silkolene 20/50 Classic. So now it is apart can I clean the plates to try and rid it of traces of the rubbish oil or is it time for new plates...or of course just ride it for another 20,000 miles with clutch slip!

Nick :-)
 
You could always run it on Valvoline oil meant for a Guzzi until just before the clutch becomes totally seized, that should sort it.

I cleaned off the resultant sludge and the clutch worked fine with no ill effects.

Or get those fancy kevlar ones, remember how steep some of the hills are on the Scottish :D 
 
Back in the 70's I used to clean clutch plates with liquid called Jenclean, a trade name for carbon tetrachloride. It did a brilliant job but I don't know if its still available.
 
In Finland we wash brake pads, shoes and clutch plates using "Br?kleen". For example CRC manufactures it. I think it means "Brake Cleaner" in Sweden. I think it is available if you try to find "Brake Cleaner", at least Google finds a lot of results. This is for cleaning so called "mass friction materials", the soft ones. The sintered ones could be cleaned with solvents.

Back to the topic, doesn't the clutch stop slipping, if you just ride the bike for a while? If you used car oil, it has such additives to increase pressure durability it will make the clutch to slip. These car oils could be used on many motorcycle engines which has no wet clutch.
 
I used to soak oil covered brake shoes and clutch plates in gasoline then throw in a match, in a safe place of course. Burns off all the oil and leaves the linings as good as new. It was all I could afford back in the 60's but seemed to work.

Stu
 
You may have used a Synthetic Molly or Teflon based Oil with an oil bathed clutch. Take the clutch apart, wash with Lacquer thinner and heat the discs with a butane torch several times until all oil is bubbled out and rough with sand paper and reassemble - Drain and flush that Synthetic shit out of the mill and fill with some old HDEO.

Clutch slip, rattle through shifts and can't get into 1st outta neutral is a symptom of using the wrong oil with a wet clutch.

HDEO is Heavy Duty Engine Oil used in Diesel 18 Wheelers - I use any standard brand of HDEO 15w40 weight (Delvac, Duron or AC Delco... etc) but some prefer straight 50 or 60 weight. - The tighter the mill the lighter viscosity you can use.
 
When my Morini dry clutch plates became oiled due to a failing oil seal, I cooked them in water with washing powder added. The smell in the kitchen was rather horrible ::), but clutch plates came out like new, no clutch slipping anymore.
 
Nick,

Find someone with a heated ultrasonic bath.
Use a mild detergent cleaning solution, at 60C
Worked on mine...

Alternatively, a good dishwasher should work fine, dishwasher tablets are pretty aggressive, and remove grease etc. a treat.. But don't do it while the wife is around :o

Steve
 
this thread is pointless because Nick does not understand words like detergent, cleaner, sludge removal, evaporative spirit, he thinks that meths is for drinking and that petrol only goes in tanks. now start talking duct tape, super glue, cable ties, or baling twine and your getting there
CLEM
 
CLEMTOG said:
this thread is pointless because Nick does not understand qwords like detergent, cleaner, sludge removal, evaporative spirit, he thinks that meths is for drinking and that petrol only goes in tanks. now start talking duct tape, super glue, cable ties, or baling twine and your getting there
CLEM
Click to expand...

Wot, no fencing wire??

piet :D
 
CLEMTOG said:
this thread is pointless because Nick does not understand qwords like detergent, cleaner, sludge removal, evaporative spirit, he thinks that meths is for drinking and that petrol only goes in tanks. now start talking duct tape, super glue, cable ties, or baling twine and your getting there
CLEM
Click to expand...

See Reply #1  :LOL: :LOL: :D
 
Had to laugh, notice that it was only the drinking bit you took exception to.

Got to hold onto Mrs A, imagine the situations you could find yourself in without the "voice of reason" :D
 
So sorted the clutch - thanks for the advice. Took the Atlas into London and rediscovered the thrill of marginal overtakes :-)

In the end I cleaned it all with paraffin. I took another look at the clutch plates and then a look at a 500 Laverda workshop manual I found on-line. According to the manual the plates needed a minimum thickness of 2.5mm...so went through various used items to make up a set which just about have 2.5mm left on em. I figured that the workshop manual would be giving a stupidly generous minimum. While in the manual I also saw that the minimum free length of the clutch springs is 46mm so went through them as well. So these springs were new and maybe have 5,000 miles on them but out of the six only three were long enough! So I found another set of new springs which might be heavy duty (forgot to label them), measured these and they were all good - I have made a note that in the future when I order the springs to specify not only the part # but also the spec' so the supplier can mess about with a ruler...

Mrs A thanks Paul for his kind words...

Nick :-)
 
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