Right then..... As well documented on here I have had issues with clutch drag/sticking and various other issues on my 2011 ABS Speed Triple I could live with a few issues but not all of them hence one last try to sort out the clutch. I bought a whole 2nd hand clutch (outer basket, plates, inner hub, pressure plate, springs, bolts, pull rod) On another forum I read some people had there basket replaced by Triumph under warranty for a sticking clutch so thought it was worth one last try. My timeline is... Bought bike... Clutch started dragging and occasionally sticking... Changed oil to Silkolene to try and improve to no avail... Noticed steels were a bit blue so replaced steels (Barnett) and fibres (EBC) as I was informed the oil oil could still be present in the old clutch fibres... Added updated Triumph clutch pin... Clutch started dragging and sticking all the time too... Pissed about with oil level and cable tension... After stripping it countless times I came to the conclusion it is the oil not clearing from the plates making them drag and a lot of oil lingering around the inner most plates making it stick when parked for any time. While doing the clutch swap I thought I would swap the detent arm to the newer version too, my bike had some weird setup with the spring for the detent arm over the top where as the later engines and Speed R had a normal setup. They obviously don't update stuff unless the older one had an issue so for the cost I thought id do it and see if it improves the clonky gearchange any too. Time for some pics....Apologies they are a bit crap....Did it in my tiny garage by the light of a 40w energy saving bulb as it was raining ha ha ha Removed case covers.....bit of oil on the clutch Checked old springs for equal length to ensure pressure plate pulling even Pressure plate removed, some oil inside the hub and wet plates (ooh er missus) All but one plates removed and quite a bit of oil present at the bottom of the hub/basket Last plate removed dripping in oil (bike has been sat since Thursday night 10pm) Thought id check the backlash gear was doing its job while in here...looks to be Time to remove the hub and basket with my new clutch tool Anyone fancy some sticky plate action Some oil present in the basket when removed Basket and hub removed, notice old detent arm with spring going over the top New detent arm fitted with normal spring setup....Older spring was very weak compared to the newer one, easily stretched by two fingers new one takes lot of force to move
Thought id check the stack height before fitting the other clutch plates Workshop manual says max limit is 50.37mm as you can see it was at the limit give or take a bit of tolerance from my tools/measuring Swapped out a 2mm steel for a 1.6mm steel, not exactly .4mm less as the 2mm aren't 2mm and the 1.6 aren't 1.6mm Fitted the basket and hub...Just waiting for my mate to get home so I can borrow his torque wrench to tighten the hub nut While waiting I did notice something that may be of consequence, note the pad size and drain slot of the EBC plates And the pad and drain slot size of the OEM ones I'm hoping this may be the issue why the clutch started sticking after fitting the EBC plates
Borrowed my mates torque wrench, tightened the hub nut (150nm) checked the springs for equal length, threw the plates in ( in the order the workshop manual says, bar the swapped 2mm) buttoned it all up and I'll give it a ride tomorrow ! Yes I did remove my drill bit/backlash gear set tool too
Fingers crossed it all goes ok for you ! Did you check springs were within specs as well as equal length ?
Yeah springs were all OK... Not had a chance to ride it yet, too busy today I did get it out on the drive and start it up Got on and clicked it into gear and I didn't even get the usual clonk into first and could find gears and neutral up and down To be fair even before the clutch got worse over a week after cleaning as it got coated in more and more oil so i'll know for sure by the end of the week !
Nice bit of work Jody. I don't know how you have the patience not to get straight out on it to test ride. Here's hoping you have got it sorted, oh and buy yourself a torque wrench you deserve it.
Great write up and pics, you're the "go to" man for clutches now I'd say. Really hope this works for you, permanently.
Nicely documented Jody. As you know I replaced my fibre plates and springs lasty year, it sorted my issue of being difficult to get into Neutral. I now have quite a bit of lever travel from initial clutch grip to full contact. As you know, unfortunately my bike is pretty much either written off or got some major repairs
Ha ha cheers mate.... It must be me and clutches have an attraction as I did a write up on modifying when I had my Ducati... http://ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/quiet-clutch-mod-done-edited.45659/#post-800957
Touch wood it's looking OK at the minute... Riding to work clutch was ace, more progressive bite, can feel the bike coast when clutch lever in whereas before I'd pull the lever and the bike would slow a bit with the drag Also I could get neutral after the ride to work while sat still ! Proper test was when the ride home came, had the very slightest bit of stick when I started it up to come home but as soon as it was started I could get gears and neutral with no dragging. Gearchange felt much much better, still had the odd rough gearchange but that was more me dropping it into second at the wrong revs or first while still moving. The rough gearchanges were normal gearbox sound somewhere between a click and a clonk, nothing like the 'smash, oh fook is that the transmission coming through the cases ?' that every downchange was... I'd hope it was the new detent arm helping with the gearchange as there feels a bit of resistant to the gear lever now....not too much but you can feel it doing something when before it was like a spoon in a bowl of rice pudding and the only feeling was the smash as it hit full travel and slammed another 2 gears together. To be honest my old detent spring didn't feel strong enough to do anything of significance.... Hopefully by Friday I'll have a better idea if it's gonna stay the same !
That's looking positive, fingers crossed it's cured and you can get back to enjoying the ride without having to analyse if it's running properly.
Great write up Jody, fingers crossed you've cracked it now. (at last - 11/10 for perseverance) Hopefully it will make future riding all the more enjoyable.
Any results in yet, ( I think you cracked it with the difference in the friction material spacing on the 2 plates
