Hi, hoping someone can help! Had a search and can’t find any similar instances of this… I have a 2017 scrambler desert sled (803). I wasn’t getting on with the cable clutch and given that the bike is ‘somewhat prepared’ for a hydraulic clutch, I went for it and converted. All seemed find and dandy and it shifts ok but what I’ve noticed is that the clutch lever doesn’t go all the way to the bar. It stops 5mm away and although I’m not certain of this, so don’t hang your answer on it, it seems like that distance increases when the clutch pack is hot. With the slave bleed nipple open, the lever goes all the way, so I’m ruling out a dodgy master. Lever free play is ok too. I can see that through the oil filler cap that the clutch plates are separating. I’m using the DUCABIKE AFI02 hydraulic conversion kit with a slave cylinder from a 2007 m695. The slave worked fine on the monster. The DUCABIKE kit comes with the Brembo master, hose, hardware, pushrod, 8mm bearing and a replacement for the part that sits within the ball bearing that sits inside the clutch plate. Don’t know what it’s called but it replaces the part that interacts with the cable actuated component that penetrates through the clutch side engine cover. My one observation when installing was that while the OE part was a tight fit inside the bearing (I had to hammer it out) the replacement part was a smaller diameter. Although a little weird, I wasn’t worried as it has a flange that sat against the inner ring of the bearing and it was unable to move from side to side. Any clues would be welcome as I don’t want to have to open it all up again!
I’d hazard a guess that if you were to drain the oil and remove the RH crankcase cover you’d see score marks on the inside of it where the clutch pressure plate has made contact. I’m guessing, and no-one would know for sure without opening it up, that the distance the slave cylinder is trying to push the pushrod is greater than the distance the push rod can physically travel. I don’t know off the top of my head the size of the M695 slave cylinder but changing it for a slightly larger one that won’t move as far with the amount of fluid expelled by the master cylinder may cure the problem, although you’d have to strike the correct balance. Is there a spacer (ball bearing) that sits between the push rod and the slave cylinder piston? If so you could play around with replacing that for a smaller one.
Thanks for your thoughts. No bearing in the slave but there is one at the clutch end. I suspect if the rod was a few mm shorter I wouldn’t have a problem and to that end, I could just adjust the lever so the clutch disengages a little later in the travel but I’m holding off as I don’t want to have a floppy lever and would rather address the actual problem (which I realise is that I’m using parts that weren’t made for each other!! Lol) I’m going to try a different slave. I have an Oberon on my partners bike and I’ve ordered something else to try. I’ll report back. On the pressure plate contacting the cover suggestion, this does seem like a possibility but I’d have thought there would have been at least some audible grinding sounds, or it would sound like a dry clutch but I’m not aware of any unusual noises.
It may very well be it’s just reached the end of the clutch spring fullest extension and thus can't go any further. One would hope there is enough clearance there and one would think a different noise would be heard but I have removed clutch covers in the past only to find circular scoring marks where the centre of the pressure plate has made contact. Fingers crossed trying something like the Oberon cures it.
