Still no money to get rest of stuff I need But had some time to play. Thought I’d try removing a couple of clutch springs to see how much difference it makes. I was surprised how much lighter it felt at the lever. While the cover is off is it worth stripping and cleaning the clutch ( not had any problems with it). If so how is best to clean it ? Would using an airline with it assembled do any good ?
Now your there I'd take off the other 4, remove all the plates (keep them in order!), clean them, check their thickness, clean out the basket with brake cleaner, dry & reassemble. It'll take maybe 30 mins.
Piece of coat hanger wire is good to keep them in order and to hang them up to clean off with brake cleaner. Will feel like new once you reassemble.
I should know the answer to this but can’t remember. For the hell of it I’ve taken the old battery off and put it on a basic charger. I’m pretty sure the battery has had it, but thought I’d try anyway. It was sitting at 11.6V before and after about 2 hours it’s now at 12.4. Will leave it on the basic charger and then swap to optimate later. What voltage should it show when charged ? (I know that’s not really an indication of whether or not it’s any good) Am I wasting my time ?
Fully charged is about 13.5 V I think, worth a try but you won't know unless you try it or get someone to test it
Thank you. Thought it was something like that. Bike is off the road so if it fully charges I will fit it and try it. Fingers crossed then.
Yuck. How did that happen? Provided all the bits are out of the clutch you may get away with it but in the long run it’ll have to be replaced sometime.
Crappy Allen head bolt, tapped a slightly bigger torx in and when I turned it it broke off. Perhaps it was already weak or something. Still got to clean it all out so shouldn’t be any bits left in there. Will get a replacement when I can but money for bike is very tight at the moment. Will probably try it and see how it goes
Yes, I think I will try it and see, unless someone comes along and shouts ‘NOOO’ before I get it back on the road. (Could be a while). I can’t see it causing any other damage though.
Battery needs to be a minimum of 12.6 Volts to be functional - if it never gets above 12.3 V, chuck it. When fully charged, 13+ Volts is normal, but it will drop down quite a bit in a day - so expect to see it around 12.8 V after two days with no use. Change the clutch basket as asap. Had one similar on our outfit - I saw it coming through the outer casing while I was over the side - and then it exploded completely, luckily I had moved out of the way to tap the driver to tell him to stop.
Cheers, yea the battery has had it. It got to about 12.5V but dropped to about 11V overnight. Will have a look for a clutch basket. Thanks for all the help.
There's things you can do to make crapped out batteries a bit better for a while, but, in reality, get a new one as it will end in tears otherwise
We’re a bit weird with batteries aren’t we, no problem spending £100 on a tyre, but £50 for a battery “mmmm, I’ll have to think about that”, I’ve been just as guilty as others on this I hasten to add
Very true ! I’m guilty of looking for shortcuts as money for the bike is tight. Stupid really - I’ve proved the ‘false economy’ thing to myself enough times to know better.
If I am going to replace the clutch where's the best place to buy from. I had a quick look about and Stein-dinse seemed ok, though their website won't load now. Perhaps a stupid question too, but will I get away with just replacing the broken center, or should I replace the whole clutch ?
