£25 inc P&P and you can have the set I used for a week. Didn't work out in my 1098. PM me if you're interested...
I've been in touch with a chap on eBay regarding Newfren friction plates which he has in stock. He asked me if my bike had 7 friction plates, or 8. I've removed it to check and confirmed that it currently has 8. Unfortunately he hasn't got any of the 8-plate ones, which are thinner. My question is....... If the stack of combined friction plates and steels is the correct critical thickness, is it important to stick with having 8 friction plates? I can't really see why my 2003 999S would be different from numerous other models which have 7 friction plates. Very grateful for any advice
No, 7 will work fine, standard Ducati setups are so. That said I have 9 friction plates in my 916 (sintered plates are even thinner) as when I bought the set there was 9 plates in there. So, by removing one of the (2 together at the start of the pack) steels and juggling 2mm steels with 1.5mm I got the right thickness but I only did it because I had them as it was fine with 8.
is the concave spacer plate absolutely necessary or will a flat one do? Also how are you guys about reuse of spacer plates? I've measured mine and they're all pretty much 1.43mm and the 2mm ones come in at 1.98, however my friction plates are sitting bang on 2.8mm and the stack height is now 36.5... It's groaning like a bitch on pull away and really snatches on engagement. so that'll be a new clutch then... :/
I have a set of these for when my plates need replaced. The tangs on the plates will wear quicker on the steel basket if they are alloy. The basket is worth changing too long term as the alloy ones are about 40£ less than their steel counterparts.
I've managed about a thousand miles since I started playing with a set of these plates, the last few hundred with 2 of them in the pack. When I first tried them I replaced all the standard driven plates but found neutral impossible to access. So I reduced the number of allloy plates until I could find neutral .... which took me down to 1. Anyway, the situation now is good ...... much quieter, no slip and I'm pretty sure the take-up is smoother. And I can get neutral with no bother.
2 convex plates, one cone facing outwards and the first plain in the pack, and another cone facing inwards last plain in the pack before 2mm plate. That finally solved my grabby noisy clutch. Its a slipper clutch. JHP sell them. £6 each I think.
My pack height is 36.5mm. I am going to add another plain below the 2mm final plain plate to raise it to 38mm and see how that behaves. Quieter perhaps and probably a quicker engagement. If it disengages that is. I like clutches theyre so easy to try things out.
Don't suppose you've got any of your used Friction Plates up for grabs have you? Wanting to do the "quiet clutch" mod on my ST4S. Will gladly exchange for beer tokens.
I stuck the set Nelson didn't get on with in my 999 late yesterday. To alleviate the potential rusting problem with the material being more absorbent, I decided to try doing the lithium grease thing first. It didn't work. I got slipping and dragging. The former I can put up with till it hopefully goes away but the latter is a nightmare and I was lucky to make it home. No doubt it is all down to my lack of mechanical knowledge. Maybe I should try the @indiecourier approach and put some of the other plates back in. I suspect that the Suzuki tangs may be too tight a fit in the (slightly notchy!) basket slots, so I'm thinking it might be best to put the new plates at the bottom of the stack and the older ones towards the top? What is really strange is the nature of the slipping. It would slip slowly, then bite suddenly - never known that before...
I put them in my bike dry, and they stuck together sure enough. But greasing them seems a bit obsessive. These plates are meant to be soaked overnight in oil before being fitted, and that's obviously the way to go even when chucking them in a Ducati; soak 'em overnight, chuck 'em in, and I'm sure they'll be fine. For a while... The question is, how long is that while? will the oil fully impregnate the plates, or is it a case of drip-feeding them in order to stop them misbehaving?
Hmmm, I badly need to update my posts here. My clutch has now been perfect ever since 2015, when I tried the white lithium grease mod. The slipping very soon disappeared and I was able to cure the drag by putting some of the old plates back in at the top of the stack, the drag having been caused by the new Suzuki plates being a tight fit in the slots and binding increasingly as they got hotter. I now have a light, rattle-free and smooth clutch, made all the lighter by replacing my slave cylinder with an Oberon when the original started to leak. Btw, there is no need imho, to put an extra plate at the bottom of the stack. Simply re-order your existing plates so you start with a friction at the bottom and end with a plain at the top.
Hmmm...this is very interesting about Suzuki gs850 plates. But Adige plates is also cheap and forums members tell me that Adige is original plates fitted by Ducati. Now I need to decide what to do. Adige vs Suzuki.
