Call it bad luck… Around a week ago the clutch went on my 1996 900ss. Had to replace the basket and the disks were worn down. Bike has 37.000 so well expected. This morning I jump on my 1991 900 ss (not the same bike as above if you read fast) and I was mentally projected to have a nice coffee in Surrey hills. Cruising at 50 miles per hour and I manage to get almost there when my clutch slips initially on high gears. It slips badly but I thought: FFS, clutch again… then it begin to slip a lot more in any gear. The lever is tight and the clutch appears to engage right when you pull the lever. It changes gears fine and I can’t feel any forward creeping at the traffic light when in first gear. long story short: change of plans and back home. At that point wife wanted to spend the day out but I managed to remove the clutch just now: basket, almost intact and barely marked. Friction plates, oem and they measure 3.0 so I don’t think this is the issue as they look pretty good. I replaced the springs and caps as I had brand new ones and just in case. I did anyway rub some 100 sand paper on the friction plates and put it back together again and went for a ride. Exactly the same issue. Slips now even cold and even in first gear. Come on ss’s … give me a break! Can’t spend every single weekend fixing something any suggestion guys ?
more description of all symptoms needed Joe, have a hunch revolving around:- "the lever is tight" Do you mean that you have no "free-play" at lever?
Hey Chris, that is correct. Basically, even a minor pull on the lever engages the clutch. The feeling I have is that the clutch doesn’t fully release but I may be wrong. It is difficult to describe the the symptoms more than I already did. the bike has 13600 miles and I never had a single issue or any slip prior to today. I initially noticed only on high gears but within 20 minutes it also affected low gears too. At one specific instance at the traffic light, I almost stayed there. I was in first gear trying to move and nada. I managed to move and if I didn’t accelerate over 3000 revs the bike rode almost fine but any acceleration generated revs only and just slipping
two things come to mind :- Have you changed the clutch lever for a different one or have you adjusted the (normally loctited) actuation reach screw on the std clutch lever (if it even has one)? If you haven't done either of these then there is a good chance that you have a blocked reservoir port in your master cylinder.
Did you get the pressure plate aligned correctly when you rebuild the clutch? There’s a triangle mark against one of the spring pockets that has to be over the spring shaft with a slot cut across its face
I did change the lever but that Was a while ago, like 6 months ago and no issues since. I have to honest, I haven’t touched the actuation reach screw from how it was. If that was the cause, how comes it is only showing up today? when I rebuilt the clutch I made sure the arrow on the pressure plate was matching with the spring pocket that has the slot cut. Blocked reservoir port on the master cylinder …. That would annoy me as it means I need to find an original 1991 but hey, at least it’s an easy fix. I will give it some more attempts tomorrow evening. Unless this is due to the friction plates being worn but I’ve honestly seen worse and with them at 3mm, this shouldn’t be the cause.
I'm a bit confused, as you say that "pulling the lever engages the clutch", whereas pulling the lever disengages the clutch. Anyway.... did you check the plate-stack height when you reassembled the clutch with all the new components? Sounds like that clutch slip could be a missing plate or two...?
My bad for the misunderstanding. Indeed a light press on the lever disengages the clutch. I haven’t checked the stack height as everything looked pretty much within tolerances and wear and tear. The number of plates is correct, with two metal plates at the bottom of the basket and then alternating 7 friction plates and metal plates, with the last one that goes against the pressure plate is a metal plate.
It could be me, but you have me confused here, I thought we were talking about the clutch ability and its failure to engage? A clutch will engage and hang on for dear life regardless of a properly operating master cylinder or a change of clutch fluid as long as the mechanical assembly of springs and plates is working properly or if the hydraulic system is somehow preventing the “mechanical part” to fully operate. (I.e. as described in earlier posts).
So it's the opposite of what I said, there's maybe still pressure on the rod, so the plates aren't locked fully. Ignore what I said
You’re not alone, I’m getting to the stage/age where I bumble along and could’ve done exactly the same.
No Chris, no free play on my last ride out. I had free play before which is why I am very suspicious. How can the free play get cancelled on a single ride out? My clutch lever went from having free play to none while riding. I am working today although being bank holiday but I will try to have a look at it this evening. I smell a very easy fix and it is simply taking me longer to detect the issue. I hope I am not wrong. To summarise: * disks are worn but not too bad (3mm) * pressure plate has been correctly fitted with matching arrow and slot cut on spring pocket * new springs and caps * no friction plates or metal plates missing * no oil contamination in the clutch pack to be continued …
not really. Mainly because I had the old springs when the issue happened, I only fitted the new springs yesterday, just in case the issue may have been related to these last.
Thanks - didn’t realise that the issues were still there with the old springs and cap. Just trying to eliminate possible causes.
"No Chris, no free play on my last ride out. I had free play before which is why I am very suspicious. How can the free play get cancelled on a single ride out? My clutch lever went from having free play to none while riding." now you've told me above, i'm happy to stick my neck out and say that you have a blocked or partially blocked fluid return reservoir gallery, as symptoms are just as you describe in above quote. Going by you saying that clutch lever abutment screw has not been touched, and new lever was ok for some time:- You don't need a new master cylinder, you just need to clear the port of "debris" and i've detailed this around 3 times just on this Forum - the bore is small, memory gone (EDIT - it's approx 0.6mm) - choose your "port clearing tool" careful so as not to cause more damage. https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/750ss-revving-like-mad.8833/ https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/1995-900ss-clutch-problem.36559/
Update: finished work today around 5 and by 6 I was home. I decided to look into this and in the end, to follow the master cylinder route and bleed the entire clutch line. I am ashamed by the fact I did not think to get this done earlier, on a 31 years old bike. Funny enough I have done it on both brakes but left the clutch out from being bled. The amount of crap I found both on the reservoir and entire line was literally embarrassing. I have done a deep flush which took me almost an hour. Once being flushed I was also able to re-register the lever from the small register screw and went out to test ride. I have done 20 miles and the clutch behaved perfectly. Thanks everyone who contributed (special mention to Chris, Sev) who could bet this was the issue from the beginning. Time for a shower now and take the grease off!
Chances are you have dislodged anything that was in the small gallery by cleaning as this is the only thing that would have cured the problem going by your specific symptom last added. i.e. - flushing and cleaning master cylinder will not prevent the clutch lever from starting off with play, unless it was an inadequate amount to begin with, and then progressing to no clearance when hot. Glad you fixed it of course but you could have saved yourself a lot of time here, and despite the thanks, feels like I wasted a lot of mine.
