Clutch woes . . .

It's always something . . . just when I think the bike is ready to ride after rebuilding the heads and going through the right side of the tranny. Now the clutch. I run an open primary 1 1/2" BDL belt drive. It was acting a little weird, so I took all the guts out and discovered the inside disc that contacts the inside of the basket was toast - almost half its original thickness was gone and gummed up with aluminum. The inside of the basket was toast also. I'd had a machine shop clean it up once already. BTW, I just put a new set of discs, pressure plate, springs, etc. only a couple thousand miles ago. :angry:

I bought the front pulley & basket (BDL) USED (and that may have been my first mistake) and the teeth are starting to groove the drive belt in a few places. Tattoo says I need to get a whole new clutch.

I can get a new BDL basket, front pulley w/guides, engine mainshaft washer & nut and new belt for $260. I still need to get a complete internal assembly (Hub, discs, etc.) and wondering what to get. Any Ideas?

Wondering why the back disc wore out like it did and the rest of them still look new? This happened once before . . . I do not want this happening again.

Forgot to add I don't want to spend a bloody fortune, either. Thinkin' I can do this for around $500 or $600 . . .

I know your bike is a labor of love but just can't help but think how much time,frustration and $$ is enough? I'd love to see you and your baby puttin nicely down the road.

something is not correct in the stack up on the clutch ! you should not be galling the inside of the clutch drum ! that clutch drum is no different than an automatic trans drum in a car . so this is what I have to say as a tech depending on what was surfaced on the in side of the drum is what has to be taken up so that the frictions and steels don't walk around ! if they are walking and or ratting around in the drum the steels and or spacer is able to gall the inside of the floor surface of the drum ! . are we sure that the clutches and steels were installed correct and was there a shim spacer installed to take up the machined amount !

WOW JoshBob, when does it end? I am sure that you are feeling like this...:witsend::witsend: I sure do hope that you can get some sort of sustained riding in this year..

The 5 discs and 4 spacers were installed with a friction disc on the outside of each of the steel spacers. But I didn't put in a shim after the drum was turned. But this also happened before it was turned . . .

Anyway, I'm getting a complete brand new clutch. The belt drive pulley, belt & basket are going to be BDL (same as I had). The hub assembly will have long roller bearings designed for open belt drives. And I'll go with a set of Barnett clutch discs and spacers.

Buying used stuff for the clutch was probably not a good idea. Going all new this time. Will only take about 3 weeks to get the stuff and be riding again.

It's an old bike, but like I said before, just about everything has been gone through. Not much left to fix.

Everyone I have ever talked to says things will break and wear out more often on an older bike.

But I didn't have to spend $25,000, $35,000 on one either. I think I have around $10,000 in it so far and have gained a lot of expertise along the way.

I've learned to live with it, good, bad, or ugly.

Gotta get my Fatboy down there and see if I can flip it for a SG or EG.

j.D. just got a great deal on a E.G. when he traded his Heritetidge. rent a U-Haul

Guess I'll have to 'fess up. I should be set financially at my age, but I ain't. I've never had 10 or 12 grand just laying around. We live paycheck to paycheck. Also, I don't have a credit rating which means I can't get credit. I've never bought anything on credit in my whole life. Cash & carry for everything - now that's about as old school as it gets LOL.

So, the only way I was gonna ride my own scooter again was to buy the bike a piece at a time. That appealed to me because then I could build it exactly the way I wanted it, and I wanted a shovelhead kickstart bobber.

Joshbob do your self a favor....****can the factory clutch set-up, about the best that can be said about them is that they work..... barely....... Tempermental, finicky, poorly designed and out dated...but they work. Get yourself one of those new generation clutches like the Barnett Scorpion or the BDL Competitor and you will never look back. I caution you though...once you use one of these new clutches you will never again be able to run a stock clutch setup on any older bike and be comfortable with it. You will be spoiled by the new clutch and will curse riding aything that doesn't have the new design cltuches in it. I bought the BDL competitor about 2 yrs ago for my '37 UL and got it brand new off EBay for $300 plus shipping. I bought a Barnett Scorpion about 5 yrs ago for $500 and put it on my '79 Frankenstien and couldn't believe the difference it made. It was like a whole new bike.
Trust me on this....you wont regret it.

Aloha.....Mike

I have looked at the Barnett Scorpion clutch ($540) and coupled with the BDL 1 1/2" belt drive set up comes to over $820. And I'm not sure yet if I'm going to have to do any machine work or buy anything else. That's insane for a clutch. Can't see spending that much. It would take months to put the scratch together. Gotta do what I gotta do: I'm going with the same old set up: BDL belt drive with the 5 finger hub/clutch plates. I can do that for a little over half the $$$. I think if I install it correctly, it will be fine this time.

HRK, thanks for financial advice, but I'm not going into credit card debt. You know something's wrong when I get credit card companies wanting me to get a card with a $5000 limit. I get them in the mail all the time and it pisses me off. My wife did that many years ago and we're STILL paying them off and she hasn't used a credit card in years.

Just found a BDL complete shovelhead clutch system for $625 at J&P. Everything needed, just bolt in (yeah, right!). It's for electric start, so I'll have to remove the starter ring. Couldn't find a BDL kit like this one in kick start. Still looking . . .

Price includes a $40 gold card which gives 10% to 15% discounts.

It looks like a pretty good deal and I won't have to worry about matching componants from different manufacturers.

I'm pretty sure you don't have to remove the ring gear. Try it out first!
Good Luck....Mike

I found a complete BDL without the ring gear for kick start shovel but price jumps back up to the $800 range.

I've decided to go with my original idea of the BDL pulley, basket and belt kit for $270. Then use a new stock set up for the hub w/long needle bearings $100. And a set of Milwaukee Twin Kevlar clutch discs and spacers $75. This time I'll get Tattoo to help me so it goes together right.

Two out of the three are American manufacturers and much more within my price range and I'll be riding a lot sooner.

My rear caliper is on the way . . .

I guess as long as I want to ride, there'll always be down time, $$$ and frustration ahead. Yeah, we'll be puttin' sooner or later. Looks like later right now. Have to put in a new clutch and rear brake. Can't imagine what else might go wrong .

Good thing is, the weather's been mighty bad lately. Today it's in the 30s and raining.

Thought I'd mention I did get about 130 miles in after the heads were rebuilt before this tranny & clutch stuff happened. So at least I know the motor's okay. Haven't broken in the rings completely yet - I think when I get around 200 miles in, they can be considered broken in. Then I will change the motor oil again.

By Easter the weather will be getting better: mid to upper 60s .

Interesting comments about the "rattling" sound. I've always had that. Every open drive I've ever seen (in real life or on you tube) has the clutch plates rattling when you pull in the clutch. That's just normal.
Is that different from what you guys are talking about? It seems to me that the set up is the same no matter if the primary is enclosed or open.