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R1 clutch dragging problem
sdh2903 - 20/4/13 at 03:34 PM

A couple of weeks ago I replaced the clutch in my 4xv r1. All oem frictions and steels all soaked for 48hrs in 10w40 castrol semi. Today I was getting the car ready for its day on the dyno on Tues and took it for a quick spin, when I got back I struggled To disengage the clutch to get it into neutral. Jacked up the rear and adjusted the clutch cable and all was well. Took it out again and it did the same. I have now adjusted it again a touch more so there is still some slack when the clutch is engaged and the pedal is a touch higher when disengaged and it all seems ok.

Is there anything else I should be checking? Just don't want to get to the rolling road and it cause me an issue.

Cheers
Steve


motorcycle_mayhem - 20/4/13 at 06:58 PM

As long as the clutch doesn't slip under power. or drag when disengaging, it's probably OK.

As for setup, sounds about right. You can move the clutch lever on the engine case with your fingers to feel where the pushrod contacts the clutch centre, it's only a few mm's movement of the pushrod from there to then disengage the clutch.

Clutch slip will be evident, very, and it'll get worse dramatically, so obvious. Dragging will make neutral hard to find, the car will creep.

Baskets on all the R1's are a grade of cheese (albeit hard cheddar), about the same durability as the cold-cracked conrods. The fingers will wear with grooves, which will make the clutch operation erratic as the plates stick.
The baskets will also explode with a tuned engine (or overthrow abuse, etc.), this problem will be fairly obvious, there's normally a loss of drive, unexpected shards of metal in the engine bay, along with considerable amounts of oil. The problem will normally require some rectification before continuing to drive the car.


sdh2903 - 20/4/13 at 07:15 PM

Cheers, there was no damage to the basket, on my last run out last year the clutch just started to slip and were below min thickness hence the new plates. I think it was partly due to the increased thickness of the overall clutch pack throwing the adjustment out. There was no slip at all just couldn't get out of gear. Now there's approx 5mm of arm travel before you feel resistance then another 25mm of travel until the pedal his the stop. All seems well I'm just a bit paranoid to get everything spot on before the rolling road (100 miles away.!)