23RD Posted January 11, 2011 Posted January 11, 2011 Hi people! I am new to the RD forum, hopefully someone can advise on my specific problem! I am rebuilding the clutch on my RD125LC 1988, the clutch has 6 friction plates and 5 plain plates. The plain plates all have a machined off area which I understand to reduce clutch noise. My question is, how is it possible to arrange these 5 plain plates evenly around the circumference of the clutch as per Haynes manual? There are 23 'Splines' around the clutch drum, and no matter how you space them it is obviously not possible to make the clutch symmetrical. My concern is obviously vibration due to the clutch being imbalanced. I have all the correct parts, drawings numbers etc 100%. Is this a Haynes issue or am I being really thick! Any input much appreciated! Kind Regards Nick
barkwindjammer Posted January 11, 2011 Posted January 11, 2011 Well said Pete, or a main course of 'Selleck' with side salad
Moderator Airhead Posted January 11, 2011 Moderator Posted January 11, 2011 The book says to arrange the plain plates approximately 70 degrees in succession from each other, note the word approx... so five plates times 70 degrees = 350 degrees, when you throw approx into the equation i'll give you 360 degrees and a balanced clutch. Welcome to the forum Nick ...Paul
23RD Posted January 11, 2011 Author Posted January 11, 2011 The book says to arrange the plain plates approximately 70 degrees in succession from each other, note the word approx... so five plates times 70 degrees = 350 degrees, when you throw approx into the equation i'll give you 360 degrees and a balanced clutch. Welcome to the forum Nick ...Paul Hello Paul, thankyou for your reply! My apologies for not approaching the forum in the correct manner, I have probably irritated a few people.... In my defence, I have never joined any internet forum of any kind before, and I am learning and keen to learn the protocol. More significantly, after 2 years I have nearly finished rebuilding my MK3 RD, I am tantalisingly close to her first firing in many years and I feel like that mad 17 year old again, impatient and blinkered to the rest of the world at times... This issue of plate spacing has bugged me today, I understand your point and the use of the word 'approx' but can you confirm that is the way to assemble it, and that a small imbalance is accepted? At 6000rpm I would imagine it could generate some horrible vibes? (I am probably more anal about balancing than is healthy, probably due to flying model helicopters in my spare time, balance is everything there!) Thankyou for your help, when I get organised I will post a profile etc and hopefully become a regular user. Kind Regards Nick
Moderator Airhead Posted January 11, 2011 Moderator Posted January 11, 2011 Yeah I see what you mean, no matter what you cannot make a true 72 degree spacing with just 23 slots, Now it's bugging me too or are we missing something
Moderator Airhead Posted January 11, 2011 Moderator Posted January 11, 2011 Now by my reckoning if the clutch inner drum had 25 slots then 5 slots would be the magic 72 degrees, so what's going on there then.
23RD Posted January 11, 2011 Author Posted January 11, 2011 Yeah I see what you mean, no matter what you cannot make a true 72 degree spacing with just 23 slots, Now it's bugging me too or are we missing something What a relief! I thought it was just me! Thanks for confirming there is at the very least a question worth asking. I just cannot bring myself to button up the clutch casing until I can be 100% sure I have assembled the clutch properly. I have had this bike quite literally down to the last nut, bolt and washer. Having spent considerable time, money and effort getting this far it seems mad to just take a punt that it will probably be right. The engine was partially in pieces when I acquired it, so I have no reference as to how it was assembled originally. Hopefully someone out there can shed some light, the answer is no doubt staring me in the face! Thanks again Paul, I shall patiently hope for some light.....
Moderator Airhead Posted January 11, 2011 Moderator Posted January 11, 2011 are all the plain plates identical though, thats a straw worth grasping at although I cant imagine why any company would incur higher production costs to make them different
Moderator Airhead Posted January 11, 2011 Moderator Posted January 11, 2011 Funny thing is my DT175 has ten slots for the friction plates and so it is easy to arrang the 5 plain plates evenly, yours has only 8 slots
23RD Posted January 11, 2011 Author Posted January 11, 2011 are all the plain plates identical though, thats a straw worth grasping at although I cant imagine why any company would incur higher production costs to make them different Yes, all 5 Plain plates are identical, as are the 6 friction plates.
23RD Posted January 11, 2011 Author Posted January 11, 2011 I am even considering whether I should treat the final pressure plate (which can only go on one way) as a 'Plain' clutch plate, that way I have 6 plates instead of 5 and I could distribute them evenly then...but..I have put the pressure plate on a balancer and it has no bias to any point which negates the point of it... just a thought though....
Moderator Airhead Posted January 11, 2011 Moderator Posted January 11, 2011 Thats woth investigating, isnt there a punch mark and an arrow to align?
23RD Posted January 11, 2011 Author Posted January 11, 2011 Yes there is, but the pressure plate will only fit correctly with the dot and arrow aligned because the slots on the inner drum will only match the slots on the pressure plate in that position, allowing the pressure plate to seat properly. I do not think it has any connection with balance, but I may be wrong. If this was a significant assembly instruction, I would have thought the haynes book would have drawn attention to it, but it doesnt.
Moderator Airhead Posted January 11, 2011 Moderator Posted January 11, 2011 Yeah I came to the same conclusion, it still wuoldnt have worked if it was biased. I am dumbfounded by this, 23 slots is 15.65 degrees between each slot...so how come Haynes can make approx 70 degrees from that. And for that matter why didnt they say 72 degrees which would have been correct (but still unachievable)
23RD Posted January 11, 2011 Author Posted January 11, 2011 I will have to sleep on it, early start tomorrow... Thankyou for your input, I am sure there is a perfectly logical answer here, just can't see it yet! Regards Nick.
Moderator Airhead Posted January 11, 2011 Moderator Posted January 11, 2011 Uunless you can think of something youre going to have to space then 5 notches apart and be done with it.
Moderator Airhead Posted January 12, 2011 Moderator Posted January 12, 2011 maybe it would be worthwhile joining here http://rd125lc.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=search surely they should know, if you do find out though let me know.
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