So I ditched my evo in my '89 springer and now i want to get rid of the notorious late 80's clutch and put in a Rivera Pro or something of the like..I have been advised that this is a waste of time and$$ unless i switch my main shaft to a splined one from the keyway tapered shaft..any one had experience with this/suggestions?

 

Yep, I just went through a similar project this past winter, but went a little further. I was having problems with both the tranny and the clutch in my '86 and decided to upgrade both. I decided to go with a Baker DD6 gearset and a Baker SP9 complete clutch. We went with 1990 spec units for both, and that allowed me to go to the splined mainshaft.

First off, I want to highly recommend the Baker SP9 clutch. This brand often gets overlooked as Rivera and Barnett are more common names. But I can tell you that it is an outstanding clutch. It's a complete assembly, replacing the hub, basket and discs, so the cost isn't that bad when you figure all that in.

I'm guessing you could find a used gearset from an early '90's Softail to do the swap. It should fit into your existing case. I have no idea if youcan just swap out the mainshaft from your 89 to splined. Spanners may know the answer to9 that one. We had no problems with the starter gear meshing. Didn't need to shim anything. You already have the ball and ramp clutch actuator, so you won't need to do anything there, although you may need a different length actuator rod.

They also make a reinforcement that presses into you clutch hub to strengthen they existing keyway. That would be your cheapest option

 

Rivera makes a clutch kit for 85-89 softails, Check their website and/or call them.

http://riveraengineering.com/html/catalog.php

 

You can use any 5 speed gearset with splined mainshaft, the newer the better. Of course you will also be changing the clutch. If you use a clutch assembly from 1990-1993 it will be plug and play, the primary gearing and starter gearing are the same.

It does not have to be from a softail, the gearsets are the same.

 

I did have some corespondence with a fella from there and even he did recommend switching to a splined shaft cassette..did the motor swap last summer and top of a **** load of other things i had to do to the bike i didn't have the $$ to do it at the time when i should have..that being said, anyone got a five speed set for sale??

 

Found this on CL

http://austin.craigslist.org/mcy/3866421642.html

 

Just did the conversion on a 1987 FXR and I would say you must change the shaft to splined. I got a 2nd hand BDL clutch that had been fitted to a bike with the keyway shaft and it lasted 10 miles before it ripped the keyway out.

I got a splined hub supplied with the 2nd hand clutch (which came from an Indy) and a 2nd hand shaft.....easy job, great result!

 

I've been running a BDL tapered for 17 years. Smooth and very progressive, it held up great back when I was drag racing on the 1/8 mi. It has the original key.

 

they are fine if its all in good nick when you put it together, some people don't do the necessary checks though....which is how I got a brand new BDL for half price :-)