Spring plate failure is usually first noticed when you can't keep the clutch adjusted. You adjust it and 10 miles later it's out of wack.
Caught early, it's relatively inexpensive to repair. Either replace the spring plate or eliminate it.

Failure to catch it early and having it come apart, usually results in destruction on the clutch basket, and a very $$$ repair bill. The last person I knew a couple of years back that had the dealer replace one that grenaded, had a repair bill of north of $900.00.

 

Thanks for the assistance, folks. I was looking at Barnett. They offer the plates in both Carbon Fiber and Kevlar. Is there a qualitative difference between the two? If so, what would that be?

Also, I'm looking at replacing the lines with braided cables. Does anybody have a preference?

 

Happy St. HD Day! I've been such a good boy. Just look at the wonderful presents that St. HD left in my Clutch Basket.



I didn't do a part count on the brass rivets, but there weren't any parts in the drained oil. I probably spent 15 minutes fishing rivet parts out of the basket. Note that all of the rivets have popped except for two on each side. I'm counting 12 empty rivet holes.

I decided to go with the Barnett Carbon Fiber clutch. Putting the new clutch plates in = easy. Fishing out the old clutch plates, especially those south of the spring plate = not so easy.

Surprisingly, though, the hardest parts were removing the clutch inspection cover and the installing the new primary cover gasket. Three of the six bolts on the clutch inspection cover stripped, so I had to use the mini-tool to cut slots in them and twist them out with a flathead screwdriver,. And the primary cover gasket kept on twisting whenever I would put on the primary cover.

Still, it was worth it. I now have peace of mind that the damnedable clutch spring plate is not going to explode on me, the clutch moves freely and stays adjusted and there's no more annoying "Clunk!" when I shift gears. (I always just assumed that the annoying "Clunk" was just a feature of HD transmissions). From the perspective of the transmission, my Talulah now runs like a brand new bike: free and easy.