My 883 just hit 20k and something strange happened..

I'm pretty meticulous about clutch adjustments and cable free play, the other day I was taking off from a stop and my clutch started engaging with me barely letting off the lever, normally it grabs late towards the end the lever travel. Didn't think much, next light, it engages really late like normal. For the entire ride I am playing "guess the clutch" where it wants to engage really early, or really late, but nothing consistent, not a fan.

I haven't changed anything this season aside from the occasional free-play adjustment. Today I backed out all the slack, took the cable off and lubed it, got it back to spec, took it for a ride and I noticed the same thing. This cable is at the end of it's days, but this doesn't seem like a cable issue to me, in 2nd it engages where it should, but 1st from a stop is like spin-the-wheel. When it grabs really early, it feels like the lever is limp, it doesn't return back to it's normal position, almost as if it's not getting pulled back.

Worth noting, this thing is my daily, I commute on it (5 miles city) and it deals with a lot of stop-and-go traffic. Could the clutch be wearing out? Pressure plates starting to go? I did the primary oil change and clutch chain adjustment this past winter, thing has ridden really well since.

Any ideas?

 

I expect it's what happens sooner or later to all Sportsters or at least that's the impression I get from reading this forum. The first or Spring plate that is held together by brass rivets has come apart and is causing the erratic clutch behaviour . There is lots of information about this on here and I believe the solution is to fit a new friction plate set that has an extra plate .

 

I agree with midpegs. I think one or more of those rivets is backing out and hanging onto the surface when it grabs early. I would plan a clutch as soon as you can. And what then? All this debris rubbed off, where is it? Is there any decent way to flush all this clutch wear and metallic parts out? I know there is a magnet, but these brass rivets are NON magnetic, and so is the wearable surface on those clutch wear parts.

I worry about this wet clutch and how it leaves all the debris laying around in the cases.

 

No need to flush it , it's only going to be in the primary chain case and Primary Cover so just lift up the slack chain and clean it with a rag .

 

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! The light just came on for me..... That clutch basket sits OUTSIDE the gear case!!

Well, Now, that makes a big difference. OK, all is well. I will be getting my FSM here very soon, and I am a few miles yet before time to do the first service on it. Trying to put 20 to 25 miles on it daily when I can. Small project job came in from Oman, and they seem to be in a hurry, so I've had to miss 3 days of riding here while I pushed this out. But got in 25 or so today. Maybe another 25 or so this evening with the wife.

I am really having to wrap my head around this local dealer. These folks are really useless, and difficult for me to get to anyway. I just hate giving up my warranty but the option for me is a 400+ dollar ship trip to and from the Manila dealers to get warranty. And that means for anything I want to mod, I am going to have to wait years. Because I have been warned, change anything myself and they will not honor warranty in this 3rd world place. They are looking for any reason to write it off and charge you for things. So I am resigned to it. And hoping that the build quality in Thailand is good enough to help me avoid something really serious. I am fortunate for this forum. Many great suggestions, and I am happy to do or get done, my own wrenching anyway... confidence will build for me in time.

 

Have you read the fourth Sticky down at the head of this section ? It's got pretty much everything you need to know about replacing the clutch with one that has an extra plate that replaces the Spring Plate . This type of failure is so common that the offending part is known as the Grenade Plate . My bike is at 20000 miles and I'm seriously considering fitting an Extra Plate Clutch Pack BEFORE mine fails . All you need is a Spring Compressor and you can actually knock one up from a piece of PVC pipe and a metal bar .

 

Yes, midpegs, I have been reading about the grenade plate saga. Seems to me to be an intentional thing from my cynical point of view. With known remedies so well publicized it makes me wonder why years and years after the problem and the solution is known, my 2019 is built with this ticking time bomb still there as OEM parts.

I will wear on this, since it is new. But I am sure that a good reasonable replacement choice will be made in a few thousand miles, and I will put this in the permanent fix list.

This whole thread list lately about which oil services which place, and how it gets in there, and what to do about it, has me scratching my head. As it has been a learning experience for me, I am thankful for the outcome, and seriously cynical of the you tube and other "experts" with dozens or millions of tear downs, and still got some of them saying similar sounding things, but being dead wrong on the applications.

As a 45+ year engineer designing and starting some of the biggest plants in the world, I have learned with a few bumps and bruises, that it pays to watch and listen to others accounts, however, one account from a person that has the plot wrong but thinks he is right can make for problems. So I have learned to listen, then work through the actual drawings, calculations, and most helpful these days with the onset of phones with cameras, photos, get to the REAL solutions. Trust me, they are not always as obvious as you would think even on world scale systems.

 

Well at least Sportsters only have two lots of oil . Big twins have three . I just buy HD , it's not too expensive and there's no need to argue about it .

 

So the more I read the more I'm realizing it is likely the grenade plate failing, especially with the symptoms of strange engagement zones and never staying adjusted correctly. Aside from completely disassembling and checking the pack, are there any other signs that it's going? I don't want to ride it until I find out the cause because I don't want to cause damage to the basket.

 

No , I can't think of any other signs other than those that you describe . Time to pop the Primary Cover off and get that clutch out . I've just had my Primary off to replace my Starter Clutch . Remember to slacken the chain right off . Cheap clutch compression tools are available off eBay and let's face it , you're hardly likely to use it again . When I do my clutch I'm definitely going to try the homemade version . If it were me I wouldn't be riding it at all until I'd been into that clutch .