I just got back from a ride down to Key West and Daytona. Nobody does traffic tie ups like South Florida. My 2011 Road King has just north of 40k miles on it and I do quite a bit of cone course maneuvering. Shifting is a little notchy despite two clutch adjustments. I did it right inasmuch that I adjusted the push rod first, then the cable. The clutch does not slip at all, not even in higher gears and apart from the aforementioned cone work and the occasional traffic jam I'm very easy on equipment.

Primary fluid is at the correct level and it's 20/50 synthetic oil in there, probably 3500 miles on it. No leaks or other issues.

I'm thinking:

The clutch got hot from all the low speed start and stop on the highways down in Florida and maybe I heated up a couple of the steels. Maybe they're deformed a little and won't let the plates completely release. I haven't looked yet.

I do hear a little whining from the primary going down the road but honest to god I'm damn near stone deaf. I probably couldn't hear a rod knocking. It may have been that way all along and heck it might not really be whining. Sometimes I can't tell if it's a real noise or the ringing in my ears. Maybe the tensioner is a bit too tight but I can't see how that would cause the clutch not to fully release.

I'm open to suggestions right now on the diagnosis. I can't really break it down until I get my other bike out. Two wheels are my transportation.

All that said, I need to have clutch plates on hand because I'm going to be doing some teaching this year and there's lots of low speed cone work. The bike has a 96 motor with a pipe and intake, nothing else. I love the feeling of the stock clutch.

Looking at the parts fiche, I can get a stock friction plate kit #37932-98 for about 157.00 and steel plates kit 37913-98 for 93.00

Given that I don't need or want a heavy duty spring or clutch kit does it seem reasonable to replace with these if that's what it turns out to be or when the clutch is finally done? Given what I want is there something better out there? I should add, I'm very happy with the stock unit. I'm not really a tinkerer, I buy a motorcycle and ride it to death and won't replace a stock part until it breaks.

Thanks in advance

 

I live just north of Orlando and deal with all kinds of traffic in the 95 degree heat on a regular basis for the past 6 years.

I was doing some primary maintenance and ordered a "stock" replacement set of Kevlar clutch plates from Barnett.

My bike has 58k on it and for $125.00 for the plates seemed like a reasonable way to go. Much to my surprise, the original plates miked out to be the same or just under what the new ones were. I put the new ones in anyway seeing I had it all apart.

What was the bigger issue was my chain tensioner, which I replaced with the Hayden. My chain was so slack before that I had some wear off the chain case where one of the bolt hole casting are on the bottom of the case. That's why I opened it up in the first place, I was getting some small slivers of metal in my oil when I changed it.

The chain tensioner made a world of difference in shifting, especially into first. No more slap bang, sometimes can't hear anything at all!

If I were you I would look into that first, for what it's worth...

 

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Welol since you dont want a hvy dty clutch spring while i was replacing clutch plates Y steel spacers because they may have been overheated or damaged/warped i would definately install a new stock clutch spring and relaese bearing at the same time too.

Then you would be taking a chance of the old/used clutch spring weakening a yr or 2 down the road making clutch slip and have to open up the primary again to save $40 on a clutch spring or have release bearing go bad and have go back in again for that which isnt expensive to replace either while the primary covers off,but thats just me.

Good luck.

Scott

 

Florida Swamp Yankee

Did the Barnett friction plates come with the steels as well?

 

Before doing anything else drop your oil and put in a new quart of Formula+ or whatever 20-50 you were using.
I don't believe in magic oil and all that but I swear after a good cone course session or two or having to feather the clutch for hours in traffic, new oil helps with the grabbiness.

Something to try if you havent already.

 

I would also check that the basket has no notches from the plates and is smooth.

 

I'm gonna grab a primary gasket on Saturday and drop the fluid, check the primary chain tension and have a look at the clutch plates and basket.

I've only had a throw out bearing go out on me once and the lever free play was pretty erratic, so I don't think that's it but if this doesn't turn up anything or cure it I'll have to pull the exhaust to look at it.

I appreciate the input here fellas.

 

No but I could have got them from them as well. I wasn't expecting anything more than some partly worn plates so I didn't bother ordering the steels.

As it turned out I didn't even need the plates but once they were soaking in oil I owned them so what's another $100?

 

Everything was on the up and up inside the primary. Primary chain wasn't too tight, shoe looked good and the clutch plates were all good (given the miles) including the steels. The fluid was darn near black though.

I readjusted the clutch, buttoned it up and filled it with fresh 20 50. Test ride went well and the notchy shifting is gone. I am gonna buy the friction disks just to have them on hand.

So here's what I think. I think sitting and creeping in all that traffic shed friction material from the disks and made the fluid sticky which gummed up the plates from separating completely. That's about all I can come up with.

Thanks fellas

 

How often do you change your primary oil? IMO, 10k or whatever the book says is too long for the cost of a quart+, I change all three every 5K +\- miles...