Clutch Hub Advice

[thefrenchowl]

Main difference between KH and Sportster clutch baskets (these you show are not hubs!!!) is the kick ratchet...

K/KH and Sportsters have different kick ratios...

Easiest way to check which is which is to check the driving sprung gear:

Full complement of teeth on the K/KH basket

One teeth missing every other one on the Sportster basket

Plus OD diameter of ratchet and gears are different as well.

So match whatever basket will match the kicker parts you've got

Patrick

[thefrenchowl]

Sportster Paul,

I'm proper French and living in Great Britain since 1984!!!

The rivets are too small to be heated 1st then dropped in, so heat up in place with oxy torch then press...

Only the K is with 5 plate clutch. All the KHs I ever saw are 7 plates like Sportsters except for the kicker bits described just before...

Patrick...

[hd54kh]

I had the far right clutch basket on originally with a 9 tooth starter clutch and my starter clutch gear has 9 as well so it looks like I'll go that route so how do I decide what parts book should I reference 1953 or the 1956? And what is the trick to figure out the thickness of the thrust washer. The 53 book also shows only a paper gasket maybe but no seals.

I have the equipment to rivet and there are parts to fit in first. This is where my IQ drops to the number of rivets needed. Inside clutch sprocket hub, paper gasket(?), some seal on the inside of the clutch basket to seal out oil , needle bearing, thrust washer and starter clutch gear. This is the 1953 book.

The 1956 book has the addition of 33450-54 starter clutch gear shim and 37721-54 clutch sprocket hub washer with 606 roll pin.

The one I pulled had soaked all the clutches in oil and a bit of a wabble/vibration. Not horribly bad but after a couple of seasons I knew I had to take a look. I found the ugly washer/spacer in my used crap hardware bag.

When I disassembled the bike most everything was bagged and labeled. I did have a bag of mismatched hardware that just didn't look right and this questionable spacer was in there.

Terry

[sportsterpaul]

Well you can buy all the washers, which is expensive, and try them. That is what I will do next time. Use screws to bolt up the center piece nice and snug, with everything meticulously clean. Then I would just put in thicker washers until I could not spin the washer, or felt that "hint or trace of binding" Harley loves to talk about, and go back down one size.

The other possibility is to put the thinnest washer in, and try to get a feeler gauge in there to see how much thicker you can go. Or like I said, put Plastigage on thinnest washer before you bolt it up. Then you take it apart and the width of the smashed plastigage tells you how much clearance you need to take up.

Either method means when you think you have it right, do two or three rivets and make sure the washer still spins. The factory only calls for a 1 to 4 mil clearance. I will go look right now in the oldest service manual I have.

Meanwhile, if your basket has a hole drilled where the backing washer goes, then you need the pin. I assume they did not use it until later.

Against my better judgement, here is the part of the 1959-1969 service manual-- you need to find the service manual close to your bike and buy it. I think the first one was 1959 or so. The rider's handbook has some things in it, but not like the full service manual.
http://www.harleykmodel.com/literature/ ... index.html

Dry-clutch-plate-replacement.jpg (280.57 KiB) Viewed 10312 times

I can understand why you're jumping ahead to the "How do I measure it?' phase when you still need to be at the "What parts are grunged and what do I need to buy phase?" Unfortunately, I know of no way of measuring anything without both washers in there to begin with. Old Iron requires fitting, Harleys are not precision machines. Maybe buy the stock one, and the backing washer if it too is missing, and start from there.

[dr dick]

Needless to say, like everything in a K or Iron Sportster, you need a brain.

yeah.
like for instance the heads of the ratchet plate rivets go to the inside of the drum.
why?
to create a oil tite joint so oil that weeps between ratchet plate and drum surface gets arrested before it can infiltrate the clutch.

do not beat on the inside of the drum.

my favorite saying come alive again--- the more you know the less you know.
after 10 yrs of wrenching i knew everything.
after 20 yrs i knew nothing.
thats when my real education began.