Clutch disassembly

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Clutch disassembly

Postby hennesse » Wed Oct 22, 2014 1:27 pm

I've gotten my 54KH motor mostly torn down - until I got to removing the clutch hub. I read an article here about welding together an old lined disk and an old steel disk to lock the clutch hub to the basket. I suspect you could also bolt them together and achieve the same effect. That's great, but what do you do if you don't have any old ones ??? Perhaps someone has a pair they'd be willing to part with? Or is there a different way?

Any ideas appreciated!


Further down the road, I want to remove the tappet blocks. I've seen some engine cases at swap meets with the ears broken off of the tappet blocks. I certainly don't want to to that! Ideas?
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Re: Clutch disassembly

Postby EKHKHK56 » Thu Oct 23, 2014 5:01 pm

I will take a look at mine today and see what the hub pulling job looks like. Should be a zero fit not press fit, so usually don`t stick too bad. I built a tappet block puller, if I can find it I`ll gladly lend out! It threads on the block and attaches to a standard slide hammer puller. I would use some good penetrating oil on them pre pulling.
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Re: Clutch disassembly

Postby hennesse » Thu Oct 23, 2014 10:18 pm

Erik,

I got a pair of K/early XL clutch disks for free today, so the clutch hub nut problem's solved.

There aren't any non-dealer motorcycle shops nearby, so I drove down to one about 30 minutes away - the guy used to be in our AMCA chapter years ago, but I guess motorcycle business precluded motorcycle fun. I was going to order a V-Twin 97175-55 Clutch Lock Plate. I could have just ordered it over the phone, but I figured it just might be worth my while to drive down there. I told him the Harley service manual showed the special tool that was just two clutch disks welded together, and I hated buying this tool that I would use for all of 3 minutes - but finding someone who had some old disks from a K or pre-1971 XL was going to be tough. He went into his shop, came back a couple minutes later, tossed a pair of disks on the counter and said "No Charge". Wow. When I got home, I drilled three holes in the plates, and bolted them together. Voilà - a special Harley tool. Since I had already made the 97200-55 Sprocket Locking Link, I slapped my new new clutch tool in, hit it with the impact gun - the nut came right off. I used a harmonic balancer puller to yank the hub, but it came off so easily that I don't think I even needed the puller.

Got the cases split, then quit for the night. There's a lot of sludge in there, as the bike bike sat for 20+ years, but so far no major malfunctions found. Tomorrow I'll be spending a lot of time in front of the parts washer.
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Re: Clutch disassembly

Postby DaveC » Fri Oct 24, 2014 11:51 am

Dave. You broke the code as to what we do to pull the hub with the plates. You will need a sprocket locking tool or special vise grips to re-torque the nut (150 ft-lbs) back on. Dave 8-)
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Re: Clutch disassembly

Postby 55khkjoe » Fri Oct 24, 2014 4:40 pm

Dave, never was one to use impact guns on old aluminum engine cases, I would not use one to put them back on.
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Re: Clutch disassembly

Postby hennesse » Fri Oct 24, 2014 6:32 pm

55khkjoe wrote:Dave, never was one to use impact guns on old aluminum engine cases, I would not use one to put them back on.

Aww, Joe - you take the fun out of things. To get DaveC's 150 ft-lbs on the hub nut, I was gonna jack up one wheel of the tractor, hook a 1-1/2" socket to the wheel, and wait until the other wheel started spinning. That would have been just about 150. ;--)

Since this is my first K/Sportster -- the clutch plates (it's a wet clutch) have only about 1/32" lining. What should they have? Are replacements available?

More importantly, the 38016-52 Clutch backing plate was installed with the "lip" contacting the first steel plate. Isn't this backwards?

Dave
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Re: Clutch disassembly

Postby EKHKHK56 » Sat Oct 25, 2014 6:57 pm

The Spare Parts book shows the lip against the steel. Barnett Series `K` Kevlar wet/dry plates are available. Has anybody run these wet, and if so what about leaving the derby cover off to let heat out and supply regular amounts of oil to the plates? Seems easier than trying to seal up for dry duty! Any ideas from experience would be good. Dave be sure and check your trans gears for updated versions, as noted in the `History`. If needed, Andrews should still provide replacement gears if H-D ones are not available. Have to have same exact teeth #, etc. I believe it was only two gears that H-D replaced because of the extra torque provided by the long stroke. Old Harley CASES are just big eggs, pretty strong until you get a crack than come apart fast! To properly torque the hub nut get a 150 foot long cheater pipe on your ratchet and using a postal scale push on it with one pound pressure. That`s how we do it in the Arctic!! Cheers all, Erik
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Re: Clutch disassembly

Postby 55khkjoe » Sat Oct 25, 2014 7:41 pm

Dave, now the craniums working, make sure tractor is in reverse :). Paul B turned me on to kevlar clutches, Since K model clutch shells, and clutch nuts are hard to seal. Then with the oil bleed over when sitting its a wet, dry senario. I really like them, they work wet or dry.
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Re: Clutch disassembly

Postby EKHKHK56 » Sat Oct 25, 2014 8:11 pm

While we are talking cases, tappet blocks, I had a couple thoughts. On the tappet blocks they are a `hand` zero fit. Theoretically they should remove without too much fight. Never pry up on them, get them to turn a bit and turn back and forth and pull. Sludge on the bottom of them may cause some resistance. Use some good penetrating oil to help. Pre oil and let sit, and oil as you work them out. I`m looking for my tool, it works very nice for stubborn ones. On the cases what is the best sealer to use? The old Permatex does pretty good but smells pretty bad! I assembled my last set with Yammabond. I suppose they have HarleyBond these days which sounds better. That worked well. Also there are anaerobic sealers car factories use to assemble cases with no gaskets and no leaks. With many choices, any ideas on this would be good. Although an old Harley that doesn`t leak a little may not pass as `original` at the shows! :?
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Re: Clutch disassembly

Postby DaveC » Sat Oct 25, 2014 8:31 pm

Dave, Regarding the wet clutch, the K Model to early 57 Sportster 7 plate clutch hubs did not have a oil seal. These had a habit of leaking and so in mid 57 a redesigned hub with a oil seal was incorporated. Interestingly enough, HD provided an accessory wet clutch kit for these early no seal hubs when oil leaked in and created a slipping clutch. You can run the wet clutch with the cover off but I recommend using either HD Sport Trans fluid or adding 1 oz of ATF to the primary chain oil supply. This keeps the plates from sticking together when cold. I personally use Mobil 1 ATF in my XR1000 (Barnett Clutch) and XLCR transmissions. Both bikes are heavily modified and make much more power than stock and I have yet experience any clutch slipping.
As an aside, with the dry clutch, I have found that the clutch hub oil seal, main shaft oil seal (it splits) and hub needle bearings are high failure items and should be replaced often and during any rebuild. I grind the needle bearing out with a carbide bit on a Dremmel tool and slowly press in a new needle bearing. This eliminates removing and re riveting the starter gear as the manual recommends. The dry clutch works extremely well as long as it is kept dry.
The hooligan Mike Slemmon or others may also have some more information to share
:)
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