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R1 Clutch Fitting, Having A Nightmare!


lorenzo

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So, I've got my nice new clutch cover, and the gasket etc, tried to fit it this morning, laughed at the classic haynes understatement 'refitting can be tricky'. Basically, the arm has to be pointing out at a certain angle as it gets pushed back onto the rod. I think I kinda got that, facing back and out about 45 degrees, but then when I fitted the clutch cable up the whole thing was rock solid, the only movement I got at the lever was about 2 or 3mm, probably just from the cable stretching a bit or something. Anybody got any pointers?

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Undo the cover again, pull away from the bike but just bout 6-7mm, and move the actuating arm thing towards the back of the bike, it'll kinda click home. I it doesn't, wiggle the cover and arm till it does. Its a bit awkward really lol. The arms tend to look too far back until you go to use it.

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Undo the cover again, pull away from the bike but just bout 6-7mm, and move the actuating arm thing towards the back of the bike, it'll kinda click home. The arms tend to look too far back until you go to use it.

handy hint for this is to use a headtorch and take the oil filler cap off the cover, it helps you see inside to align the clutch centre pull-rod with the orifice on the inside face of the cover.

I use a dab of grease on the clutch pull rod to hold it in place in the centre bearing. On my 4xv, the splines on the pull rod need to be on the rear side of the rod.

sadly it's a bit of trial and error, I've had the clutch cover off mine countless times and sometimes [rarely] I get it back on first time, more usually it still takes me half a dozen attempts.

another handy hint is to use a cardboard template for the clutch cover bolts when you remove them, on mine they are of differing lengths so it helps to put the right one back in the right hole.

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handy hint for this is to use a headtorch and take the oil filler cap off the cover, it helps you see inside to align the clutch centre pull-rod with the orifice on the inside face of the cover.

Awesomeness. That's brilliant. Part of me wanted to fit one of those slightly gash clear clutch covers that you see on streetfighters, just so I could get it all aligned. I had a mooch on previous threads you'd put up about clutches and all I ascertained was that I wasn't the only one that thinks they're a pain in the arse.

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OK, could somebody do me a favour and stick up a picture of their clutch arm with it all assembled, earlier model will be fine, by the looks of it they're all pretty much the same anyway, ceertain the release mechanism is. Maybe a fully out and fully in photo would shed a bit more light on it but without a really really long arm I don't know how you'll do that...

The problem I'm having isn't getting the splined shaft to align with the hole, obviously that's not easy but I can do it, and it's not the whole setting it up to right angle either as i can pull the cover out enough so it's just on the end of the shaft and then nudge the arm about to get it onto the next tooth. The problem is that I get it set so that the arm is facing inwards, when the covers fully on but only held in with 3 or so bolts, just enough to hold it on, I rig up the cable, get a reasonable tension on it, then pull the lever and it's rock solid, like it's pulling against something that's stuck. Does anybody have any idea why that'd be the case? Bear in mind that although I know the engine runs on this bike, I've never had the gearbox and clutch in a state where I could test things, I bought it with a knackered clutch release where it was dropped on that side. I've got a new cover and all the gubbins that goes on inside, and that turns freely by hand, it's just that it doesn't want to move when it's on there. Hmm.

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I always have the lever off at the circlip, bit of a wriggle and those clips bend easy, but works for me.

same here

p8310011ui1.jpg

have you fitted the same type of cover or the earlier one like mine ?

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I've fitted one like yours Nige. Is there a fundamental difference, other than the design of the outer casing? Certainly the inner looks identical as far as I can tell.

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when I changed my clutch over for a barnett spring plate I had the same problem as you've got , mine was caused by not having the arrows on the arm and case lined up when I put it back together

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Now I'm not 100% sure but aren't the clutches different somehow between the 04-05 model and the 06?

I seem to remember reading that the clutches are not inter-changeable between the two models. But I don't if that's correct, or why?

Anyway back to the subject of aligning the clutch cover.

On the earlier 98-03 models on outside of the casing where the bulge is for the release arm there's an arrow, which corresponds to a punch mark on the lever; these need to be aligned when the cover is on for the release mechanism to work properly.

Also, I found through more trial & error that sometimes when putting the cover back on, even when everything's properly lined up like it should be, that the release mechanism feels like it's locked solid.

But weirdly, once all of the cover bolts are done up tight, the clutch release works perfectly.

No idea how or why, it just does. It's happened like that enough times that now, as long as the pull rod has seated properly and the marks line up, I just tighten up the bolts and re fit the cable. Hey presto, it works fine!

ps because I have ocd I always tighten the cover bolts in a criss-cross pattern and use a torque wrench to tighten them (10nm I think)

Also.... Just a thought, if you've had the clutch centre or basket off, make sure they are properly seated on the shaft (fnarr) and the various thrust (fnarr fnarr) washers are present & correct.

Hope that helps?!

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There's the mark on the case, i'll have a look at the arm when I next go back to it. For now, I'm drinking tea, eating biscuits and having a huff with it all. Also, according to the haynes the fitting procedure etc for the clutch is the same for all 3 years. According to the book and the stamps on the bike, mine's an 05 US model, what that means in terms of covers, lord knows.

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Off the top of my head , the later cover was fitted to the 06 and R1sp model with a slipper clutch , I think that had a longer gearbox shaft , I'll try and find out tomorrow

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Right then , 06 models have a different cover 'cos they have the input shaft from the SP ( which has a slipper clutch )so maybe the 06 covers will fit the 04's but not vice versa , This may or may not be the fault but it's worth taking a few strategic measurements

at your service

Nige

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Brilliant, I'll have a measure when I get back. Thanks mate.

Is there any sure-fire way of knowing mine's an 06 model though? It's an 06 plate, but a US model, and according to the haynes, an 05, despite the fact it came with a mullered 06 clutch cover.

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OK, there's a dot on the lever bit too, so i fitted it so that it was lined up once it was all on, and guess what. Nothing, exactly the same. So I've just ordered another cover off ebay, one the same as the old one this time. Anybody want a very stylish yamaha hat with interesting lever detail?

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OK, there's a dot on the lever bit too, so i fitted it so that it was lined up once it was all on, and guess what. Nothing, exactly the same. So I've just ordered another cover off ebay, one the same as the old one this time. Anybody want a very stylish yamaha hat with interesting lever detail?

I would have it but it's faulty :)

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I would have it but it's faulty :)

It's only the wrong one if you're born in 06 or later...

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New clutch cover's here. Turn you radios down and listen out in the direction of stockport, see you if you can hear the swearing from where you are!

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I'd say I do, yes. I wonder if he'd like an 04/05 clutch cover instead....

With all my practice with the other cover I got it on there more or less first time; just slotted it on, saw that it was going to be slightly too far forward so I pulled the lever back which in turn pushed the cover out slightly until I felt it clunk round a tooth, then I just pushed it back on. The whole thing including tightening up everything and filling it with oil took about 25 minutes. Of course, I'm not 100% certain about it working as I've got no back wheel so i can't even see if it does its thing on the stand, but the lever feels right, just a tiny bit of play at the end. I'm 99% confident about it all. The interesting thing is that I refilled it with brand new oil and ran the bike for 5 minutes, just to get it hot, the oil's pitch black already. That's not a good sign, is it. Either way, it'll get a pretty regular change, probably do it after its first trackday, just so it's starting off with good stuff in there etc.

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couple of things...

In case you don't already know, you don't have to drain the oil before you remove the clutch cover / clutch.

On the R1 due to the stacked gearbox, the clutch is up above the sump. You will lose just a tiny bit when you take the clutch cover off, but nothing a bit of rag won't sort.

I'm guessing you wanted to change the oil anyway as the bike is new to you.

When I was rebuilding the gearbox on mine I was really surprised to discover that when you drain the oil, actually quite a bit doesn't come out and is trapped inside the sump. A good half a litre maybe.

If I were to do it again, next time I think I'd pop the sump off after draining the oil, to properly drain the motor of all the oil.

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I know about the oil not needing draining but at the moment it's git no bodywork and no history. That's a perfect recipe for an oil and filter change in my book. It's good to know about the excess in the sump, that explains the oil changing colour so quickly. I'll give it a good run and then another change, see if I can get it nice and golden again. And that ain't no beoufmurde...

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A perfect recipe indeed. A couple of oil changes will definitely help

while the bodywork's off I'd also change the coolant & possibly the spark plugs too, as I think on the later model R1's you need to remove the radiator to access them?

Mmmmm tinkering

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