OMG i'm a dumbass! CLUTCH PLATER ORDER HELP

Alright here it goes, i was getting ready for work the other day hopped on the ole 550max i took off in first like normal and shifted into second went for 3rd and nothing. I was like WTF why is this thing not upshifting. To make a long story longer the spring the returns the shifter to it's center position was broken.

Anyways i with haste i tore the clutch cover clutch assembly and shift shaft out to see what spring i needed to order thinking i could catch the dealership before it closed. With that said i have never had my 550's clutch apart and figured it was like any other bike steel/fiber/steel/fiber/steel and so on. now i'm trying to get this thing back together. I'm confused about the order of these plates there was also a beveled washer plate some place in the stack.

I feel so stupid right now i never rip something apart without marking and making notes. Now i have 7 steel and 8 fiber with the center hub having a built in steel. So one would think that the order would be Centerhub/fiber1/steel1/fiber2/steel2/fiber3/steel3/fiber4/steel4/fiber5/steel5/fiber6/steel6/fiber7/steel7/fiber8/steel8
Now my question i have tried stacking these over and over and always end up with no steel plate for the pressure plate end of the stack because of only having 7 steel.


They did not use the Aluminum pressure plate as a friction bearing area did they? And this beveled spring washer is just confusing me even more. I have a downloaded version of the OEM manual thats not alot of help also the diagrams at the online parts houses are about imposable to make out what parts are what as far as that spring washer goes. I'll snap some Pics and upload them if needed but i hope the XJ Gurus can shed some wisdom on my dilemma.

Ohh and another thing the Steel plates are not perfectly round they are oblong with a little tab on each end does this matter how they are clocked when installing them onto the center section of the hub?

 

Ok after sleeping on my problem a bit and going back out to take another look i found that the 3rd friction plate has a smaller inside dimension and the spring ring/washer goes under this plate. Looking at the wear marks on the basket and center hub i was able to determine the placement of the spring ring/washer and the corresponding steels and fibers.

Another look at the parts diagrams it looks like the top friction plate does indeed run on the pressure plate that seems crazy to me but looking at the XJ650, XJ750, XJ900's exploded view it is the same way weird but it must work...


They only real question i have is the clocking position of the steels they have around the outside diameter a round edge and approx 1/3 of it has a almost flat with a tang i'm assuming this may line up with the indexing marks on the basket and pressure plate. I'm going to do a little more research and see what i can come up with.

 

can you identify the part # you're unsure of?

 

number 12 is a fiber plate and number 14 is made of aluminum thats the part that has me stumped it seem kinda strange that one of the fiber plates directly running on aluminum. But according to all of the pics i can find this seems to be the case.

The pic does not show it but the flat steel plates number 13 are not perfectly round they are round with about 1/3 of the disc flattened off making them slightly oblong but in the center of that semi flat section there is a tang/tounge or what looks like some kind of indexing mark i'm trying to figure out if there is a certain way to stack the steels or just randomly put them on the splines of the center hub, number7 on the diagram.

I think i may be making a mountain out of a molehill here but i don't want to damage my bike or leave myself walking some time down the road.

 

here is a pic of one of the the steel plates i'm referring to http://xjbikes.com/coppermine/displayim ... ize=1.html ok i need to figure out how to resize this but you should get the idea.

 

I was growing a beard waiting for that picture to download. Go to suggestion box-sticky, download GIMP.

 

I get what you're asking---you want to know if the "clutch" surface on part #14, the pressure plate, is a friction surface and actually bears directly on the last fiber plate? The answer is yes.

 

In re-reading your post, there also seems to be a question about the orientation of the steel plates because of their shape; I checked my manual (XJ550 also, BTW) and those "tabs" are to be spaced at "72-degree" intervals. I haven't checked yet (although I am about to tear the clutch on my '83 apart, suspect PO didn't know this bit either) but I'm willing to bet if you shift the plate one "set" of tangs from the previous one it'll be 72 degrees. Maybe two sets---72 is one-fifth of 360. So the tabs are gonna go like the spokes of a 5-spoked wheel sorta...Regardless: Space 'em at 72 degree intervals.

 

Sweet thanks!!! i can sleep now without nightmares of my clutch flying to bits!

 

Yeah. I got my '83 yesterday (eBay special) and the clutch (while being operated only) feels like it is NOT ROUND in there but seems fine once engaged and rolling. I've already discovered beaucoup clues that PO was a total bonehead, I've got $5 that says when I pull it apart later today I'm gonna find the indexing tabs all neatly LINED UP making the clutch completely imbalanced. No wonder it feels like a bucket on a string. Somewhat new to XJ's myself, so I don't know if the "tab thing" is a 550-only feature or if they all have it, not sure WHY unless it's a form of "enforced randomness" in the orientation of the plates, or maybe a way to introduce a controlled quantity of oil to the stack? Never seen it before the XJ.