A10 6 spring clutch chainwheel loose on reassembly.

[rogereld]

I have dismantled my 1959 swinging arm A10 clutch assembly for repair and am having problems trying to reassemble it.  I have fitted a new felt washer and sliding plate, as the one I found during dismantling looked home made.  I have cleaned and filed some burrs out of the clutch centre sleeve and re-fitted it on the taper. The back clutch plate fits on the clutch sleeve but when pressed against the sleeve flange it is very slightly rubbing on the sliding plate. Is this normal?

I have re-fitted the ballrace inner ring with the two sets of caged ball bearings coated in grease to keep them in place. I have put both the "open" sides of the bearing cages facing each other. I have fitted the clutch chainwheel over the bearings. I have fitted the clutch driving plate centre on the clutch sleeve, and then the mainshaft locking washer and the mainshaft nut. After tightening the mainshaft nut, the chainwheel and outer clutch basket assembly is a bit loose and wobbly. Is this normal?

I have not yet re-fitted the primary chain and I have not yet re-fitted the clutch friction and smooth plates.

It does not feel right at the moment, but will the chainwheel tighten up after the chain, clutch plates and clutch springs have been fitted and adjusted?

[bikerbob]

I had a similar problem on my 1956 A7 I think that maybe the new sliding plate is slightly thicker than the originals, to cure mine I put it in the Lathe and machined a few thou off the recess at the back this cured the problem. As regards the movement I reduced the wobble by fitting a new modified bearing which can be bought from Draganfly Motorcycles it greatly reduced the wobble but did not eliminate it it has been fitted to my A7 now for 2 years without any problems.

[rogereld]

Closer inspection of my 6 spring clutch has revealed wear in the centre splines of the clutch back plate and also on the hub sleeve. The wear is enough to allow the back plate to rub on the sliding plate. I have measured some of the ball bearing diameters and they are under specified size. The inner and outer bearing races have also worn where the ball bearings run, and there is a looseness between the inner race and the hub sleeve. It does not take much wear at the hub to produce a significant wobble at the chainwheel rim.

The 6 spring clutch chainwheel also has notches where the clutch plate tabs have been hitting and the clutch centre has similar wear. Both would need a lot of filing to remove the notches. The smooth clutch plates have lost 50% of the width of their tabs. The friction plates are not new but have some wear left in them and I suspect they are the only parts that have been replaced before.

I have added up the cost of replacing all these parts and after allowing for the cost of some new clutch plates it is a good way towards the cost of a complete new 4 spring clutch assembly.

After considering the options I have decided to replace the complete clutch assembly with a new 4 spring clutch.