748 clutch issue not disengaging issue.

[boochaka]

I was having a lot of clutch slippage on my 748 (8k mi) after about 5 minutes of riding. It was "barking" and "groaning" when pulling from a stop, so I decided to take the clutch apart clean the plates with and remove all the dust (I have stock closed cover).

I put it back together but now the clutch doesn't disengage all the way. I can pull the lever in and get it into first, but the bike moves forward...

I put the special plate back in with the dot facing the clutch cover, and I put the pressure plate on with the marked hole going on the marked pin.

Any ideas what I'm missing?

oh - and this is my first post.

[injected]

Welcome! Did you take the slave cyl off while doing the other work? My bike runs with an aftermarket slave and has a home-made spacer inside the piston to give the actuating rod a little more effective length. First time I took the slave off, the spacer (a very small washer) fell out, and not realising the purpose of it I threw it away. I had the same problem you describe and put two and two together...Then had to rummage through the trash to find it again. Since then no probs.

Of course, if you did have a spacer like that and it was too big, it would also explain the slipping problem.

[boochaka]

I didn't take the slave off, but it does look aftermarket -- has an P1 logo thing on it and looks cleaner. I'm not sure as it was on the bike when I got it and I don't know what a stock one looks like.

I will try bleeding tonight, but I can't imagine that being the problem as it was fine 30 minutes ago before it was apart.

[boochaka]

Actually, Can pulling the clutch cause air to get into the slave?

Maybe that is my issue?

[Chuckracer]

Well, not that I've got a firm grasp on the obvious, but if the clutch was working fine, albeit noisy, and now it's not, and the only varible was you took it apart, I'd say you found your problem.
Take it back apart and find what you did wrong.

[boochaka]

I already tried that once!
I took it apart and put it back together more carefully with the same results...

help! If I can't ride my duc I'll go cwazy!

edit: after some reading I should probably manually check the stack height.
How do I do this? Just pull them out and stack & measure?

[tntracing]

check the stack height of your clutch pack. it should be about 36.5mm. it is possible the stack height is too small, or you put the pressure plates in the wrong way

[boochaka]

K - dumb question

Aside from the one with the dot on it - how do I tell if I put the plates in backwards?

I put them in this orders

(P-plate SP-small plate F-friction)

P P F SP F P F P ...

[boochaka]

nevermind - I feel like an idiot...

I only have five springs on the pressure plate for testing because the sixth bolt stripped - so the pressure plate wasn't lifting evenly.
I removed the one opposite the missing one to make it symmetric and its drives fine now.

[Chuckracer]

Write this on your garage wall in really big letters:

ALWAYS CHECK THE SIMPLE STUFF FIRST!!