[Xannadu]

I decided it was time for a new clutch pack and got the plates swapped out no problem. When I went to replace the pressure plate it wouldn't quite go on all the way. After messin with it I decided to pull the lever to see if the slave was just a little stuck or something and couldn't budge the lever one bit. Its rock solid. I'm thinking someone was pullin on the lever when I had the clutch apart (did the swap over 2 days got pulled away when it was apart) and now I need to bleed the system. Am I right on this? Do I need to drain it out or just bleed it back a bit and then top of the reservoir?

 

[Muschi]

do i understand correctly, that you can not pull
the clutch lever at all ?
if so, bleeding won't help i suppose, it is maybe
a good idea to have the slave taken off at first,
to see if you can get the clutch rod pushed back
in all the way, so you can mount the pressure plate
and proceed from there ?

you could try to push the slave cylinder back in
by hand then, have it all mounted and check if
the clutch works fine then.
bleeding shouldn't be necessesary in this case,
but a change of fluid and bleeding afterwards
won't hurt of course.

:think:

the stock pressure plate has a mark embossed
on it, an arrow if i remember correctly,
and the hub has a corresponding mark,
to which the pressure plate has to be alligned.

:think:

 

[brooksie]

Great info. Should be a keeper for all of us that turn wrenches on these bikes. Thanks Muschi.

 

[Xannadu]

Great I'll give that a go when I'm off work in about an hour and see what happens. Yes you do understand correctly the lever won't pull in whatsoever. Sort of odd when I changed the pressure plate to an aftermarket one a year or so ago it went on like a dream. That lever must have been pumped while the pushrod was out...Now I just hope the piston doesn't come shooting out from the pressure when I take the slave off

 

[Muschi]

put a hose to the little bleeding valve on top of
the slave cylinder, route the hose to a small
bucket before you open that valve to release
any possible pressure within the clutch system
therewith.

you could even try to push the rod back in,
after you have opened the bleeding valve,
that might prevent you from the need to take
the slave off after all.

:think:

 

[Xannadu]

Yep I removed the slave and couldn't get the piston to budge and I didn't want to mess it up with too much effort. So I put some tubing on the bleeder and opened her up as I put it back on the pushrod and fixed the problem no sweat. Thanks for the tip it worked beautifully!
Now the problem is I'm back to square one. I changed the clutch pack because I was getting slippage all of the sudden under hard accel. The new pack is in and everything's properly torqued, but I'm still getting the same hard accel slip! I know all the plates were installed correctly and I used a torque wrench on all the bolts. Could it be my clutch springs are fatigued??? I gotta solve this ASAP its WSBK in my home town tomorrow and I REALLY wanna ride to the track!!!

 

[Muschi]

thickness of all clutch plates combined should be
between 36 and 38mm, if you experience slipperage
with these dimensions, you should get yourself
some new or re-inforced springs.
or have the existing springs shimmed with some
thick washers for instance maybe.

:think:

 

[Muschi]

as i had the owners manual in my hands anyway,
dry clutch specs. as recommended by ducati:
minimum package thickness: 36.5mm
minimum required spring lenght: 36.5mm

cheers.

 

[bradblack]

there is a spring in the slave and it pushes the piston all the way "out", which on a post '00 model bike means into the other side of the slave. and the fluid moves as well so when you try to pull the lever in with the slave off or pushrod out the lever won't move, as the piston is hard up against the slave body. if you put the pushrod in you can feel the effort required to push the piston back in the last little bit of fitting to get the pressure plate onto the pack.