So I bought a clutch kit because my VFR has 53k miles on it and it will slip while in gear if I have the throttle pinned and the engine is above 8k rpm or so. It also makes for some bad shifting if I'm accelerating hard through the gears. The PO wasn't super great on maintenance, so I'm not surprised, haha.
I was looking through the FSM on how to do the clutch. I'm all set for doing an oil change at the same time, that's easy enough, but the FSM has me doing a bunch of other things along with simply replacing the clutch plates. From what I'm seeing, I should be fine to just take the cover off, remove the old gasket, take off the pressure plate, replace the clutch and friction plates, put in the new springs, and put it all back together with a new gasket and a bit of sealant on that wire.
Do I really need to unplug the wire from under the airbox? Do I need to do anything other than swap out the plates?
Also, I've heard you're supposed to soak the clutch plates in new oil before installing them. Some people say to soak them for an extended period of time, but the FSM says to coat them before installing. I figure I can put them in oil before starting to take everything apart.
I'm pretty mechanically minded, but this is my first time doing a motorcycle clutch, so I'm open to all suggestions. Thanks!
I recently did my 5 Gens clutch and rather than unplug the wiring from under the tank, I chose to just unbolt the component from the case and leave the wiring attached to the bike. As far as soaking the plates, I put them into a small tub of oil before I began disassembling and by the time I got to the installation phase they were good and ready. In regard to other parts, gasket, springs, plates (if you're replacing the whole clutch) and oil is all I recall needing.
One other word of caution, make sure you have a good gasket removing process or tool. Removing the gasket from the cases was actually the more time consuming part, mostly because you want to take your time and be careful not nick or otherwise damage either mating surface.
this is true, i split the cases the other night and decided cleaning the gasket looked like the worst part so i did that first, it was a pain and only got as far as getting the gasket off and clean. i was ablt to just hang the cover to the side, didnt disco anything.
I did this myself a month or so back. Do the work on the sidestand and you don't have to drain the engine oil. Have a plastic hammer to whack the clutch cover to break the gasket seal. I did not disconnect any wires or sensors either, I just hung the clutch cover up off the radiator out of the way. Pack the engine cavity with rags while you are removing the gasket so the debris doesn't end up in the sump. Be careful about the discs, one has a larger id, and goes in the basket first, and there are two washers that go in there too, and have a specific orientation. Use a torque wrench on the spring holder bolts, they don't need much and are easy to break (or so I've heard). It has been suggested that applying a layer of grease to one face of the gasket will help a future separation. Good luck.
I'm going to do an oil change anyway; the bike sat for a number of years before I bought it. The PO did an oil change with a new filter before I bought it, but I think it would still be a good idea to do another one just so that anything that might have built up while it sat can get flushed out.
Definitely using a torque wrench for pretty much everything and I already have the B disc separated from the rest. Good tip on packing the cavity with rags, I'll remember that!
I also found that with the clutch spring tension off, the clutch slave cylinder got air into it, and the clutch felt awfully spongy until I bled it again. I did have the clutch pushrod removed for a clean up at the time.
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