Clutch troubles

[shanefish]

Over the weekend I let a 'friend' take my rocket for a spin. On his return, he tried to do a burnout in the driveway. (Unsuccessfully).
Since this failed attempt, the clutch has been slipping badly when given any more than 'normal' acceleration.
No horrid noises associated breakage of any sort.
Any ideas oh learned ones? (Warp 9, you know your ****. Whats up with my bike?)

 

[ruzzle]

Checked you have some freeplay in the cable adjustment?? If you have, then that's not the problem and you might be -- errrmm -- up the creek...

 

[shanefish]

At the risk of sounding foolish, what is your recommended method of checking for freeplay in the cable?

 

[shanefish]

F.Y.I. 2010 Tourer.

 

[warp9.9]

Free play should be 2 to 3 mm at the clutch lever like below

If your free play is good then my guess would be he burnt up you fibers. This might mean either he was exceedingly hard on them or they were on the way out. It also could be the steels got heated and warped but usually if warped yo notice them grabbing some when you pull the clutch lever in while sitting still. The good news is since yours is a 2012 it does have the newer pressure plate system in it so you will not have to update it. I will be paying attention to this so I can see if you have the extra washer Triumph added tot he system. I actually thought this part was added to the 2011 Touring first buy noticing it in the parts breakdown. I could not confirm it on the Roadster and Touring models because I was not sure if Bike Bandit updated the schematics on the 2010 models or when the change actually took affect .

you can see it in the picture below.

I have always suspected this washer seen above in between the wavy washer and the lifter piece shoulder eliminated some of the available clutch wear as it would make the lifter piece bottom out against the input shaft of the transmission early. I believe its 6 mm thick.
Its really hard to say as I do not have a newer one but depending on whether your doing the job yourself and if not whether your technician will allow you access while he is doing the job we might just be able to learn more about the reason behind the engineering changes.
By this I mean it could also have been added while there was plenty of older lifter pieces in stock on the shelf which had a smaller head and thinner bottom shoulder. like below

in the picture above the lifter piece on the left I noticed early like in 08 in the touring model. I was lucky the parts guy order the wrong one when I had my bike tore down and always wanted a extra lifter piece in stock with other various components I kept on the shelf while I was having clutch issues in my 06. I liked the change but from then on always run the one on the left and tossed the style on the right. (this picture was supplied to me by Hanso since I was slow on the camera, ability to transfer pictures to the sites, along with not being as confident at my Rocket knowledge The thing is I did not notice a change in the Standard/Classic or roadster models and originally thought they were using up old stock.

when I order parts I do not always order for the 06 I order what part numbers I need verses knowledge of changes just in case they still have old crap on the shelf. Not that the old stuff is bad. Some is needed like the 05 pressure plate and lifter style unless one is willing to spend the money to update the bike to the newer improved style.

it could be the clutch did not have enough free play in it which would not allow full clutch spring pressure and hence causing excessive clutch wear while trying to do burn outs. If so adjusting it might bring it back if not it is worn more then adjustment allows. Personally I try not to do burn outs from a stand still as it is hard on the clutch and other bike components.
I am not saying it cannot be done its just costly sometimes. One thing for sure doing the clutch is a easy job. I have done so many I got it down to just under 3 hours if I do not screw off Triumph gives 4 hours to the technicians, a new guy might take up to 6 while he is learning.
Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[CanberraR3]

F.Y.I. 2010 Tourer.

You mean Touring? The Tourer was a different model.

 

[Jag]

Over the weekend I let a 'friend' take my rocket for a spin. On his return, he tried to do a burnout in the driveway. (Unsuccessfully).
Since this failed attempt, the clutch has been slipping badly when given any more than 'normal' acceleration.
No horrid noises associated breakage of any sort.
Any ideas oh learned ones? (Warp 9, you know your ****. Whats up with my bike?)

Can I borrow your bike?? I always wanted to learn to do burnout on someone else's bike!!!!!!

 

[shanefish]

You never fail to astound me with your knowledge of the Rocket 3 in all its forms. Hard won and Im sure it didn't come cheap.
So my next question is, when moving away from stock Triumph parts, which brand would you recommend to replace them with. I'm looking for hard wearing and reliable. Price is secondary.
Thanks again Warp for your valuable input. Much Respect.

 

[warp9.9]

You never fail to astound me with your knowledge of the Rocket 3 in all its forms. Hard won and Im sure it didn't come cheap.
So my next question is, when moving away from stock Triumph parts, which brand would you recommend to replace them with. I'm looking for hard wearing and reliable. Price is secondary.
Thanks again Warp for your valuable input. Much Respect.

I like the MTC fibers for my Clutches They also have stronger springs but I am sure Nev has some good springs also. There is really nothing wrong with the Triumph fibers in fact I would run them before I run the OEM fibers before I ran the Barnett ones. But that is just my opinion. I think the Barnett ones heat up and swell from not dissipating the heat then you have a grabby clutch. It really depends on what you have and what you are going to do with the bike. If yours is stock and will stay mostly stock with the exceptions of maybe filtration and pipes I would say the OEM is strong enough. I think your buddy did not know what he was doing when he tried the burn out. Maybe he is used to smaller style sort bikes and not the weight of the beast. I also believe the only time you should be doing a burn out is on the drag strip when you want to heat the tire up. I may on occasion spin my tires but its usually because of loss of traction from road conditions or twisting the throttle to much when hitting 2nd or third gear.

Like I said first you need to figure out what your going to do with the bike after all its a touring bike.

 

[Claviger]

Something I found when adjusting the cable. If you adjust as the manual says, then use your hand on the actual linkage where the cable connects, the tranny end of it, you can actually feel the free play much better than at the lever when rotating the linkage through the free play.

I adjust mine this way without even touching the lever so there is a tiny bit of free play felt inside the Trans and the lever ends up exactly as described in the manual. I find its faster than doing it via trial end error using the lever and I feel it gives a better adjustment because of the positive feedback of knowing exactly how much play there is.