It twas with high hopes that I began to assemble the clutch in the 39 EL project that I have been working on for nigh on 7 years now....
It had no seal so I incorporated a thick slice of fuel line to do the job (fingers crossed)...
It went together nicely and I completed the install and adjusted it... when I gave a pull on the release arm I knew something was amiss... it was like arm wrestling the fuckin' Hulk! So I fucked with this and that, spring pressure, adjusting screw, etc. and realized it's all gotta come apart again...
I checked the springs and they were fine... length and tension all good. So I'm sliding stuff in and out and what not, I notice that one of the metal plates is hanging up on the 2489-36 Drive Disk with Adjusting Studs (yeah that's the name H-D gave to the part in the pic above)
It was this one above... it was catching on wear burrs on the slots of that Drive Disc... the wear was from these metal plates moving to and fro during clutch operation. they cut into the sides of the slots in the Drive Disc and push a little burr of metal up... this plate would catch as I tried to slide it in and out... very interesting...
....But the other did not catch... comparing the two I notice the other had little notches cut into it on either side of the "tangs"... hhhhmmmm... see above and below
Notice the little notches on each side of the "tang" that let this plate slide past the wear burrs....
I also noticed that one friction plate had splits in 4 of it's "tangs" acting like springs.... I'm guessing anti-rattle like the spring balls on the later clutch plates? Another Factory Update?
Notice splits above....
No splits in this plate...
So I head to my clutch parts pile and what to my wondering eyes should appear? What looks like a factory fix to the metal plates! See the big old notches in them! Ah Ha!!!! So instead of using these factory updated plates (my theory anyway) I grabbed the Dremmel and cut my own notches in the plate I had... I also hit the burrs on the Drive Disc with a file... it all went together like a dream and the clutch works great now!!!!
All assembled and ready for chain adjustment! Now let that be a lesson to yuh! (It was to me)
