Intruder 1400 Clutch Slipping

[jonnycando]

Agreed, in all likelihood you do not need to replace anything. My guess is the factory springs are so weak that the clutch plates have never seen one another let alone actually touched. They should be fresh as a daisy! And Designer springs make it all work, and make the world go round, and all other good and wonderful things!

[OcowboyU]

I have inherited a 2003 Intruder VS1400GLP. it was stored for over 10 years. regardless of speeds, highway or back roads. after about 20 mins of ride time the bike acts like the clutch lever is pulled in. let it sit overnight and i get full torque again, in all 5 gears, even passing in 5th gear has no slipping symptoms till around 20 minutes ride time. then slipping starts. I don't have the time or money to guess. please help.

[Herb]

I have inherited a 2003 Intruder VS1400GLP. it was stored for over 10 years. regardless of speeds, highway or back roads. after about 20 mins of ride time the bike acts like the clutch lever is pulled in. let it sit overnight and i get full torque again, in all 5 gears, even passing in 5th gear has no slipping symptoms till around 20 minutes ride time. then slipping starts. I don't have the time or money to guess. please help.

Ho many miles on the bike?

Contact Designer and get a set of his springs and bolts. It will cure the problem.

[OcowboyU]

only 1200 miles on the bike

[navigator]

Change the clutch fluid, it is probably brown, it should be clear.
Clear the two small holes in the floor of the master cylinder with a small strand of wire.
Debris plugging those holes will cause the problem you describe.
Give the system a good bleed.

[DGPLINY]

Well worth it.
Money well spent.

[keges335]

So I have a 1996 1400 20.000 miles on it. Although Clutch seems ok,.,Is everybody saying I should replace Clutch., and Springs with Designer parts,.,?
For a real big difference,.,?

[keges335]

So should you replace the Clutch at the same time,.,? And where do i find these Springs,.,?

[navigator]

So should you replace the Clutch at the same time,.,? And where do i find these Springs,.,?

With 20K on the clock, no need to replace the clutch discs IMO.
For the springs, send a PM to Designer.

[Herb]

I put Designer's springs in my 99 at 35,000 after going through 2 sets of stock springs. The discs were well within the allowable limits. At 133.000 I had a transmission problem and pulled the engine down, the clutch discs were still within allowable limits. I got the engine back together and ran it to 185,000 when I bought a used engine and put it in, swapping the springs from the old engine. I now have over 55,000 on the used engine and still no clutch slipping.

[keges335]

So how do I get a hold of Designer ,.,?

[navigator]

So how do I get a hold of Designer ,.,?

Step out of the box.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3600

[Fred]

You can make clutch plates out of ply wood if you want so long as what ever you use is squeezed together hard enough to cause the friction to make it grip. Your original VS 1400 were compressed paper as were many. Nothing new about that.

Before paper was cork.

[Herb]

You can make clutch plates out of ply wood if you want so long as what ever you use is squeezed together hard enough to cause the friction to make it grip. Your original VS 1400 were compressed paper as were many. Nothing new about that.

Before paper was cork.

Not sure what they are made of but with decent springs they will last over 185,000 miles.

[Fred]

They are made of compressed paper Herb, they live in a bath of oil. They will live indefinitely no matter what springs they have used on them.

[Herb]

They are made of compressed paper Herb, they live in a bath of oil. They will live indefinitely no matter what springs they have used on them.

You let the damn thing slip enough and it WILL wear out the disks and warp the metal ones. Spin it any way you want, slipping clutches WILL fuck things up.

[Fred]

They are made of compressed paper Herb, they live in a bath of oil. They will live indefinitely no matter what springs they have used on them.

You let the damn thing slip enough and it WILL wear out the disks and warp the metal ones. Spin it any way you want, slipping clutches WILL fuck things up.

Yes Herb thanks for that snippit of information but you moved the goal post. You want to talk about slipping clutches and I thought yours did not slip as you are so intent on telling us yours works ok because it does not slip as you are such a good rider
Bye bye herb Ive better things to do.

[Herb]

They are made of compressed paper Herb, they live in a bath of oil. They will live indefinitely no matter what springs they have used on them.

You let the damn thing slip enough and it WILL wear out the disks and warp the metal ones. Spin it any way you want, slipping clutches WILL fuck things up.

Yes Herb thanks for that snippit of information but you moved the goal post. You want to talk about slipping clutches and I thought yours did not slip as you are so intent on telling us yours works ok because it does not slip as you are such a good rider
Bye bye herb Ive better things to do.

Hey, I NEVER moved the goal posts, like I said, with good springs (THAT DO NOT ALLOW THE CLUTCH TO SLIP) the clutch will last a long time, if not forever. That was MY comment that you so blithely IGNORED.

Bad (stock) springs will allow the clutch to slip and screw it up. You were the one that came up with the pressed cardboard comment, which doesn't make a damn bit of difference.

BTW, as near as I can confirm most wet clutch bikes come from the factories with rubber impregnated cork on the fiber discs except for really high-performance bikes that use carbon fiber or kevlar. Have not ever heard before that it was cardboard and have not been able to verify your claim.

[Lechy]

There are five different materials utilized in modern clutch design:

"Organic" clutch material, which is a mix of fiberglass and other materials (including brass in some cases) molded or woven into a friction pad
Kevlar (and it's cousin Twaron), which are synthetic fibers that make for extremely long-lasting (and very forgiving) clutch friction pads
Ceramic clutch material, which is mostly a mix of silicon dioxide and various metals and additives, sintered or brazed onto the clutch disc
Feramic clutch material, which is fairly similar to ceramic material, except containing a much larger percentage of metal
FeramAlloy, which is a new and superior alternative to feramic and ceramic clutch material

When comparing these five materials, there are four primary metrics that clutch designers consider:

Static friction coefficient, which describes how well a clutch disc will hold onto a flywheel under acceleration. If the coefficient is low, the clutch disc will slip against the flywheel, get hot, and wear away.
Dynamic friction coefficient, which describes how smoothly (or abruptly) a clutch disc will 'grab' a flywheel during engagement. If the coefficient is too high, the clutch will grab immediately, leading to uncomfortable shifts that make low-speed manuevering very difficult (a key concern for truck clutch discs).
Clamping force, which is the amount of force or "weight" that must be applied to a given clutch disc to make sure it doesn't slip against the flywheel. The more force applied, the more pedal effort for the driver, the greater the load on the hydraulic system, etc.
Fade temperature, which is the temperature at which the clutch material begins to lose cohesion. If the temperature is too low, an afternoon spent towing the family boat (or at the local drag strip) can ruin the clutch disc.

Finding the perfect clutch material is usually about finding the right compromise between all of these criteria. Often times, the material that "wins" the test is kevlar. Kevlar offers a great combination of high static friction, low dynamic friction, and good fade temp. This combo leads to low pedal effort.

Image from Phoenix Friction

However, as you can see from the chart, there are situations where the other materials are a good fit. Organic material, for example, is roughly equivalent to Kevlar in terms of friction coefficients, but with slightly higher fade temp. Organic material is also quite a bit cheaper than Kevlar, which is why it's used on most OEM clutch discs.

[Fred]

Have not ever heard before that it was cardboard and have not been able to verify your claim.

Cardboard ----wow ---who the fuck said that?

You will not be able to find any information about wet clutches made from Cardboard, They have never made them from Cardboard herb unless you have tried to cobble up some shit from old tooth paste boxes.---. It is a variety of materials (these days) but yet a type of compressed paper was used on many machines including the VS 1400.

Is that clearer.

Its all on the internet---you know where you usually get you information in 5 seconds or less.