I'm hoping it just needs bleeding. The lever felt exactly the same as it always has, that's what's confusing me, I'm guessing that it's something to do with the bike getting hot, but there's no signs of anything untoward on the plates or steels, and the slave cylinder seems fine.
Fig, in my experience it is worth pulling the shaft out and giving it a clean and re-grease, plus check the little rubber seals, also the slave and pressure plate end needs greasing periodically. Pressure plate bearing ok?
I've not greased anything, but they seem fine, I'll go through it again when I've got more time. None of those seem to be the problem though; one minute I'm bounding along quite happily, then the clutch started to drag a bit at a set of lights, and then half a mile later it wouldn't disengage at all. And all the while the pressure on the lever felt constant and no different to normal, it's just the clutch wouldn't disengage. When I got home (after a good while waiting around) I tried it again and the clutch was perfect. There's no marks on the clutch plates or steels, no signs of fluid from the slave cylinder, everything seems to operate as it should.
I agree mate, I had the same problem with my 748, plates in and out like a busy knocking shop, good lever, couldn't fathom it???? Greased everything, changed the seals and whadya know, good to go!!!! Still fine now about 2k later, in Nelson's words, flippin Ducati clutches are more mystic than science.
I get a proper buzz from this sort of modding....So very grumpy that it has or appears to have failed....:frown: Keep us posted with yr findings fig.
Talking to a Ducati owner in London today, and he said he knew of a guy who had the same problem as me, and it turned out the clutch plates were fitted in the wrong order. Does anyone know the correct order for an '03 Multi 1000DS? Mine's got two steel plates at the back, which has always struck me as odd.
Now I'm totally confused. Couldn't read your link on my little screen Nelson, but I had the manual downloaded. According to the manual the steel plates, from back to front, should be: 2 x steel plates, 2mm 1 x convex steel plate, 1.5mm 6 x steel plates, 2mm. What I've actually got is one 2mm steel plate and 8 1.5mm steel plates, and if there's a convex one I can't spot it. But I've also got the old set from my brother's 1098, and that's exactly the same as what I've got, so now my head has melted:frown:
The convex one, if you have it, will have a centre punch/dot on it. I usually go two steels at the back, then alternate steel/friction. Shuffle and add different steel thicknesses until I have 38mm.+/- a bit. I'm no expert, best left to a 3rd Dan Wizard IMHO!
All the steels are 1.5mm apart from one which is 2mm. It should be the other way round, but the pack still gets up to 38mm, even though the old plates are shagged. This is properly doing my head in.
2 steels at the back is fine Fig and the convex plate has often either disappeared, got fitted in a different place to manufacturer's recommendation or has become flattened due to heat so is barely distinguishable anyway Easy way to spot it apart from 'dot' as Nelson said, is to put all steels together and keep shuffling their position until you see one that makes a bigger gap to the next one. This is such a controversial subject re: 'the happy clutch'* that it's nice to take a back seat re: stack height, whether worn or not etc. There are many ways you can achieve * but when it comes to friction plate compounds and non std plates then the plot is bound to thicken.
I'm more concerned with having two sets of completely the wrong thickness steels at the moment, Chris. There's definitely no convex plate among either set - no punch marks and no differences in gap. I've been laying the plates on a sheet of glass and they all sit flat. The set I nicked from my brother's bike are what the bike came with from the factory, and according to the manual they are all the wrong size...
if you can get them to add up to somewhere near the stack height then the difference in thickness is not that critical. The two steels at the back is the favourite place to adjust ^ (but you knew that!) It's so easy to strip and change (not sure if Multi fairings intrude?) that you can have a stab and see how it behaves. Last 996 I sold had all organic friction plates apart from one sintered, mainly copper friction plate at the back yet it worked like a dream.
It's only something minor that's causing my problem, I'm sure of it, and I'm also pretty sure the problem has nothing to do with the cheapo friction plates. My brother's bringing over his old basket (he's got a slipper clutch now, the flash bastard), so I'll see if that's in better nick; mine is slightly ridged, but not too bad I don't think. I'll get to the bottom of it somehow.
yep - ridging can affect quality of change and although the basket is the usual suspect, the equivalent ridging on the drum is often overlooked but can sometimes be solely to blame - particularly if friction plates are aluminium.
Hi all, did this mod to my bike bout three weeks ago! I have been on about 4runs with it, three of which were only about 25-30 miles round trip and the other was about 100miles After each run I got off my bike with such a big grin on my face! I'm so pleased at present with the difference in the whole behavior of my bike due to these plates and my new chain and sprocket set! Lets hope this continues Cheers all Philb
