Hello, With 49,000 miles on the bike, I've been putting up with a bad clutch which, upon engagement, will oscillate and buzz, and grab instantly unless I baby it off the line with virtually no throttle. So I ordered me some new clutches. Six of them, actually. However it turns out the VFR has eight clutches in it's stack, and seven clutch plates. ...so I don't have enough parts. Well, taking off the right fairing means the removal of one plastic fastener, and about eight stainless steel bolts, all of which take a 4mm allen wrench, (if I remember correctly). That took the most time of the whole project. Next, there are the sixteen 8mm bolts that hold on the clutch cover. First I get me a drip pan and placed it underneath the bike, which was sitting on its stand. Then, I used a Ryobi cordless drill and a nut driver attachment to spin off the eight bolts. I then whacked the cover with a rubber mallet to knock it loose, and pulled it off the engine case and it's location pin. I then took a cord and tied the cover off to the side so that I wouldn't have to disconnect the switch that is built into the clutch cover. Switching to a 10 mm socket, I again used the Ryobi cordless drill to remove the six clutch springs. It was easy and straightforward, once I learned how to brace the cordless against my leg to keep it from rotating when I pulled the trigger. Man, thiis Ryobi has the torque! Anyway, after removing the top of the clutch plate stack, I removed the first clutch and examined the clutch plate underneath. It's got a weird wear pattern on it - stripes of polish from the clutches, like it's not flat anymore. Shrugging, I carefully stack everything as I remove each plate for inspection. All of the clutch plates show the same odd pattern. Since I now know that I need to order more parts to properly fix the problem, namely two more clutches and seven new plates, I decided to put it back together. Only, this time, I took each clutch and flipped it: The inside wear surface is now the outside, and in relation to the gearbox, the clutches will now spin in the opposite direction as when they were originally installed. I also decide to clock each clutch one tooth over from it's original position. The plates I re-install just like they were, except again, I also re-clock them onto the basket splines in different orientations relative to one another. My hypothesis is this: The wear pattern I see is from the pack oscillating upon engagement. By moving the clutches to new positions relative to one another, I hope to break the pattern of oscillation. I took my cordless and reverse the procedure, taking care not to overtorque the bolts. Since my gasket looks perfect and I expect to be in here again really soon, I didn't bother to install a new gasket. After installing the clutch cover and torquing down the bolts, then putting the fairing back on, I look and realize that start to finish, this is only a 30 minute job! When I start the motorcycle and head out for a test drive, what do I find? I find that the oscillation is gone, the clutch engages like a normal clutch, and I can rev to the moon, feather the clutch, and wheelie if I want, or whatever. It's back to being a regular, normal clutch. Now, I don't expect that it's going to last forever like this, but hey - I'll buy the rest of my clutch parts and set them on the shelf so that when this clutch acts up again, I can spend 30 minutes changing it out next time I do an oil change. This VFR clutch is almost as easy to service as my dirt bike. Just remember though: Bike bandit will sell you SIX clutches by default. You need eight for a VFR.
good stuff. i found that heavier clutch springs really help with the grabby on/off nature of the vfr clutch as well.
I remember when I did my clutch thinking how much easier it was than expected. I even did a short write up with a couple pics so that others would know how quick they can do it themselves. http://vfrworld.com/forums/mechanics-garage/10769-clutch-ebc-vs-barnett-vs.html
New update, 1000 miles later my clutch is beginning to fall back into its old buzzing, grabbing habits. So I guess it's time to just bite the bullet and buy the remaining parts I need to do the job. I need a new chain, too. I can't find anywhere on the existing chain that makes it look like it's been replaced before, but it's now got 50,000 miles on the odometer. It's to the point where it is stretching faster than I can keep it tight and now it's making that notchy low-speed clunk that says I better replace ASAP ~ I'm thinking of an RK chain kit but will search the forums first to get opinions.
