All 2st Magura Hydro Clutch Install - How To Set Clearance

In the instructions for the Magura hydro clutch kit, they are very clear that you should set the clearance/gap between the slave and the mount to 4-6 mm. However, it's not clear how you're supposed to measure this clearance. There seems to be a spring inside the slave cylinder at the extended end of the travel, and it's not clear if you should pull against this spring to measure the gap.

So, do I pull the slave fully extended and hold it there to measure the gap, or do I let it spring back to the "neutral" position and measure it there?

I suspect that I am supposed to pull it against the spring, and then the spring will take any play out of the system, but I don't want to preload the clutch arm too much and have it make the clutch slip...

Experts?

No expert !!! But on my ones if you connect everything up and then pull the slave cylinder the gap is measured from the cylinder to the case or mounting bracket.
Yes you pull againts the spring pressure and that is your gap, Mine are all set to around 5mm . hope this helps

Thanks Johnny! Yeah, I am measuring in the right place, but I wasn't sure about the spring; however, you cleared that up! Thanks!

So, on your bike, when you release the cylinder (after measuring), the spring pulls it against the case and takes all the play out of the system, slightly preloading the clutch release arm, right?

any chance guys you can snap few pictures and post them up here? for future generation of tinkerers..

Hopefully I will get the thing buttoned back up tonight, I will try to snap some photos at that point.

Currently working on custom fabbing a new pull rod...

Yep thats correct. I also if the bikes fitted with a return spring on the clutch release arm remove it as on my old kxf450 the spring used to pull on the slave and the clutch was a horrid as it didnt start to release till it was half way pulled

Yeah, the auto-adjust feature on the hydro doesn't work for crap if there is a spring on the clutch arm!

FYI, last night I had sent an email to Magura about this, and they responded today saying the same thing as Johnny. Set it to 3-6 mm with the slave pulled all the way out against the spring.

Ok, some install pictures.

First, I had to fab a custom pull rod. I got my clutch secondhand, so I don't know what the kits come with, but mine came with some hokey Magura 2-piece rod that didn't fit under the intake, and a custom piece the last guy made that was too long. I ended up making two rods:



For now, I am going to use the half-cable rod, because I like the way it fits into the clutch arm and I like that it has a little bit of compliance (so it doesn't put as much of a side load on the slave, maybe?). However, I will probably try the solid one at some point. FYI, the cable piart is just built using a junk stock clutch cable and a compression sleeve, nothing fancy.

Installed:



Other side (note, I have an extended clutch arm that I am experimenting with):


Measuring the gap with the slave cylinder fully pulled out:


It's hard to read, and I don't think I quite had it fully extended for the photo, but doing it right it measured around 0.15-0.2 inches, or 4-5 mm. Right on the Magura spec, and the cylinder seems to have plenty of travel for this bike so no worries. When I let go of the cylinder, the spring sucks it back against the mount with no play.

The clutch feels REALLY good. With the hydro and the longer arm, the feel is REALLY light, and it's nice and smooth. I run cut levers, with the stock lever it might not fully disengage before it hits your knuckles, but with my 2-finger lever it's full disengaged well before it hits the bar.

Will be riding on Sunday, we'll see how it works.

Good stuff man! Interesting solution for extending clutch arm. How much did it help by itself? I am considering doing that as well to lighten pull for my rekluse.

The extended clutch arm works really well. I ran that for a while with the cable clutch and it was great. In fact, I would have been happy to leave it like that, except I got a great deal on this hydro setup, and it makes the system basically zero maintenance (I was puling the cable to lube it every few rides).

I can probably make you a little bolt on bracket like I have if you want to try it. It's just bent out of thick stainless, really easy. Eventually I'd like to weld a bit more length into the arm, like some guys have done, but I wanted to have a reversible way to test it first.

Extending the arm does mean that you need more lever travel to disengage the clutch. I don't know if it would work with a stock lever, the lever might hit your knuckles and still have drag.

I would like to try for sure. Because clutch pull with recluse is pretty hard. But because there is cable pre-tension I don't think I will have travel problem.

By the way, I did take class with Lafferty on Tuesday and he gave me ton to think about. Was well worth it. He also made it obvious that recluse is not making me better rider..but it's masking my mistakes and actually stops me from learning.

I have tough decisions to make

Where u guys order these clutch's? Someone know where i can get it in europe? If i get it in finland its just +++++ !

I got mine used. You should be able to order from Magura or some retailer.

http://www.magura.com