Ive finally pulled the clutch out after 23000km to look at these spring washers that fail. However it looks like a couple of the springs have been wearing on something and the edges of the spring holes have been knocked around. The spring washers themselves look ok even though they are the thinner original ones, they are definately intact. Any ideas on the spring and plate wear? the clutch did seem to have a very small amount of play before removing it. Tks
That spring has been banging around pretty hard on that back plate. The back plate is pretty beat up to, but probably reusable after being cleaned up with a file. The stock cup washers are so thin that they don't give the springs enough pre load and so they are soft and springy and slop around as they do shedding metal from the cup washers and back plate, and spring in your case. Putting in thicker cup washers puts more pre load on the stock springs and makes them stiffer and actually useable in their job. I am in the middle of trying to source 1 of these clutch springs as it decided to launch its self upon install of the Indy Unlimited cup washers. It's sitting in a packed machine shop that appears to have swallowed up the spring somehow. Still looking for the spring... I called the usual NA Husky parts guys, all report none of these springs on their shelves AND none in the NA warehouse. Lets hope Austria has some. I hope you have better luck finding a shop in Australia that has a spring(s) in stock. Trust me your cup washers have wear and groves on their faces and need replacement with thicker washers. I have seen two 630 clutches opened up and they both had groves in the cup washers. The bushings looked fine but got replaced. I bet your bushing looks good to but is worth replacing while you have it opened up. I would not ride it again until you get new/thicker cup washers installed. When reassembled I would tap the springs to sit away/not contacting the back plate.
Thanks Guys, I had a good look at the bushing and it seems to mate quite well with the shaft and the basket but altogether there is a small amount of movement. Took it into the store here and the mechanic suggested with the wear and damage to the springs plus the wear grooves in the basket fingers from the fibre plates(which have already been filed down once) I might as well replace the whole basket, bushing and fibre plates to be sure, so Im waiting for parts quotes atm. The same dealer is now selling SWM so hopefully there's some parts out there somewhere. I guess to look on the bright side, if the springs have been banging around in there then they are doing their job to save engine damage. Cheers
Not really. All that wear you can see has shed metal in to the engine. Maybe not any chunks you can see, but it has shed metal. You will see more evidence of this when you separate your clutch hub to upgrade the spring cup washers. In my unprofessional opinion you do not need to replace the whole clutch assembly, just clean up the damage with a file when you have it apart and upgrade the spring cup washers and replace the bushing. The tissue thin stock cup washers are the cause of every ones trouble.
Have ordered a new drive gear and basket assembly, its coming from the SWM suppliers for A$690, the Husky part is about 100 extra. The bushing I think is OK but will replace anyway, SWM $29, husky $41. Seems parts will generally be better value through SWM. Should be interesting to see what sort of spring washers come on the new SWM part.
I wish the USA had access to SWM parts for our identical Husky bikes. Supposedly SWM will be here in the USA later this year, from an email reply from SWM. Anyway... If the SWM basket looks the same as the Husky basket could you please take a photo of the spring washers in the new SWM basket and post that here on CH?. What about putting some calipers on the spring diameter, and the cup washers if they look improved? If it's an all new assembly we all want to see that!
No prob with the photos, It'll be a few weeks before the parts arrive. The assembly comes complete and riveted so I won't be taking it apart but should be able to guage a few measurements or comparisons with the old one.
Love to see photos also. Now if it were me, and if it's all identical to the stock Husky set-up (which we suspect will be the case), then I'd be inclined to go ahead and replace the cup washers with the more robust set so that once you do have it in you needn't be concerned. Many have failed in the 4,000-8,000 mile range.
Ok, have now recieved the new SWM clutch basket and drive as complete unit. It comes with identical markings and numbers as the Husky original. The left side is obviously my old part with 23,000k on the clock. The washers in the new piece do look a little fatter but its not like the replacement pieces that have been going in. I took the option also of putting in a new bushing which I didn't think I really need, but a quick comparison before refitting the clutch showed a pretty large reduction in movement of the whole assembly, so I'd reccomend anyone going in there to grab a spare bushing, it was only $29 from SWM.
^ Surprised, no, disappointed, yes. The motor in these bikes are loved by many. Good power, arguably the best gear box in any DS bike, yet they still use these wafer thin cup washer that don't give the springs enough preload, so they bang around and go to pieces. I do not wish to be a downer, but you do know the same thing is going to happen with this clutch basket as it did with your original one. If it were me, I would have returned the new basket and sourced the upgraded cup washers and new springs, cleaned up the chew marks and put it back in, with a new bushing of course.
Unless of course SWM got the material and heat treat right on the new bushings... I think that was much of the issue with the original bushings. My 2011 SMS with 15K miles on it and a lot of abuse still has the originals. I may finally get around to changing them out after this season, but they're not worn down super thin or coming apart yet. I've got a set of the thicker bushings and new rivets ready to go when it is time, though.
I am not questioning any ones mechanical knowledge, but the cup washers and their hardness, or lack of, is not the root cause of this problem. The excessive wear mark on the spring and backing plate in the OP's 1st pic is a perfect example of this. This wear would still be there if the cup washers were made from the hardest material possible. The way it is from the factory, the springs are the main cause of the issue. The spring are to weak for their task, so they bang around and hammer the cup washers and clutch basket. Installing the thicker cup washers increases the preload on the stock springs making them stronger and less likely to bang around and wear things out. I have rode 2 TE 630's and a TE 610. With all of them I can feel and hear the "wreanking" sound (the best way I can describe it) of the clutch under hard acceleration. That feedback from the clutch is the stock springs banging around in there. After I did the Indy upgrade I no longer have that feedback in my 630. It feels just like my 510 now, with its solid clutch basket. Any one else notice the difference in the feedback with the before and after?
It could be the difference in how we use our bikes, I'm 95% street with a lot of abuse, WOT, clutch-up wheelies etc. It might see a lot more constant hammering offroad on rough terrain. I replaced the clutch bushing around 8k miles, here's what my springs and washers looked like at ~10k miles You can see the slight burr on the back plate where the spring is moving around in its pocket, but nowhere near the damage I've seen on some bikes with half the mileage. I'm over 15k miles now and they still look pretty much the same. My biggest clutch issue was the notches in the basket "fingers" causing the clutch to feel grabby. 30min with a fine flat file and that was taken care of when I replaced the clutch bushing.
