HONDA CB550K3 CLUTCH BASKET

[Gromitdog]

Good Morning all

REASON
I have just adjusted my clutch to MM ( Maintenance Manual) this week but after about 25-40 miles the clutch seems to snatch and Neutral light does not come on but the clutch does not seem to slip when riding .

DAMAGE
On stripping the clutch down the steel pates are measuring  6x 1.19-1.20mm, 1x 1.54mm   Friction plates are measuring 6x 3.4mm, 1x 3.6mm outer plate.  But the clutch basket has a hair line crack running round the inside from rivet to rivet  and it also has signs of wear on the basket uprights (ridge marks )

Not sure if these can be repaired ? Or is this a common problem with these ?  Would any one have a spare one I could purchase that is in a good condition please

Nigel

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Are you sure it's a crack as opposed to a casting mark?

[Bryanj]

Very uncommon that, does look like a crack, more worrying are the wear marks from the centre hub, spacer wrong or missing.
None of that would stop the neutral light working, i think any 550 would work

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Looks like oil staining in casting flash marks to me in the photo - be easy enough to just use some wet & dry to test if they rub off?

[Oddjob]

Let me check and see what my spare 550 clutch setups look like Nigel, casting marks can look like cracks, I tend to remove all casting marks when I'm polishing casings etc and you'd be surprised how many there are and how like cracks they can look.

Part number is the same as off a 550F, so that's ok. Did it have a large thrust washer behind the basket and a top hat spacer fitted down the centre of the basket?

Check the neutral selector mechanism inside the sprocket cover, remove (carefully) and clean but first remove the electrical wire and hold it against the casing, does the light come on? does the switch have all it's copper strip as per the pic in Roos thread http://www.sohc.co.uk/index.php/topic,26979.540.html post 39. These tend to break off/corrode and if that happens the light can get iffy about coming on, also check the drum on the end of the selector drum, it has a small copper strip embedded into it that get covered in crap and again cause issues.

[Gromitdog]

Good Afternoon All

Thank you very much for all the replies I had to my question about my clutch basket
I will get some wet and dry onto the areas where the cracks are and see where we go these lines seem to be running from rivet to rivet irregularly ( In the aircraft industry a truck would always run to a hole ) I may be able to get a dye pen done on it if I can fine the spray tin of dye 😊.
The natural light will come on when I adjust the clutch to the M Manual and the bike will start normally when the natural light is on but after 20-40 miles I will have to pull the clutch lever in to start the bike via the electric starter.

[Gromitdog]

I have just spent 45 minutes rubbing the inside of the clutch basket and it looks as if Ted's might right as the marks appeared to have gone so they could have been casting marks but due to the large thrust washer missing there seems to be a lot of marks on the bottom inside of the basket.

I also have some ridges on some the fingers of the casting some are quite noticeable can you take the worst of them off using a Swiss file 0.001- 0.002  ? this would make the gap between the clutch plate keys a little larger ? The ridges are at the bottom end of the fingers.

I take it the thickness of the clutch pates and the steel plates are within limits as there are 2 different measurements in the various manuals

A big hanks once again to all the advice and guidance from you all 👍. 😊

 

[Oddjob]

I have a few spare clutch baskets Nigel and TBH I think you might be wrong here. None of them show anything like the marks yours is showing, I suspect you were right to think they were fracture marks, they are far too consistent for casting marks. I also spotted something on one of my baskets, when you put it down it rang or rattled. Grabbing the rear sprocket and holding the basket showed the rivets holding the sprocket to the basket were loose, not visibly loose but the sprocket could move a little when it should be rock solid. It's possible yours could be the same, the stress would make the basket start to shatter between the rivets and that's what I'd expect it too look like when it does. It would also make the clutch rattle, make it feel poor taking off as the basket would be moving around, also sounds like your snatching comment.

Here's 4 of mine, I got them all in a job lot and the seller doesn't seem to have seperated what's a 500 and what's a 550, I found bits of each and even some 400 parts and some Kwack parts as well.

550 baskets






500 basket, note the central boss is dimpled and the basket itself has the same size slot for the discs all the way up, where the 550 has it wider at the very top. Also the 550 has 64 teeth on the sprocket and the 550 has 63.


Also see if the edges of the towers are showing really bad dents where the discs rattle against them, they should ideally be flat but in reality they never are after some use, some damage is ok but heavily ridged ones should be replaced. This one is only lightly marked.

[Gromitdog]

Hi Ken

Thank you for your info & guidance update

Firstly I need to go and count the teeth on the sprocket to see if it has got 64 teeth (as per 550) I have taken a Swiss file and carefully drawn filed the chatter marks from the worst uprights using the opposite upright on the other side of the cage as a guide to hold the file flat the marks seemed to come out np so I think it was not as bad as it looked/felt. ( funny as the marks where only on the odd few uprights so not a even wear patten on other uprights ). The clutch I am doing is going onto the Muttley as a spare so I can ride it until the weather gets really yucky , So I don't know what the one looks like which is currently on the bike now

I will take some pictures of my spare clutch basket and put them up on here for you so you can see .

Like you I brought a box of parts from the seller of the engine which he said the parts came off that engine so all in all grand total I got a non seized engine for £259, so hopefully the spare engine is in reasonable condition I know one possibly two of the spark plug holes will need tapping out and hopefully they can be saved with out to much trouble.

Hopefully the postman will bring the clutch lifter you kindly put in the post for me tomorrow 😊

Best Regards

Nigel

[Oddjob]

550 has 63 teeth Nigel.

Don’t dress the towers too much or you may make them worse, the friction disc tabs should be a tightish fit not sloppy .

Your pic showed a 550 basket as it has the learger opening at the top of the towers, 500 doesn’t have that

[Gromitdog]

Hi Ken

Here are some picture of a cleaned up clutch basket the crack lines have gone ( possibly polished out with wet & dry) but cant see them there with a 10x magnifying glass  I have lightly drawn filed a couple of the the fingers and taken the worst of the ridges out of the worst fingers (noting not to take to much off ) The number of teeth is 63

Thank you all & ken for your help and advice

Nigel

[Oddjob]

Any movement of the rear sprocket?

I'd still not trust that basket, the lines were too consistent for them not to be stress fractures. Sanding them can mean the dust settles into the crack and makes it appear to go.

I'd try the dye test if you have it handy.