Cb400f Clutch basket rubber cush drive

[amx1992]

I made a post a while ago when I made some Teflon cutch basket rubbers. Since then I've been doing some experimenting with Viton to make a softer and probably more suitable set. I machined them out of 10mm Viton sheet (which is disgustingly expensive). Hopefully these will be a suitable replacements for the old ones which you cant buy anywhere. I think another user Vehmulski had some tooling made up to stamp the rubbers out, which would be a much better way to go when making a lot of them.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wG73rUkYMs&t=79s

Also, one of the baskets I took apart was identical to the other 400 baskets, but had different cush rubbers ( a better design I think) and a very slightly different gear (1mm smaller holes for the rubbers). Just wondered if anyone knows anything about this, maybe from a cb350?

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[Oddjob]

Very interesting Max, nice job as well. Pretty sure someone in South Africa tried something very similar but the rubber didn't stand up to the job. We'll have to see how the Viton lasts in use. Keep us informed, I'd like to open a 500/550 clutch basket one day and see how they are shaped.

[amx1992]

Cheers Oddjob, I'm also pretty curious to see what's inside the other sohc4s clutches.

[Laverdaroo]

They look more than up for the job, nice work Max as ever mate


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[Johnny4428]

Yes agree! Lovely job and nice to see the process.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Interesting Video Max.

[Oddjob]

I missed the video Max, the link didn't exactly stand out and TBH when Ted mentioned it I was like, "What video?" Just watched it and I've got to say your solutions to how to make them consistently are great, simple and effective. Even freezing them was inspired.

I've got a few spare baskets for the 500/550, they differ slightly in that the 500 has either one tooth more on the gear or one tooth less, can't remember now, plus the actual basket is different, I'd imagine however the damping rubbers will be the same, I'll split one and see if they are similar to the 400, how big are the rubbers BTW? just so when I find out I can compare them.

Have you tested the new clutch basket yet and if so is it standing up to the demands? Might be a bit early to tell but initial thoughts?

[amx1992]

The rubbers are 28 / 24mm outer diameter (oval shaped) think the slot is 7.5mm wide and 17mm long. Haven't put the clutch back in the bike yet, but I'm quite confident it should be ok, there's someone who has been doing classic Kawasaki replacement in Viton for a few years.

[Oddjob]

That's interesting Max, I thought they were circular, especially after watching the vid, you seem to just turn them down to a circle.

[amx1992]

Yeah, because I could only make them round I had to compensate all the dimensions for having to squash them to fit the circular rubber in the oval hole

[Oddjob]

Wouldn't that distort the central cut though Max?

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Seems weird that no one seems to be making a pattern copy part for the likes of DS.

[Oddjob]

They won't make the rubbers Ted as the clutch basket was never meant to be taken apart, it's a reasonably easy job to do TBH but it's beyond 70% of riders IMO. Plus the vast majority of riders wouldn't even spot the gear moving on the basket, it's one of those things you need to be looking for as a potential problem. A decent rider will feel the basket moving but most would assume it's the primary chain.

[amx1992]

Wouldn't that distort the central cut though Max?

I had to compensate that as well so that when it squashed the central cut was the exact shape of the part on the basket

Seems weird that no one seems to be making a pattern copy part for the likes of DS.

I think if someone was waterjet cutting them or had a tool to stamp them out, I'm sure you could get the price down to about £10 per set in material, problem is you would need to make a lot of them, and small amounts of viton is pretty expensive, and not easy to get hold of

[Laverda Dave]

Max, what size of Vinton sheet would you need to make a few sets of these? I am asking because my brother in law owns a rubber company and he uses viton.
Cheers
Dave