Guys, can someone tell me why the old Yamaha XS650 (pre- 1974) had 4 fiber/fiber friction disc and 2 fiber/aluminum friction disc?
I've been putting some final touches on my 1973 TX650 Yamaha. 3-4 months ago I replaced the old, original 5/6 plate steel/fiber clutch with an aftermarket 6/7 steel/fiber one. The original design is no longer available from Yamaha. I've never been happy with the aftermarket set-up (MikesXS). It grabs, it chatters and just doesn't release during shifts and it's not Mike's fault - it's just the throw-out is not enough to give adequate spacing when the lever is pulled. The original one came with 5 rubber cushions (almost like 4" diameter o-rings) which help to seperate the fibers and steels when the lever is pulled, but these won't work with the newer 6/7 set-up due to spacing. The old style fibers are .140 thick while the newer style are .119. I've spent a crazy amount of money to buy all of the NOS pieces from an old inventory specialty dealer, but my 6 fibers are all fiber/fiber frictions. Yamaha hasn't had these in many years, but the parts fiche shows them superceded to the same part. They aren't - 2 of the plates were originally fiber bonded onto aluminum. My dumb self threw the old fiber/aluminum frictions away months ago. They had been sitting since 1981 and several crumbed in my hand during separation from the steels.
Do I put the $24 a piece fibers in there and risk them coming apart? What does the 2 fiber/aluminum frictions have to do with the set of 6?
Sorry to post this Yamaha question here, but these answers aren't in the book. I'm hoping some here were mechanics in the day and know why it was done the way it is. If you think about it, those 2 aluminum plates don't work unless the other 4 are there. If the fiber/fiber was going to shatter or fail, the 2 remaining plates aren't going to work/hold either. I'm lost.
Thanks,
Gordon
