i purchased clutch friction plates online from
www.classiccycleparts.com They were only about $30 for all 7. My local honda dealer wanted like $13 each and didn't have a "kit".
I don't know how often these really need replaced. My bike has 88000 miles on it, and the old plates actually looked pretty good, but the previous owner complained of some kind of "slippage" when the bike gets hot, which I haven't experienced. I actually replaced the clutch plates whlie the bike was down waiting for other parts, and it needed an oil change, so seemed like a good time to do it.
Got them in about 4 days, USPS, which I like better than UPS because they leave packages at my door, UPS won't.
The install was relatively easy, except I took off the nut on the front of clutch cover, wasn't necessary. just undo the phillips head screws that are around the outside of the clutch cover only. You also have to take off the kickstarter and the rear brake. You do not need to take off the peg.
This other nut is actually part of the internal clutch lever, i don't know the proper name for it, if you flip the cover over after you take the cover off, you can see the lever mechanism. Mine came apart while I was taking it the cover off, because i took off the outside "mystery" nut, and the manual didn't have a photo, so make sure if it comes apart, you get the spring load to work right before you put the cover back on. I recommend double-checking this thing anyway, the little 'cam' at the top can flip out pretty easily too. I remember hearing it "pop" early on and thought, what the hell was that? Luckily, I took a good luck at the mechanism and saw what I'd done. If the cam comes out from under the lever, you will need to undo that front "mystery" nut now, slide the lever over the cam and under the spring, then rebolt the pivot at the bottom (the "mystery" nut). On my bike, there was a notch where the clutch cable connects and the clutch cover, that's where everything should line up when you're not pulling on the clutch lever.
Watch the small brake pedal return spring when putting the brake pedal back on. It's a little tiny one by the frame. There's a big spring on the pedal itself, I used a big flathead screwdriver to remove and install it without too much trouble.
So don't just check your clutch before heading out, check the rear brake too.
The cable seemed extra tight after i replaced the plates, I had to let it all the way out on both ends. This kind of surprised me, because I didn't think there was that much wear on the old plates, but maybe there was. Or maybe the clutch assembly needs to settle back in. I've only ridden a few miles since then, so I'll keep checking the cable and post again if I notice it needs adjusted already.
I have a Clymer manual and I'm not really happy with it. I expected there to be at least some torque spec's on the clutch spring bolts, but there were not. I forgot to buy the clutch springs which was kind of stupid on my part. The next time I do an oil change, I'll go back in and put new springs in too. The bolts holding the clutch springs in was "pretty tight" when I took them off, so I just put them back "pretty tight" but not really happy with that. I would rather have torque spec's on internal bolts like that that I can't get to without dropping fluids, etc.
I'll search for torque spec's on here. Or if someone knows a better repair manual, please post.
I don't check this site often, so email me if you need to share critical information, motosd@cox.net. thanks!
