Clutch - worth replacing?

[rustychain]

My final drive is off the bike at the moment getting rebuilt.

The clutch is ~58,000 miles old. I'm pondering whether to replace the clutch as a proactive measure (hoping to do some long trips next year).

Any words of wisdom?

 

[Posh Pete]

How would you feel if you didn't and then the clutch began to slip?

 

[JJH]

I’d have a look at it anyway. JJH

 

[SteveHop]

Have you measured the friction plate thickness ?

 

[Two wheels good]

Nah! There could be tens of thousand miles left on it. Depending on your use and knowledge of prior ownership of the moto of course.
And removing the FD is a small fraction of the work involved.
I'd certainly be inspecting and considering replacemant of the clutch slave cyl. though.

What is you went to all that trouble and found everything tickety-boo.
As mentioned, have a look at the disc via the starter aperture.

 

[rustychain]

I've had the bike 9 months so I've got limited knowledge of its history.

I didn't know you could view the disc via the start motor aperture so I'll start there.

 

[KMD]

I replaced the whole clutch, everything, on my previous 1150 when it started to slip. Turned out that the seal on the slave cylinder had failed, and brake fluid was seeping past and travelling along the release rod and then being flung outward where it began to interfere with the clutch plate/fly wheel interface. The clutch friction plate was still within tolerance but as I’d got things this far apart I just replaced everything. Belt n Braces probably, but I didn’t have any problems with it after.

 

[mikeyboy]

My take on things ,given the state of the final drive.
If you plan to do big trips on it ,
See if you can accurately measure the plate thickness. And go from there.
Drain gearbox into a clean container.and go from there.
Remove slave cyl.throw it in the bin and fit a new one.
Have a good look down the bore where the slave fits,
Any leakage of brake fluid absorbs moisture.
Moisture down that area will cause corrosion on the rear of the input shaft,which in turn will cause failure of the seal and more chance of ingress into the bell housing and clutch area.
Corroded input shaft = rebuild with new shaft= @nother shit load of cash

 

[Pete.]

When you say the final drive do you mean just the hub? There's a lot of work between removing the hub and removing the clutch, you have to split the fram off the engine.

That said, I would - and have - changed the friction plate as a matter of course if the gearbox was out anyway.

 

[rustychain]

Thanks for the responses.

The turnaround time on the final drive rebuild was super quick (Monday to Friday including postage!). As a result, I've reassembled the bike to test ride it.

This video seems to be a pretty good account of what's involved -

I'll have a look through the starter motor aperture first and decide whether to delve further.