Six spring clutch bearing

[bikerbob]

I have been overhauling the A7 it has the 6 spring clutch and decided to replace the clutch bearing and the replacement provided by the dealer Draganfly is as you see in the attached photos, whilst the new one looks to be an improvement on the old one I am a little concerned if it will get enough lubrication the old one being 2 separate bearings is of a more open construction whereas the new one is much more compact. The internal size of the clutch housing is 1.887" whilst the outer dia of the new bearing cage is 1.882".  The bearing cage is made of what looks like some type of aluminium alloy. Your comments please

[chaterlea25]

Hi,

The internal size of the clutch housing is 1.887" whilst the outer dia of the new bearing cage is 1.882".  The bearing cage is made of what looks like some type of aluminium alloy. Your comments please

THe cage has to be smaller than the outer bearing race and larger than the inner
the ball bearings will be (or should be) of a larger diamater than the thickness of the cage
Other than that it would be a bush not a bearing

HTH
John

[bikerbob]

I understand that the cage has to be smaller than the outer bearing race and the balls are slightly bigger they are the same size 3/16" as the original bearings I listed the sizes to point out that there is only.007 difference as this is where the lubrication will have to go through.

[chaterlea25]

HI Bob,
Put some high temperature grease on the bearings if you are worried
On Ariels theres a needle roller bearing and a bronze cage, this sits between the chaincase which has oil in it and the clutch which runs dry, The bearing never seems to wear 

John

[KiwiGF]

I have the draganfly bearing and have done 4000 miles no problems so far but the cage part with the holes in it did show signs of wear in the form of a grey paste when I took a look at around the 1500 mile mark (I was replacing the primary case gasket...yet again  so took the opportunity to inspect it).

My 6 spring clutch works perfectly with no slip and easy neutral finding at standstill, the secret in my case was to have the springs only tight enough to prevent clutch slip but not over tight (found by trial and error) , and to use a dial guage to ensure the pressure plate lifts off evenly.

[bikerbob]

Thanks for those replies you have to use a bit of grease to hold the balls in place while you fit the clutch basket I will fit the new bearing and check it after a year as I will probably only do about that mileage on this bike.

[Clive54bsa]

Hi Bikerbob, I also purchased the "Draganfly" roller cage for my  '54GF, but, after running it for a couple of hundred miles, felt there was a bit too much slop in the chain wheel, and went back to the conventional bearing, which works well. Although I think the Draganfly unit is easier to fit.

[RichardL]

I will fit the new bearing and check it after a year as I will probably only do about that mileage on this bike.

So, this means you are not going to check it the very next time it has to come apart?

Richard L.

[bikerbob]

Richard. Obviously if  for some reason I had to take the primary case off in the next year I would look at it but as I do not expect anything to go wrong over the summer months as I do not do a great mileage having also a BSA A65 I am hoping to leave it until next winter when I will look at it again to see how it is standing up along with a modification that I did to the rear of the primary case where I fitted an oil seal that runs on the gearbox mainshaft.

[RichardL]

Bob,

That's a much more serious answer than I meant to spawn. I was joking about time between A10 disassemblings. Apparently, it's mostly my A10.

Richard L.

[taylor1960]

Hi Bob im going to fit a 6 spring clutch to my A10 is your bearing still holding up i need a new one and at this stage can get eather new or old type 

[bikerbob]

I have just dismantled the primary side to cure an oil leak from the gearbox and can confirm that the Draganfly bearing is working great  no signs of any problems with the clutch, with the Draganfly bearing fitted there is no wobble on the clutch basket which was there with the old style bearings fitted.

[chaterlea25]

Hi,
A lot of the "pattern" original type bearings are a very loose fit on the shaft adaptor 
So  I would avoid these !!

John

[Tumbleweed]

hi bob, looking at the pics mine don't fit so good ive managed to get a pic ,  a third of the bearing is not being used by the looks of it , and there is still loads of play, have you any ideas please     thanks tw

[taylor1960]

Hii did U fit the plate behind the clutch basket first