Bikesure_adrianflux

Clutch oil seal Q

9

900Rebuilder

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Sep 20, 2022
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361
Location
Beeston
Bike
M900
Hi All,

Whilst I'm waiting on the wheels to come back from powder coating (and on the hunt for an S4 front wheel if that pops up first) I thought I'd drop the clutch out of my donor engine as I'll be swapping the side casing for a vented one. The steel clutch basket had signs of wear but I have dressed that lightly with a file which will do for the first year of use before replacement later on. Just to be on the safe side I pulled up some exploded diagrams of the clutch assembly and it seems I'm missing a seal at the extreme end of the push rod near to the small needle roller bearing so this will be purchased and fitted the correct way around. Can someone please check / confirm that I've correctly identified all the seals and o-rings required as listed from left to right when sat on the bike for the 900ie motor;

  • x2 o-rings in grooves approx 10mm apart
  • x1 o-ring in clutch cush drive on top of large needle roller bearing
  • x1 viton o-ring fitted internally in clutch spacer
  • x1 o-ring fitted into the cap on the end of the clutch push rod
  • x1 oil seal in clutch push rod near needle bearing
I've already fitted a new large oil seal to the newly coated side casing and oil level window and have the large seal flush with the external face and protruding slightly on the inside.

Is the threadlock specific which holds the clutch basket onto its hub as I seem to think oil could leak out of here as well?

Many thanks,

Ben
 
Seals sound about right from memory.

I also changed the little roller bearing in mine as they are cheap enough but beware, they are an absolute swine to remove (easy to re-fit the new one though) so if it looks good, I'd leave it be.

As for the basket & threadlock, I think it is more about sealing than locking, infact IIRC, I used threebond on mine for that reason - let's face it once all those 8 bolts are done up nice 'n tight they're not coming undone by themselves - though beware the big nut on the hub, mine on the 916 somehow loosened itself and ejected the hub/plates/pressure plate assembly through the cover, out of the housing and into the side fairing.:eek:

Belt 'n braces says use medium threadlock in the holes but squidge some threebond into the last few threads and under the bolt heads.
 
Thanks - my friend (ex-Marcol) suggested 3 bond on the big seal too which I've done.

I'll get them ordered ASAP then 👍
 
Other than the small seal gearbox shaft/pushrod seal on my 916 (and that only leaked because I fitted it backwards), I've never had a leak from either of my Ducati clutches and the 916 has done 52k miles.

When rebuilding the Monster engine, I replaced the 'O' rings anyway but I didn't touch the large oil seal in the side casing and it's been no bother.

But, if there's any doubt best to do it now that it's apart rather than find it leaking when on your first ride...
 
Dukedesmo said:
Other than the small seal gearbox shaft/pushrod seal on my 916 (and that only leaked because I fitted it backwards), I've never had a leak from either of my Ducati clutches and the 916 has done 52k miles.

When rebuilding the Monster engine, I replaced the 'O' rings anyway but I didn't touch the large oil seal in the side casing and it's been no bother.

But, if there's any doubt best to do it now that it's apart rather than find it leaking when on your first ride...
Click to expand...

I had to replace the seal as it was the side case from my "spare" original engine which I'd had cnc'd as per Corse style and then Cerakote's satin black
 
+1 for sealer on the basket bolts and not locktight. I wouldn't be tempted to put anything in the bolt holes, but only on the bolts as that won't extrude though the holes into the engine.
Another little thing to look out for is a good fit of the pushrod top hat/thrust pin in the bearing in the pressure plate.
It should just tap in with a little resistance. I had one wear loose in the bearing so the pin was turning within the bearing. I changed both of course and it seems fine now.
I also put plenty of moly grease in the top hat because I run an anti-rotation push rod so there will be a bit of friction in there as the free play takes up every time the clutch is used.

You can retro fit an anti-spin push rod if you have a later clutch slave or Oberon. I'll try and find a link to a thread on that if you're interested?
 
Another annoying thing was the bearing in the cnc pressure plate was rough from new and is also being replaced
 
Dukedesmo said:
Seals sound about right from memory.

I also changed the little roller bearing in mine as they are cheap enough but beware, they are an absolute swine to remove (easy to re-fit the new one though) so if it looks good, I'd leave it be.

As for the basket & threadlock, I think it is more about sealing than locking, infact IIRC, I used threebond on mine for that reason - let's face it once all those 8 bolts are done up nice 'n tight they're not coming undone by themselves - though beware the big nut on the hub, mine on the 916 somehow loosened itself and ejected the hub/plates/pressure plate assembly through the cover, out of the housing and into the side fairing.:eek:

Belt 'n braces says use medium threadlock in the holes but squidge some threebond into the last few threads and under the bolt heads.
Click to expand...
How did u get the little bearing Out ????? what method ????? I have one to do ,,,
 
Because it's practically in a blind hole and is tight, it's a real swine to pull out. I tried a bearing puller but couldn't get a good grip because of the size and because the hole is small you can't get much in there to lever it.

In the end I managed to lever the rollers out and then cut very carefully through the outer cage with a dremel took me ages.

By contrast the new one drifts in fairly easily with a suitably sized socket, helped by freezing it first to shrink it slightly.
 
Dukedesmo said:
Because it's practically in a blind hole and is tight, it's a real swine to pull out. I tried a bearing puller but couldn't get a good grip because of the size and because the hole is small you can't get much in there to lever it.

In the end I managed to lever the rollers out and then cut very carefully through the outer cage with a dremel took me ages.

By contrast the new one drifts in fairly easily with a suitably sized socket, helped by freezing it first to shrink it slightly.
Click to expand...
Could it be knocked out from other side with a drift as some Ducati mechanics claim???
 
jerry said:
Could it be knocked out from other side with a drift as some Ducati mechanics claim???
Click to expand...
No not in my experience.

Luckily for me I checked my bearing today and discovered that it was missing several needles and so needed to be removed. I destroyed the cage and with aid of a dremel and sharpened chisel eventually made it collapse. The remnants were pushed out with the push rod.

Glad I checked tbh but what a total ball ache!
 
jerry said:
Could it be knocked out from other side with a drift as some Ducati mechanics claim???
Click to expand...
Don't think so as the end of the gearbox shaft is behind the left side crankcase with only a pushrod sized hole in the case and the pushrod obviously fits through the bearing so any drift that fits through the case would also pass through the bearing.

You could probably drift it out from the shaft if you had the gearbox out of the bike but getting to that stage is an engine out/split job...
 
Further to the above, I've got a 'spare' gearbox lying around so curiosity got me looking at this on a Monday morning.

The ID of the clutch/gearbox shaft is 9mm and the ID of the bearing is 8.5mm so, if you had a 9mm drift it would have just 0.25mm of purchase on the edge of the bearing once inserted from the LH/alternator end of the shaft.

Don't know if that would be enough to drift it but I think it would likely just bend the end of the bearing cage, forcing it even tighter into the shaft?
When I tried using a bearing puller, it did similar as the bearing cage is very thin so distorts easily.

Consider also that the gear shaft is 23cm long so the drift needs to be long and obviously will then only go in straight, meaning you can't get an 'angle' on the end of the bearing so, considering all that I'm saying you couldn't drift it out even with the gearbox out of the casing.

Dremels and small chisels it is then...
 
what dremel tool attachment did you chaps use ?? to cut up the little bearing
 
Well actually I have a Black n Decker "Wizard" not a Dremel but I used the small cylindrical shaped grinding stone to thin the metal and then got an old scribe which I sharpened to a point to then get under the bearing outer casing. Using this method I had to re-sharpen the tip about 4 or 5 times but it eventually split it allowing its removal.
 
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