S65LS Gear Shift

[rafaelmk]

A friend of mine is restoring his LS, and I'm lending him a hand. The clutch throw out lever isn't engaging, so he had the transmission serviced.

To have the clutch rebuilt, it was shipped to Southland Clutch. A fresh friction disk was put in and the plates were both resurfaced. It was replaced with a new diaphragm spring.
After attaching the clutch lever (found on the rear of the transmission) and all of the internal components, my friend contacted me to inform me that he is still unable to disengage the clutch.

The push rod, piston, and circular ball bearing assembly are all examined once I get there. Upon installation, we observe that the thrust piston is positioned too far behind the tranny, resulting in the adjustment bolt on the throwout lever barely touching it.
Since he got my permission to install the clutch without my presence, I'm considering the possibility that the diaphragm spring was fitted in the wrong way, which would enable the thrust rod and assembly to be moved forward. It seemed highly unlikely, but we dismantled the clutch just in case.
Everything went smoothly during installation. Additionally, we make sure the push rod fits snugly into the diaphragm spring. As far as I can tell, there are no problems or unusual wear patterns there.
Thus, we put the gearbox back in place after reinstalling the clutch and giving the bolts a good torque.
When we put the piston, thrust rod, and bearing back into place, we can see that it seems to be sitting too deep in the rear transmission well.
Just so you know, the bushing can be found on the thrust rod around 1/4" below the end of the rod (part #15 in the attached figure). Does it belong on the thrust rod at this point? The drawing just shows it connected to the end. In that case, our issue would be explained: the clutch lever wouldn't push on the piston appropriately since the piston would be farther within the cylinder at the back of the tranny.
We have all of the necessary components and have organized them correctly, as per the Clymer instructions. Maybe we're doing something wrong with the R65 assembly because I've worked on a lot of /5, /6, and later Airhead clutches.

I would be very grateful for any advice you could provide me.

[leandro_hernandezj]

Apologies, but my R65 LS has never had me near the clutch.

[clairesilvapa]

How is the diaphragm spring disc doing? What is the bike's mileage? Before you completed the work, how terrible was the clutch actuation? Diaphragm height is a metric that I think is in the Clymer book. They do get less pliable.

[lucas_diazp]

I haven't researched Southland or their clutch disk refurbishment process. Whatever was taken out and put back in the '81-on R65LS should have met specifications.

I can tell that my/7 uses the same item as #15, because to the part number. I captured pictures of my clutch pushrod, and it appears like the back of the rod has been ground down to accommodate the #15, and it appears that it would slide down onto the rod until it reaches the bigger diameter of the rod. In your illustration, #3 can slide onto the rod and then settle on #15.


Does it matter which way the clutch disk is positioned? Which side is more important?

[alexander_morriss]

Southland Clutch results thread —

[rafaelmk]

Comparing the two springs, the new one is around 3 millimeters higher. The previous spring was just about 2 millimeters short of the required height, though I misplaced the exact numbers. My friend's bike had a Siebenrock 800cc kit added when he purchased it, but I can't remember the exact mileage. Prior to the tear down, clutch actuation was within typical limits.

[rafaelmk]

Southland has rebuilt many clutches for me, both 5 and 6. They compensate for the material lost from the mating surfaces with a somewhat thicker friction disk, as far as I can tell. Referring to the handbook, the friction disc splined hub is positioned with the disc facing outward. While in/6, etc., the thrust rod presses on the inner pressure plate, which in turn presses on the diaphragm spring, the R65 clutch is slightly different since the thrust rod presses directly into the spring. Curiously, the thrust piston seems to be positioned too far into the recess at the rear of the tranny.

[leandro_hernandezj]

You don't need a bushing for the second piston on your design because of a switch on the R65. Since the bushing is unnecessary, I am unsure if the rod is same.