T3 - Oil my clutch (Should I?)

[n3303j]

So I'm installing my second flywheel and deep spline hub in my 130,000 mile T3. The originals are both notched. This maintenance was prompted by dealing with a clutch that dragged when in traffic and made shifting from first to neutral when stopped difficult.

When pulling the transmission I noticed a bit of reddish dust in the flywheel. Maybe rust, maybe clutch face? The notching wasn't that extreme.

The last clutch pack was all assembled bone dry. I am wondering if I should assemble the pack with some sort of a spline lube? BMW saw fit to do that on the early K bikes. The lube might inhibit corrosion and lessen the wear that results in notching? Also should the lube be limited to the deep spline hub or include the flywheel splines?

Finally, the choice of lube. First that comes to mind is Anti-Sieze applied in a VERY thin coat. Works on the wheel splines. I also have some BMW spline lube but am not impressed with its consistency.

Recommendations or caveats?  Thanks 😊

[guzzisteve]

I do them dry, it is not a BMW. Says nowhere to use lube on any splines in any service manual. Always have & always will. The one in my Cal2 has over 100Kmi on it & still good. Clutch hub is hardened & deep splined. Changed many early hubs.

[moto-uno]

  Dry for sure , and a follow up on BMW K bike clutch spine lube . I worked at a BMW shop (as a mechanic) and was not in love with the time
it took to do that spline lubing job , but that's what was required . It was either 2 or 3 years later that we received a service bulletin , cease lubing the splines !
It was found to be accelerating spline wear with the specif grease they had us use  ! Assemble dry and forget about it when you go on your first
ride and delight in how easy neutral is to find  .

[Dave Swanson]

Some use a light spray of graphite that dries quickly and wont fling.  I just put them together dry.

[wirespokes]

I seem to recall someone here sending these parts off for some sort of special coating that both protects the splines and reduces friction.

[n3303j]

  <SNIP>Assemble dry and forget about it when you go on your first
ride and delight in how easy neutral is to find  .

I know about the ease of finding neutral on a properly operating clutch. I did this job 70,000 miles ago on this bike when I did the first flywheel and driven hub replacement. It's the fact that I'm doing it again another 70,000 miles later that has me questioning if there is a way to increase the durability of these splines with "magic" lubricants.

Meanwhile I pulled the clutch and flywheel on my V11EV at 80,000 miles to deal with the engine oil leaks into the bell housing and the spline assembly had almost no signs of wear and the clutch operated flawlessly. Both bikes built by the same factory, different service life with the higher horsepower power train showing less wear. Go figure?

[John A]

Gordon told me that the clutch hubs that MG cycle were selling had a dry film lube applied at the factory. That was twenty years ago so I don’t know if that is still true. I’d assemble it dry.

[malik]

Difficulty switching from first to neutral, or neutral to first is usually an indication that the clutch cable needs adjusting. Just saying.

[n3303j]

Difficulty switching from first to neutral, or neutral to first is usually an indication that the clutch cable needs adjusting. Just saying.

Not in this case. Been a mechanic too long to not make that my first step in troubleshooting. The clutch gets older. Notches develop in the driving and driven splines. Assorted clutch dust accumulates in the clutch pack. Then the system releases less and less crisply. Next thing you get a bit of drag. It generates heat and things change shape increasing the drag until it becomes unacceptable.
That happened last week.





This is how I make it work better. New clutch pack installed. Now time to turn this pile of parts into a motorcycle again.

[yackee]

Huhh? No one suggests greasing the clutch.

[n3303j]

Huhh? No one suggests greasing the clutch.

Too late now, 😪  engine is back in the frame.

[bigbikerrick]

when I replaced my eldorados clutch (sd tech) I bought a new 4 mm deep spline hub from MG cycle and sent it  to a place called reikert engineering to have it cerma coated and its been 22K miles now and still working very smoothly. I think it was worth it.  They told me,they apply it with an airbrush, then bake it in an oven. You can probably do it at home.
They charged me $75. to do it.
Rick