Hitchcocks Forum

hi all,

i know i have asked this question before but i cant find the original post. i had a problem with the clutch dragging on my super meteor and thanks to help from here i got it to a rideable state.

however while out riding it a few weeks ago the clutch got progressively worse to the point where it felt like i had no clutch and had to do clutchless gear changes. i have been scratching my head and cant for the life of me figure out whats wrong with it.

if i adjust it how i want it a get a high pitch squeal from the clutch pushrod.

any help would be much appreciated.

thanks
ed

It is an Enfield clutch Barnes, that is what is wrong with it I'm afraid, design was bad from the start because you cannot get enough lift to separate the plates. You have obviously over adjusted it and kept too much pressure on the push rod and it has got hot and possibly mushroomed the end. There is no simple fix and it will probably drive you nuts trying to fix it. You will have to pull it apart and work your way through replacing bits. I have spent buckets of hours on some of these and pull my hair out with some of them. Others seem to work reasonably well till you get stuck in traffic and as the clutch heats up it all goes to pot. Wish I could give you some tips but I can't. I end up modifying them so much so that I can get them to work I couldn't explain it

Please tell us how Norm, no more doom and gloom! Seroiusly, you could try adding the roller bearing mushroom lifter from the Accessory Catalogue. This has helped a bit on some of mine. REgards, Mark

Hi Mark, I try this, try that, try something else eventually I get them to sort of work reasonably well and when I come up with a fix you will be the first to know. Some of them I seem to continually keep trying to fix, they work ok for a while and then they start dragging again. The roller push pads usually help a bit but not the complete answer.

Norm, l know what you mean. The fixes that really work are replacement clutches, either Norton or Suzuki or from our Hosts (Newby). I have had some success with fitting the 5 plate kits. My lnter runs a spline basket and standard centre and that's heavy but good. I'm going belt drive and Newby clutch on the S2 l'm doing next!
REgards, Mark

Hi Mark,
I have fitted a couple of Newby ones and they are pretty much fit and forget. A bloke in the next suburb from where I live has started making belt drive clutches for them but at this stage he is only making ones for the 5 speed and it can be used with the left shift 5 speed where the Newby one can't. They are a fantastic clutch but about the same price as a Newby costs us at around $800

hi all

thanks for your replys. they are very much appreciated. i have spoken to our hosts, and i have ordered up the modified clutch pushrod. i also didnt realise that i should be running ATF in the casing. i have been running engine oil in there. so i shall change this as well. hopefully i may get a working clutch.

thanks again.

ed

Hi Barnes
I believe that clutch packs respond well to ATF, so this sounds like a good idea to me, but I was just wondering if you or anyone else can confirm running ATF in the drive case for a Meteor?
The only question I have besides this, is could the ATF possibly work its way back into the crankcase and contaminate the engine oil, does anyone know the answer to this?
Regards, Dookie

Dookie,
The Meteor has a seal on the drive side bearing/ primary case most probably designed around the turn of the century and has every possibility to leak from the primary into the engine through the bearing but hopefully crank pressure prevents this from happening, probably why they wanted to keep positive crank pressure by having a very undersized breather