clutch spring leaf problem

[james]

anyone having problems with the spring leaf in the clutch basket breaking, pieces going through the clutch fibers and plates cause clutch failure, anyone know why, any fixes

[vinny]

WELCOME ABOARD JAMES. :wav:

Sorry you seem to be having an issue with your bike!
This thread may be of some use to you if I read your post correctly!
http://www.zl-oa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10344&highlight=clutch+pressure+plate

If not can you take a photo to show us what has happened?
Good luck,
Vinny

[james]

thanks vinny, don't have any pics, already have it back together, there's a spring washer inside the clutch that has six fingers on it and five of them had broken off, all the fragment stayed inside the clucth basket and wasn't letting the plates ingage properly, making it slip. i was wondering if this is a common proplem that i should keep an eye on. my bike has 13,000 miles on it, if this is common how often does it happen and is there a way to fix it. thanks

[kawboy]

I think there is an updated part (I'm ASSuming you have a ZL900 or 1000). Go to www.concours.org (http://www.concours.org) and search "star spring". There's been a lot of discussion, but I haven't paid a lot of attention since I haven't had the problem.

[zl900_moab]

Welcome, James....Not a common problem that I have heard of, in fact Dale Walker used the ZL900's at his drag school with a stock clutch running for thousands of full 1/4 mile runs without experiencing any clutch failures, to quote DW, "The ZL has a tractor clutch in it"...."Unbreakable" was the other theme he would use when speaking of it....However, this is the place to be if you are having issues.
moab...

[james]

thanks for your help guys, this site is great thanks agian

[wuputt]

Welcome!
I replaced my clutch plates about 5 years ago, 2 tabs were gone from the "star". At the time KERA was the only US ZL forum and a few members had 1 or 2 tabs break off. I never heard of anyone losing 5! You may want to open it up again at the end of the riding season just to confirm all is well! If more tabs are broken you will want to figure out why!