Clutch Basket Marking Before Disassembly

[kris]

In one of Chris Harris' videos he talked about marking the clutch basket parts prior to removal. I thought I'd send some photos of what it looks like in order that anyone taking on the job might gain a little more understanding. It's simple but important. The basket (housing) is balanced as a set at the factory. You will notice the drilled out areas on the fore and after housing to set balance. If you screw it up (by not marking it) my guess is you're headed to a machine shop/ BMW dealer to ask them to test and re-set where the housings are meant to align before you re-install it wrong only to find a nasty vibration in your machine. Take special note of that thrust washer...the plastic disk that goes on the back of the forward housing. It prices out at $32.50 for an RT...can you imagine having the nads to ask that much for that part?? Man, some of the pricing is shameless...but we're stuck. Must be specially engineered German plastic!

The last two photos show my home-made holding tool...very easy to do. I think the flat piece is 8.5 inches long and you go from there. The main seal was a little harder to get out than I thought. One is tempted to give 'er hell but also mindful of scoring the housing....so be careful. The installation of the new seal was a little stressful. I think I sunk it a bit deep...

Good luck to all!

[F14CRAZY]

Last year, to trace what I thought was abnormal vibration, I battled re-setting the clutch components in an effort to get them to balance right. With not being able to figure out exactly what marks were the right ones, and having the trans off a total of like 4 times (I can do it in like an hour and 15 minutes now though), I bought all the marked parts new from the dealer. Those parts came with clear marks.

I don't know...I guess the components are balanced right. My hands were going numb after like 30 minutes on the highway and now I can ride for a couple hours and be fine. I haven't been able to ride another K75 to compare but from the R1100RT I rode, the K is "turbine smooth" in comparison.

[RobP]

So, is the basic premise to mark all the components (except for the friction disc) with a common reference point on the outer edge to keep them in the same relative position to each other?   

For those of you who have done clutch work, how visible / legible are the factory marks?   Just curious, in order to determine if a PO reassembled the clutch basket without proper care.

[Elipten]

Yes it is claimed you must mark all the parts before disassembly, because they are a balanced assembly.  I could not find any factory marks from my old clutch pack, and obviously BMW sells replacement parts separately.  So not sure I believe the balanced assembly concept, but what do you have to lose by marking it.

[kris]

Elipten, I noticed your skepticism regarding the balance thing and, who knows, you might be right. You would think it would sense to balance each component and then, together, they would all be balanced. Suggesting that they put a clutch basket together and then balance that seems funny but maybe they thought, with the bigger mass, that would be the best way to go. I'm just getting this bike going so I'll post comments once I have some time with her on the road. Here's hopin'!!

[Elipten]

I replaced my pressure plate, clutch and etc.  all but the large flywheel.  Could find no marks, parts all bought from BMW separate, and used the original flywheel clutch housing from 1990.

Turbine smooth is all I can say.