RGM belt drive clutch issue.

MLW · Nov 11, 2023

L.A.B. said:
Ok, although what RGM says below makes no sense (to me!) as the 3mm backing plate would seem to be what's supplied with the kit, not 4mm.

RGM BELT DRIVE 5 FRICTION PLATE CLUTCH COMPLETE, COMMANDO

RGMBDC5CL 5 FRICTION PLATE CLUTCH BELT DRIVE CLUTCH

www.rgmnorton.co.uk

"ONCE BEDDED IN IT MAY BE POSSIBLE TO INCREASE THE STACK HEIGHT BY CHANGING THE BACKING PLATE TO 4MM TO GIVE A LIGHTER LEVER. IF THE CLUTCH NEEDED TO TRANSMIT MORE POWER THEN THE STACK HEIGHT COULD BE REDUCED 1MM BY CHANGING THE BACKING PLATE TO 4MM AND REMOVING THE FIRST STEEL CLUTCH PLATE."

I think RGM's stack height seems high because the backing plate is included which is not the case with the standard clutch stack height.

It's all rather confusing, lol.

phippsy · Nov 11, 2023

Might be a daft question but what friction plates are you using ? I use the surflex that RGM sell in my belt drive and when you get it right , you get a very nice clutch

Dellis · Nov 12, 2023

Just for comparison my clutch is built as follows; RGM belt drive clutch basket (they are deeper than standard hence the thicker back plate), 4 mm wear plate, five 3.2mm friction plates, four 2mm steel plates and the pressure plate, I didn’t measure this but it came out of my standard clutch.

Dave

MLW · Nov 17, 2023

phippsy said:
Might be a daft question but what friction plates are you using ? I use the surflex that RGM sell in my belt drive and when you get it right , you get a very nice clutch

I am using the same friction plates.

MLW · Nov 17, 2023

Dellis said:
Just for comparison my clutch is built as follows; RGM belt drive clutch basket (they are deeper than standard hence the thicker back plate), 4 mm wear plate, five 3.2mm friction plates, four 2mm steel plates and the pressure plate, I didn’t measure this but it came out of my standard clutch.

Dave

Have you ridden the bike with this combination... any issues?

Dellis · Nov 21, 2023

MLW said:
Have you ridden the bike with this combination... any issues?

Yes I’ve ridden it and now I’ve adjusted the belt correctly it works perfectly, nice light clutch action and no drag or slip.

Dave

The yaki · Nov 28, 2023

Dellis said:
Yes I’ve ridden it and now I’ve adjusted the belt correctly it works perfectly, nice light clutch action and no drag or slip.

Dave

How did you adjust the belt ? Roy.

The yaki · Nov 28, 2023

The yaki said:
How did you adjust the belt ? Roy.

Sorry but I have a mk3. It'not too easy. Use rear wheel chain adjusters after slackening gearbox bolts ? Now the chain isn't perfect and contrary to reports the belt slackening. Wish I'd bought a mk2 !! Roy

Dellis · Nov 30, 2023

The yaki said:
How did you adjust the belt ? Roy.

Hi Roy, I adjusted it with the gearbox adjuster then trued it up by tightening the drive chain and using the adjusters to square it up. I then torqued the mounting bolts rechecked that the engine sprocket and clutch basket had remained parallel and repeated the process until everything was parallel after tightening which took a couple of attempts.

If you follow…

Dave

Peter R · Apr 22, 2024

MLW said:
I am in the process of setting up the stack height for the clutch for my new RGM belt drive kit to go into my Commando and ran into some issues. First I have tried emailing RGM and they haven't responded and when calling them I can hear them but they can't hear me. The issue started when assembling a 5 disc clutch pack into the new drum I had to force the retaing ring in place with pliers, I experienced ne such issues with the stock chain drive drum with the same clutch pack. Once assembled the spring was very much in a convex position as oppoesed to the correct slightly convex possition as indicated elsewhere in this forum. The spring does assume the correct position with the original chain drive drum. Investigating further, I compared the measurement from the bottom of the drum to the retaining ring groove. With the supplied 4mm plate at the bottom of the belt drive drum, the belt drive drum is 3mm less than the chain drive drum. The instruction say that the 4mm plate is in addition to the standard clutch stack but I can't see how it could fit with that difference in depth. Has anyone else run into this issue, am I avorlooking something. Any help would be appreciated.

Maybe a bit late to join the party, but I had the same issue with the RGM clutch basket, the spring clip could be only inserted in the groove by force,
Checked the stackheight of the clutch package, but I found that this could not be the culprit.
Ater investigation, I found that the diameter of the diaphragm spring did not fit correctly in its seat causing the diapragm sprin to protrude by a small amount.
Slightly reducing the outer diameter of the spring solved my problem .

MLW · Apr 24, 2024

Peter R said:
Maybe a bit late to join the party, but I had the same issue with the RGM clutch basket, the spring clip could be only inserted in the groove by force,
Checked the stackheight of the clutch package, but I found that this could not be the culprit.
Ater investigation, I found that the diameter of the diaphragm spring did not fit correctly in its seat causing the diapragm sprin to protrude by a small amount.
Slightly reducing the outer diameter of the spring solved my problem .

Update:
I found that my diaphragm spring was warped significantly, so I replaced that with a new one from AN and got a 3mm bottom plate from RGM to replace the 4mm plate that comes with the belt drive kit. That seems to have solved my problems.