Clutch pushrod preloaded by slave

[Wildfire]

Should this happen? After much investigation, combined with some chewed up edges on the clutch plates, it seems the slave cylinder is preloading the pushrod.

I'm not sure if this is normal or not?

The way I see it, I can either:

Put the original back on and man up/develop a grip that can turn coal into diamonds.

Or

Grind down the push rod a little.

Maybe I have he wrong aftermarket slave?

[Dukedesmo]

Does it have a short spacer in it?

[Wildfire]

No, I had a look inside the slave in case I had put the spacer in. Nothing, not that I can see anyway. If it was in there that would explain the issue.

[Dirty]

I wouldn't grind the push rod. there must be some other reason

[Dukedesmo]

As I understand it, later bikes had a different slave cylinder that required a longer pushrod?

Not sure when the change happened but Oberon (and others) supply a spacer for when the pushrod's too short and IIRC I needed the spacer on my M900.

Maybe the slave is designed for the shorter rod (as is the Evoluzione on my 916) and your bike has the longer rod?

Can you measure the pushrod?

[Wildfire]

Yep, I'm going to switch back to the slave cylinder of pain on Thursday, so will measure it then.

The slave apparently fitted most Ducati bikes, it did come with a spacer, but I didn't put it in. I'll double check on Thursday though

My bike is odd though as it is a crossover model. Looks like the facelift 620's and has a mix of late and early bits on it. Either a over zealous previous owner or a end of run assembly on a Friday.

[Funkatronic]

sounds like u need the spacer in

[slob]

Have you aligned the pressure plate correctly? I know it's a PITA to check now with a wet clutch but it's possible to to snag it on the edge of the basket which would have a similar effect.

[Wildfire]

Yeah, it all looked fine when I reassembled it. I suspect it's the slave cylinder as the issues was the same with the old plates.

[Wildfire]

To further my woes on the clutch, bike was going ok this morning, riding across London and have reached my destination and there is a high pitched metallic noise from the clutch cover. The bike runs fine, pulls ok, well it did until it overheated and I lost the vertical cylinder.

Only thing I can think is that something to do with the pushrod and/or bearing is not seated properly or working etc.

Joy.

[Sirc]

Have you got a bleeder on the slave Wildfire, and if so, have you tried briefly undoing it and nipping it up again immediately? Also it's possible for the pushrod to "hydraulic" in the slave piston and not allow it go to the bottom of the bore. It's a bit labourious, but to save time, you could compare both slaves by measuring the distance between the mounting face and the bottom internal face of the piston when pushed to the bottom of its bore which will tell you once and for all if there is any difference.

[Wildfire]

Cheers Sirc, I'm going to have a fiddle around tonight/tomorrow and see what gives. I'm going to be out with the veriner calliper and measuring things.

Whichever way something is not right. I rode back from London tonight and the metallic pinging noise was not present, except when the bike got very hot. The only thing I can think is that the oil is overheating and getting very thin. But I'll drain it down and have a look inside the clutch cover anyway.

Once this is sorted it will be valves, which will bring days of fun!

[Flip]

The bike runs fine, pulls ok, well it did until it overheated and I lost the vertical cylinder.

Are you sure it wasn't a vapour lock in the fuel system causing the vertical cylinder to die?

My 900 has suffered from it in the past but hopefully I have cured it by replacing all the hoses, vacuum tap and pump internals recently.

[Wildfire]

Are you sure it wasn't a vapour lock in the fuel system causing the vertical cylinder to die?

My 900 has suffered from it in the past but hopefully I have cured it by replacing all the hoses, vacuum tap and pump internals recently.

Hmmm... I'm not too sure. I've never experienced it before. It was like the bike was firing on 1.5 cylinders. It cleared after around a few minutes of moving forward.