We have a history me and MZ Clutches. On my 125 I managed to snap the clutch bolts and destroy a clutch basket. I think about the third attempt I managed to actually assemble a clutch that worked. Not well, but it worked. I’ve tried several times on the 125s since and I think maybe succeeded once?
So when I looked at the clutch on the 251 I thought ‘do I need to do this’? And thought, well, I’ve bought the parts, Dave’s lent me a clutch compressor bolt, I may as well. This was what we term ‘a mistake’. Disassembly went perfectly, I was left with a clutch in pieces. I carefully reassembled with new plates, alligned everything, turned it over and placed the six springs in the wrong place. After about an hour of cursing and a loud ‘crack’ when attempting to tighten things up it became apparent that I was a complete and total moron. It’s blindingly obvious – if you open your eyes and look at the thing, that the springs did *not* go where I’d put them.
So, I took it apart, undid my stupiditiy and put it all back aligned right this time and started tightening the compressor bolt – with the little nuts all ready to go back on. The small crack in the pressure plate that had been there at the start of disassembly worried me, but I studiously ignored it.
However, as I neared the point of putting the six dinky little nuts on that hold it all compressed, I looked and thought ‘it doesn’t look right – the clutch plates haven’t been drawn together tightly’; with that crack on the pressure plate I was particularly wary about using the nuts to tighten it up – ‘cos it might be uneven, so I gave another tweak to the compression bolt.
*CRACK*
Fuck.
The pressure plate bearing and the pressure plate parted company… the alloy that held the bearing fracturing (I’d probably damaged it when I’d attempted to assemble the clutch wrong). I rarely reach the point of crying over frustration, but today it was just a bit much. I’m so close to having my bike back, I’d paid for new pressure plates, I owe Dave postage and whatnot for the new bits, and I really felt like a fucking idiot. I was *so* angry at myself for not taking care when I’d put it back together in the first place.
Dumb, dumb, dumb. I’m meant to be good with mechanical stuff. Scratch that, I *am* good with Mechanical stuff, but sometimes I can still be mindblowingly stupid.
It’s also rare that I give up on something, but I decided I was just sick of it. I just ordered, from burwin, a complete – assembled – new clutch. Next time I’ll know how to do it, but this time I just can’t face it again.
In other news Aisling is visiting. I’ll write about that *after* the weekend.
