Difficulty with neutral

[tonkoshala]

I've had this problem for a while now, but haven't really seen a need to address it.

When I am at a stand still at a light or whatever neutral is damn near impossible to find. I can get to it easy while rolling and I use to be able find it by shifting down into it. I have tried taking out the clutch pack and reinstalling it, but no luck. Anyone else have or had this issue?

[Howie]

Bleed the clutch.

[He Man]

if your clutch is on its last leg, you can try to throw another metal plate in there to help get the stack height you need, that should help your clutch fully disengage so you can find neutral.

[Speeddog]

Bleed the clutch.

+1.

How many miles on the current basket, is it aluminum, how many miles on the frictions?

[DarkStaR]

i always thought that was normal... 

[tonkoshala]

Only a few of 1000 on the clutch. It started doing it a few 100 after I installed it. The basket is aluminum, but it is not that old either.

[Speeddog]

Only a few of 1000 on the clutch. It started doing it a few 100 after I installed it. The basket is aluminum, but it is not that old either.

Bleed it, that should do it.

Still the original slave cylinder?

[tonkoshala]

No it's an Evo slave. I've bled it twice. Could it just be a bad pack? Hell maybe I'm bleeding it wrong...

[Speeddog]

How far does the pressure plate move when you pull the lever?

[Howie]

Since the clutch worked well for a while after replacement, the stack height is probably good.  If there is any trapped air in the clutch hydraulic system it will cause a problem.  When bleeding, the master should be level.  Tie the lever to the grip overnight.  There are lots of tricks to bleeding, one is to remove the slave and push the piston back in the bore slowly to push the air out the top.  If you do this, go slow and be very cautious about brake fluid spills.

[tonkoshala]

So leaving this clutch lever engaged like that will bleed it out? Never heard that...

The travel seems fine. Could rusty spring cause what I have going on?

[Slide Panda]

So leaving this clutch lever engaged like that will bleed it out? Never heard that...

The travel seems fine. Could rusty spring cause what I have going on?

leaving the clutch lever strapped down opens the passage from the piston to the reservoir - so it can allow bubbles at the top of the system to float up to the res, and out of your hair. It's not a magic fix, but  an handy trick.

Rusty spring - probably not. Not unless there is so much crud that it its preventing the full travel of the pressure plate away from the friction stack.

[ScottRNelson]

No it's an Evo slave. I've bled it twice. Could it just be a bad pack? Hell maybe I'm bleeding it wrong...

I had an Evoluzione slave on my ST2 and was NEVER able to easily get into neutral like on other bikes.  After careful bleeding I could get it into neutral while stopped with the engine running, but it had to be pulled right to the bar and I had to do it coming up from first gear, never from second.  Of course, no problem if I shifted to neutral while still moving.

Then I had a throwout bearing fail and it destroyed the seals in the slave.  I bought a stock Ducati slave as a replacement and haven't had a problem with neutral since.  I don't mind a slightly stiffer clutch if I can always find neutral.

So if being able to shift into neutral while stopped is important to you, consider going back to a stock clutch slave.

[Ddan]

if your clutch is on its last leg, you can try to throw another metal plate in there to help get the stack height you need, that should help your clutch fully disengage so you can find neutral.

Adding another plate will increase your stack height, which will make it harder to fully disengage, not easier.  The Evo slave has a shorter throw than the stock so this complaint isn't uncommon .  Check your throwout bearing to make sure you're not drilling into the slave with the push rod.  If you have adjustable levers, setting them out one more notch will also make a difference

[DirtyDuc]

i always thought that was normal... 

Wait, that isn't normal?  I thought we all had difficulty with neutral??