305 Clutch Rebuild and Historyrzgkane: I would say that the new 020 plates you bought should fit just fine in the Cush drive clutch parts. The cush drive originally had 5 020 plates in them. I think we have also confirmed that the new 020 plates are the same dimension as the old ones. So if it is indeed a cush drive you have everything should work even the wires. I did not use any wires in my three clutch setups and things are working fine. It is your call to use the wires or not. I think it would work but I don't want to say yes for sure because I'm not there looking at the parts in question.
Oh, this job just gets better and better. First, I'm ditching the Cush clutch basket (and the associated center and pressure plate) because of flaws I see. In addition to what may or may not be cracks in the aluminum basket, tapping the sprocket on a carpeted concrete floor produces a pronounced clanking sound 1/4 of the way around that indicates to me that there is a significant disconnect between the sprocket and basket somewhere, whether it be a crack or looseness at one of the rivets/neoprene. Probably more importantly, though, is the fact that the bushing that runs through the middle of the unit has a hairline crack in it that can be seen and felt. Oh well, the old basket and center appear to be darn near brand new and will likely work fine. Here's the real kicker. The release rod that runs through the middle of the clutch center and pressure plate assembly has become ever so slightly magnetized and guess what? It stuck itself magnetically to the clutch release shaft that runs all the way through the motor from the clutch thread on the right and pulled it out! Unfortunately, as some may be aware, there appears to be a shoulder at the right side of the motor that prevents you from shoving the goddang thing back back to where it belongs from the left side! Now, barring some trick known by the gurus, I have to disassemble the right side in order to feed that rod back in there. Oh well. Fun fun fun. The troublesome rod back in its rightful place. I tried for an hour and a half to slide this rod into place from the left side with no luck. I tried everything. Crazy.  IMG_0757 by rzgkane, on Flickr
Final results of clutch replacement...Replaced a 4 disc setup with 5 new 020 discs obtained from HONDA, the longer HONDA springs NBD recommended in the initial post in this thread, and used old metal plates with the relief cuts in them and a 2.1mm "A" plate. Replaced the old right cover with a late style and installed a new clutch cable that HONDA still supplies (complete with the chrome 90 just below the lever) and it feels very strong. No mush whatsoever. Very affirmative engagement. Maybe, maaaaayyybe a tad more lever effort required but by no means obnoxious.
Installed the newly-polished points cover, oil filter cover and stator cover and it even looks better. A few lessons learned. 1. DO NOT EVER REMOVE THE CLUTCH RELEASE ROD FROM THE LEFT SIDE OF THE BIKE! You will not be able to reinstall it without taking off the right cover. 2. The stator cover screws that HONDA still sells are not the correct thread. Learned that the hard way. (Anyone know what thread the stator screws actually are?) 3. The clutches on these things are a piece of cake to work on. 4. When attempting to reinstall the oil filter cover, position the filter shaft into the cover first and then push the cover and shaft into the oil filter and then into the hole in the case. Trying to get the cover onto a shaft that is already in the filter and positioned into the case is a pain in the ass and I could not get it done that way. The end of the shaft complete with alignment pin would not go into the cover for me unless I had both parts in my hand. 5. These oil filter chains are sloppy with a capital S. That's it for now. Time to ride this thing more than I wrench on it. Great work man!
Let us know how it works out. Interesting about the lever pull for your clutch. Now I wonder if it was just in my mind. It seemed smother and easier to me but it had been quite some time since I had riden the bike because of the bad clutch. In either case its not alot of lever pull force.
It's all a give and take, right? I can't expect a soft lever pull AND a strong engagement. I'd rather not have slip but have to pull a "little" harder. And who knows, maybe my old springs were just worn out and mushy and the way it feels now is the way any new springs would feel.
Cush clutch...I think (Loud Mouse can correct me if I'm wrong) this is what a true Cush setup looks like, friction plates and all. Notice the larger blocks of friction material on these discs. The new 020 discs are the same dimension from the inside diamter to the outside, but they are smaller side to side so there are more blocks per disc in the new 020's than the old ones.
 IMG_0822 by rzgkane, on Flickr The clutch center has a raised area at the center bore that fits into the Cush pressure plate and the pressure plate has four holes in between the spring retention bolts for improved oil flow.  IMG_0823 by rzgkane, on Flickr The clutch basket has "fingers" with arch shaped castings into their outer surface. It also has at its bore grooved oil passages in a spiral fashion that non-Cush baskets do not have. Also for improved oil flow, I've been told. The Cush basket is attached to the sprocket by rivets with neoprene washers "cush-ioning" the forces of clutch engagement. You can't see those, but you should test any clutch basket before using it by trying to spin the sprocket independent of the basket. If there is play that you can feel, time to pitch it in the trash. Lastly, the Cush setup uses a nearly 3mm "A" plate as the steel plate closest to the drive sprocket. I've taken apart a few clutches lately and only one of them has had a true "A" plate that is nearly double the thickness of the other steel plates (1.65mm) in the clutch setup. Honda still sells what it calls an "A" plate but it measured only 2.1mm.  IMG_0824 by rzgkane, on Flickr  IMG_0826 by rzgkane, on Flickr
Last edited by rzgkane on Wed Apr 04, 2012 2:10 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Re: Cush clutch...Delete.
Last edited by rzgkane on Wed Apr 04, 2012 11:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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