Ballacraine Posted September 24, 2004 Share Posted September 24, 2004 I got an acknowledgement from Guzzi. 'Thank you for your e-mail to which we have paid close attention. We wish to inform you that we have taken note of your comments/suggestions which will be passed on to the corresponding department. With kind regards, Moto Guzzi Customer Services' £500+ for a RAM clutch I think they are taking the piss How much are they in the US or mainland Europe? Have you emailed Guzzi yet, KB? Nige. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TX REDNECK (R.I.P.) Posted September 24, 2004 Share Posted September 24, 2004 £500+ for a RAM clutch I think they are taking the piss How much are they in the US http://www.mgcycle.com/clutch.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballacraine Posted September 24, 2004 Share Posted September 24, 2004 Thanks for info, TX. I know items quite often equate to £ for $ but when you reach that number of them, it is quite painful! Nige. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TX REDNECK (R.I.P.) Posted September 24, 2004 Share Posted September 24, 2004 Thanks for info, TX. I know items quite often equate to £ for $ but when you reach that number of them, it is quite painful! Nige. 34220[/snapback] I hear you Maybe Jaap or Paul will add the converter back.I found it quite handy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guzzi323 Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 Well I finally got my Scura apart (which was making a nasty noise from the flywheel area when it first started in the morning) and there's nothing obviously wrong. The flywheel bolts seemed not quite as tight as I would have thought they should be. Merely good and snug. Not much effort required to loosen them. The clutch does seem to be the RAM assembly sold by MG cycles. I'm going to replace the friction plate and flywheel bolts and tighten them to the 30 ft/lbs Guzziology recommends. After that I'll just reassemble and pray the sound is gone. Nothing else looks suspect. BTW, the clutch hub splines were dry and visibly worn at 22K miles. I just don't understand why it's so hard for the factory to put a dab of anything on these during assembly. Does anybody know what the new and minumum thickness is of the bronze clutch plate? Mine is 4.45 mm and there was a lot of clutch material powder stuck around the housing. If my noise is gone on reassembly, I'm going to continue under the assumption that the occasional Scura clutch exposion is due to the flywheel bolts not being as tight as they ought to be from the factory since I've not heard of the RAM clutch being a problem in other bikes. It seems they ought to buy those boys at the factory a torque wrench or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballacraine Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 Well 323, If you have a genuine RAM clutch, someone must have been there before? Nige. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TX REDNECK (R.I.P.) Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 . The flywheel bolts seemed not quite as tight as I would have thought they should be. Merely good and snug. Not much effort required to loosen them. The clutch does seem to be the RAM assembly sold by MG cycles. I'm going to replace the friction plate and flywheel bolts and tighten them to the 30 ft/lbs Guzziology recommends. Since your bike already had a Ram unit, it's possible that whoever replaced the clutch used the same bolts again . It's my opinion that you should always use new bolts on the flywheel ( somebody will correct me ) At any rate you might want to use some of Ed's bolts http://www.guzzitech.com/store/Tibolt.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guzzi323 Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 Since your bike already had a Ram unit, it's possible that whoever replaced the clutch used the same bolts again . It's my opinion that you should always use new bolts on the flywheel ( somebody will correct me ) At any rate you might want to use some of Ed's boltshttp://www.guzzitech.com/store/Tibolt.html 34280[/snapback] Nope that's the clutch the bike came with. I've owned it since new. That's what Guzzi's been putting in the Scura's (and I'd hazzard a guess the Rosso Mandelo's as well.) I just hope when I get it all back together that awful noise is gone.. john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballacraine Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 Now that has just added confusion. I understood that the '01 Rosso Mandellos had the genuine RAM & the '02 Scuras & Tennis had the 'improved' Guzzi copy. What number is your Scura, John? Nige. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Minnaert Posted September 26, 2004 Author Share Posted September 26, 2004 John's story confirms that the bolts in the center push the aluminium away. Aluminum "flows" under presure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballacraine Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 John's story confirms that the bolts in the center push the aluminium away. Aluminum "flows" under presure. 34306[/snapback] But if it is a genuine RAM clutch the flywheel is composite not aluminum billet. I think John's problem is more likely down to poor assembly, if the bolts weren't torqued properly & the fact the splines were not greased might add weight to this? Do you not think so? Nige. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guzzi323 Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 But if it is a genuine RAM clutch the flywheel is composite not aluminum billet. I think John's problem is more likely down to poor assembly, if the bolts weren't torqued properly & the fact the splines were not greased might add weight to this? Do you not think so? Nige. 34310[/snapback] Well I don't know how we'll ever be sure, there doesn't seem to be any visible signs of deformation of the flywheel. My theory is that the bolts weren't quite tight enough and/or loosened up combined with some minor compression of the flywheel (perhaps) made it have a small amount of 'slop' between the flywheel and the crank. Once it got a little heat in it, the aluminum would expand enough to eliminate the noise I was hearing. It only happened during the first minute or so of running when cold. As for identifying the clutch, the diaphram spring says RAM on it. The clutch plate is a Surflex and the flywheel looks just like the picture of the RAM assembly on the mgcycles website. If anybody has more information on how to identify it, I'd love to hear about it. If I could confirm that my clutch doesn't have the RAM flywheel, I'd love to hear that. Since the RAM's don't seem to have the hisory of problems that the Scura clutch has I'd just replace the entire assembly. Right now I'm continuing under the assumption that it's a RAM clutch and the problem is with the quality control on assembly at Guzzi. It's a darn shame they can't seem to assemble these things properly. I have a ton of faith in the design of Moto Guzzi's, just not the execution. My Scura is numbered 385, for the record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roberto Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Complete RAM clutch assembly £250 from Motorworks earlier this year. I noted that there were no friction washers on the crank bolts when I took the broken clutch off and none were supplied with the RAM kit, but they were pictured in the RAM assembly drawing, so I fitted new ones. The existing bolts did seem quite loose on disassembly but I didn't measure the release torque. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldini Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Complete RAM clutch assembly £250 from Motorworks earlier this year... Roberto, I just checked with Motorworks - sure enough they quoted £270 (inc VAT) for complete RAM kit for V11. Thanks for the info. KB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballacraine Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Now that is more like it. Thanks for the info, Roberto! Nige. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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