Clutch Plate Replacement

Clutch plates need replacing if the clutch slips (under hard acceleration the motorcycle doesn't go, but the engine revs rise) or if you have burned it (the clutch burns when the engine runs at high revs for a long time with the clutch half-engaged). It's worth noting that with correct adjustment and use, clutch plates are replaced very rarely. Boryan, for example, rode 50,000 km on his R6 without changing anything until he took up stunt riding.

The Yamaha R6 has a wet multi-plate clutch. So on all motorcycles with this type of clutch the principle of replacing the plates is the same. To replace the clutch plates on a Yamaha R6, you don't have to drain the engine oil, since the oil level is below the clutch basket. But if the plates have burned, it's advisable to change the oil, since a lot of shavings and dust have got into it. If the steel plates and springs aren't worn, only the friction plates (aluminum with an abrasive coating) are replaced.

New friction plates must be soaked in engine oil before installation!

In total there are 16 plates: 8 steel and 8 friction. One steel plate is thicker than the other seven: it goes in first. The friction plates are all the same if the kit is aftermarket. If the kit is original, it will have two plates with purple markings, which go in first. So the plates are installed in the following order: the thickest steel plate → friction (purple, if present) → steel → friction (purple, if present) → steel → friction → steel → friction → and so on...

Plate replacement procedure

1. First you need to get to the clutch cover. To do this, remove the fairings and the cage (if there is one).
2. Unscrew the clutch cable bracket.
3. Remove the cover by unscrewing the bolts around the perimeter.
4. When you remove the cover, carefully detach the gasket. If it's intact, it can be reused.
5. Unscrew the spring bolts.
6. Before removing the plates, inspect the basket carefully. You'll immediately see if there are broken (crumbled) plates. If there are, be extremely careful when removing them, since you can drop a piece and will have to remove the oil pan to get it out.
7. Remove the plates one by one and lay them out in order. The friction plates will alternate with the steel ones.
8. Properly speaking, you should check clutch wear: measure the spring length and the warpage of the steel plates (the values are in the manual: the springs should be 49–50 mm, steel plate warpage no more than 0.1 mm), but we didn't do this, since we had recently replaced the whole clutch, and in training mode the plates are a consumable.
9. Install the plates in reverse order, replacing the old friction plates with new ones.
10. Screw in the spring bolts. The spring bolts are tightened to a specific torque (8 N·m for the Yamaha R6). See the manual for your specific model for the tightening torque.
11. When fitting the cover, there may be problems with positioning the pushrod exactly. To get it right, move the pushrod to the «pulled» position (counterclockwise).
12. Before bolting on the cover, make sure the clutch works properly (start a couple of bolts, fit the cable bracket and pull the lever).
13. Tighten the cover bolts so that each next one is opposite the previous one. First start them all, then tighten gradually. It's important to do it exactly this way, otherwise the cover will leak! The bolts are tightened with a torque wrench to 12 N·m.
14. Refit the fairings, cage, sliders: everything you removed at the start.

Once everything is installed, change the oil if necessary, start the motorcycle and test the clutch on the move. If you did everything correctly, there should be no problems! If a plate was broken and you dropped a piece during replacement, you must get all the missing pieces out of the crankcase. This requires removing the oil pan; read more about this in the corresponding article.