Quote:

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>My 600 had a aluminium drum clutch.
>How do I know? It exploded...

all my information, both practical (peeking into engines, from the 1st series of
500 to the last, dry clutch Alazzurra through almost every model in between) and
documental, tells me that only the early 500 was fitted as standard with the small-drum
aluminium clutch, while the 600 and all following wet clutch Pantahs (including the
later 500) and derivates (except the 350 and 400 until the "black engine" Alazzurra)
were fitted with the big-drum steel clutch. All current wet clutch Ducatis still
employ this clutch (which means, incidentally, that it's still easy to find replacement
plates).
The advertised improvements of the 600 from the 500 were in fact the stronger gearbox,
the bigger clutch (initially also hydraulically operated, then cable again then hydraulic
again on the 650) and the bigger front brake calipers.

Of course, since we're talking of Ducati, this doesn't imply that absolutely no 600
came out of the factory with the 500's small-drum clutch. We call this the Guido
factor. This is made more likely by the fact that the two clutches are perfectly
interchangeable. Your bike could be an early 600, fitted with what was available
at the moment so as not to retard sending the batch of bikes to some fat export market.
Alternatively, your bike could have been fitted with an aftermarket big-drum aluminium
clutch.
But I insist that as a rule, the 600 was fitted by the factory with the bigger,
steel-drum clutch. You can check the Pantah manual on the ducatimeccanica website.

I recently swapped clutches between a Pantah 500 (small drum, aluminium) and a black
engine Alazzurra 350 (big drum, steel) obtaining advantages for both: a lighter clutch
on the revvy 350 and a stronger clutch on the more torquey 500. Of course I had to
adjust the springs a bit as the 350s were far too weak for the 500.
Yesterday, a friend who has a 540 Alazzurra (350 with 650 pistons) asked me for a
spare big drum clutch since the small drum one cannot cope with the increased capacity

ciao
Luca

Quote:

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Phil,

>thanks Luca, not sure exactly what's in my 600SL yet, but I
>will find out this weekend...

that's easier than you imagine: remove the oil filler cap and peek inside:
if the clutch drum is about 1 cm away from the case then you have the small clutch
if it is so close that it makes difficult to fill in oil then you have the big one.
You can also recognize if it's made of Al or steel.

About filling oil: Ducati placed the oil cap on top of the clutch cover when the
engine was fitted with the small drum clutch. The 600 still had the filler hole in
the same position and it was so difficult to add oil that I found oil changes were
more easily done from the breather tube!
On some models (Alazzurra and TL) they moved this cap further out on the clutch cover
(nearer to the border) or down, between the primary gear and the clutch to make oil
changes easier.

>I contacted the previous owner of my bike who is aware of the
>clutch problems caused by incorrect lubricants. He changed
>the lubricant from synthetic based oil to a mineral oil of
>the “SPECTRO” brand and that’s what's still in it. I have no
>experience with this oil. Do anyone else? He reckons there
>may be some residues of the synthetic left in the clutch that
>may be causing the slipping. Do you think it worthwhile
>persevering with Spectro? I run Motul 5100 in a 900SS with
>no problems over 12000kms, so I am tempted to change to Motul
>for both bikes. Any thoughts?

I don't know Spectro. I normally use Tamoil or Agip. During an oil thread on bevelheads
I was warned to stay away from oils classified API SJ in wet clutch motors, or any
oil that is advertised as containing anti friction additives

ciao
L.




bearbeitet von rengdengdeng am 09.06.2002 11:46