Clutch pack

tsergi74

New Member
Hey what's going on? I have a question. I have a 2005 big dog. Ridgeback, I'm looking to put a clutch in it. I can't find the clutch. I have a 4 inch, open primary. They've sent me 2 clutches in Baltimore. No good, they didn't fit. And any suggestions thank you
 

Mickmorris

Well Known Member
Supporting Member
Hey what's going on? I have a question. I have a 2005 big dog. Ridgeback, I'm looking to put a clutch in it. I can't find the clutch. I have a 4 inch, open primary. They've sent me 2 clutches in Baltimore. No good, they didn't fit. And any suggestions thank you
Hello! Welcome to the Dog Pound! If you have a 4” open primary I am assuming it is a Karata primary? What clutch packs did you buy? Have you removed the old clutch pack? If so post a picture of the plates & fibers. Post a picture of the primary to if possible. I’m thinking an Energy One clutch would be what you need. But that might not be the case with that particular primary. I believe we have a couple of members who have the 4” karata open primary. Contact Donna at +16202572009 she may be able to help you out. Good luck & keep us posted!
:chopper: :cheers:
 

Mickmorris

Well Known Member
Supporting Member
7 steel a d 8 fraction plates, i'm no at this, but does that sound right
Well here’s your problem that’s a karata Piranha Jr. clutch. I believe they do only have 8 fibers in that clutch. Unfortunately you aren’t going to be able to find that clutch pack any longer as they don’t make it anymore… not even sure Donna can help with that problem. Post a pic of the clutch basket and hub if you can.
 

tsergi74

New Member
Well here’s your problem that’s a karata Piranha Jr. clutch. I believe they do only have 8 fibers in that clutch. Unfortunately you aren’t going to be able to find that clutch pack any longer as they don’t make it anymore… not even sure Donna can help with that problem. Post a pic of the clutch basket and hub if you can.
 

Attachments

SKOGDOG

One of the old ones.
It would be hard to find all the parts you need to convert it back to stock—both primaries, basket, inner hub, starter ring, chain ans much more. I had a Karata on my K9 and had ongoing clutch problems, so I took it off and sold it. But— I had the parts to go back to an OEM primary (thank you Trainman). Do you by any chance have the original primary drive? Maybe try to find a salvaged bike, get what you need and part it out? I recently tried to find an inner primary for my 08 K9 and couldn’t find one—they do come along from time to time, and unfortunately keep getting more expensive. HDM has none and the last price was $599.99 for the inner primary.
Another thought…Knothead mentioned a ‘hack’—didn‘t recommend it tho—-that you can get extra life out of a worn clutch by adding another steel disc. The object is to restore the clutch pack stack height.
I had a used clutch pack from my Karata that I sent to Forum Member BDM7250 because he has a Karata and I figured he might have use of them someday. Look him up and see if you can negotiate a steel disc to keep you up and running while you look for a permanent solution.
 
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JohnBoy

Active Member
Supporting Member
From the pictures the basket has groves from the clutch plates and the clutch plates are slightly rounded on one side from the impact on the drum. Might be easier/cheaper to take the drum and weld the inside teeth up and machine the teeth to a pattern that will take a currently available clutch. Alt to that is machine the teeth flush and do something similar to the early style Harley baskets with the rectangular bars on the drum. To avoid weld shrinkage.

This is what I would consider just my 2 nevermore cents
 
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