Open Primary
- Thread starter avatharv
- Start date
Twistedspoke100
05 Mastiff
Do you have one on your bike? Its more for looks than anything. If you have one and would like a closed primary instead I may be interested in buying yours.
bruce
Active Member
I agree probably mostly for looks and sounds cool, but also you'll have no more primary fluid to change, do not have to worry about oil from the primary leaking into your starter and damaging it, also now you're going to have a dry clutch which in my experience tends to grab better and it's extremely easy to work on and replace having just a handful of screws to take out to access and no fluids, and I'm sure I can think of other things if I kept trying, but yes you could uninstall and reinstall your original closed primer I have kept mine just for that reason even though I do not think I'll ever switch back. 
Totally agreeYou get far better response, much smoother shifting and overall better ride quality with an OP, but I may be biased..
View attachment 85954
pauldeepsea
Guru
Love my treadmill
That was smooth!
The OP is mostly for looks. But no leaking of oil that’s for sure.
Seen this on Facebook marketplace. Worth looking into.
Oh yeah. Best not to do the gravel roads.
Mastiff Rider64
Well-Known Member
T
This looks like a left side drive.
john sachs
Well-Known Member
Other things to watch for: Noisy from plate rattle. Wet weather can give you clutch engagement/ dis-engagement issues. Dirt and debris problems.
John
I see where you are going. K9 right side drive. I tried to contact this guy to verify which it was.But got no reply.
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pauldeepsea
Guru
Karata ..Great quality but limited with supply
SKOGDOG
One of the old ones.
Hugely disappointed with my Karata. Identical to #4 BDM7250 above. I only got less than 7,000 miles out of the first clutch. Plates were OK but the basket had grooves from the clutch friction plate teeth and it would grab and drag your ass into an intersection. So I paid for a new (aluminum) basket and clutch stack. Karata owner told me it was because I lugged the engine. I got about 20,000 (mostly touring) miles out of the that one before the same thing happened. Guarantee it never saw below 2500 rpm. Karata blamed me again and I bought another basket and clutch pack, took the whole damn thing off and sold it To a guy from Wichita building a show bike.
Went back to OEM. I know of one other Forum member who had the identical issue with the same response from Karata. I concluded that The issue lies wiith faulty design of an aluminum basket that cannot withstand the clutch splines hammering the basket. As mentioned, it makes grooves which capture the discs and prevents lateral separation when you pull in the clutch lever, so the clutch cannot release once it begins to engage.
I heard Karata has gone out of business and many parts are now unavailable. Pretty sure the basket that fails isn’t available.
PS Avoid gravel roads. I mistakenly ran into one down in TX and it cost be $200 to replace it due to the number of holes in the belt.
avatharv
Member
Mine's closed. I think I like it better that way, but my brother has been looking for a K9 after riding mine. He has come across a few with open primaries and was asking me about switching it back.
avatharv
Member
Now, I would do your open primary.. it is not quite as radically wide as some. Dumb questions.. which direction does it spin?