Is my clutch basket bad? 82GS850

[Anonymous]

I had noise from the case, intermittent "crack" at idle when warming up, doesn't sound like timing chain. I took the clutch apart the other night to see if anything jumped out at me, literally or figuratively. Everything looks ok, but discs are worn a little. Basket is a big concern. All seems ok except I can twist it a little by hand(about 1/8 to 1/4 inch) side to side, and not easy to do, but the aluminum basket is still tight against the steel flywheel. A local rider buddy said sounded like this was a sign of the rivets wearing. What do you think?? Per local dealer, it is discontinued . CycleRecycle said that they thought Falicon in FL could redo, but cost is about $600 for a billett competition setup using my old basket (only gave $500 for the bike and is great other than this).
Also, if you have a dealer in your area, would you mind checking to see if they have a basket on their shelf.. part # per BikeBandit.com is 21200-45100. Any other suggestions would be a BIG help.

[Anonymous]

There are elongated holes in the gear that allow the gear to turn slightly on the hub, but being cushioned, and stopped by the springs. On a new clutch basket, the springs are tight, makeing it hard to feel the gear move. As the springs age and get slightly compressed, they leave slack in the spring pockets, letting the gear rotate freely till the slack is taken up. The more miles and more abuse, drag raceing or hard fast shifting, the more slack will be seen. It will probably be noisier. and may jerk or clank a little more when shifting, due to lack of cushion from worn springs. Don't see that this should cause problems during normal use

[earlfor]

Re: Is my clutch basket bad? 82GS850

Its not clear to me why you believe the clutch basket is faulty.
What do you mean exactly by "intermittant crack"?
Also, many assemblies can be distorted if stressed in directions that are abnormal to their design stress orientations. Before I would shell out any big bucks, I would do a little more pondering since pondering is inexpensive. :-) I think if worse came to worse, you could buy a complete parts bike for less than the amount quoted. Then too, there is a good chance the clutches on 750's, 850's, 1000's etc are the same for some models.

Earl

I had noise from the case, intermittent "crack" at idle when warming up, doesn't sound like timing chain. I took the clutch apart the other night to see if anything jumped out at me, literally or figuratively. Everything looks ok, but discs are worn a little. Basket is a big concern. All seems ok except I can twist it a little by hand(about 1/8 to 1/4 inch) side to side, and not easy to do, but the aluminum basket is still tight against the steel flywheel. A local rider buddy said sounded like this was a sign of the rivets wearing. What do you think?? Per local dealer, it is discontinued . CycleRecycle said that they thought Falicon in FL could redo, but cost is about $600 for a billett competition setup using my old basket (only gave $500 for the bike and is great other than this).
Also, if you have a dealer in your area, would you mind checking to see if they have a basket on their shelf.. part # per BikeBandit.com is 21200-45100. Any other suggestions would be a BIG help.

[Anonymous]

Thanks rphillips for the great description of what is inside this chunk of metal! Now that I know, I'm not as worried about the slight rotation of the aluminum basket where it attaches to the flywheel. I think I will reassemble so I can get a few more miles in this season and got a response from a Forum user to buy a good used one for a fair price, probably go ahead and buy that one to have on hand and then use whichever is the better for next year.
Also thanks for response from earlfor. I'm great with old trucks, but new to the world of cycles, so any input from the veteran riders is a huge plus. The intermittent crack was the sound that comes occasionally from the case that I cannot localize with a stethoscope, only happens when warming up at idle and slightly off idle, while in neutral with clutch out. Other forum posts and replies made me suspect the basket.
THANKS AGAIN!!!!!