Remove clutch body front plate

Just remove the 3 allen screws. Put a little WD40 or releasing fluid in the seam, turn it over and rap the stud ends on a block of wood. The cover will drift out a little. Get a hook shaped object and pry inside the screw holes and it will come apart. No need to disturb the studs and stud nuts if they are tight. This could lead to trouble.

Hi David,

The reason the plate will not come out is most likely to be that the rubbers have degraded and become very stuck to the metal surfaces. You do not need to disturb the spring retaining posts to change the rubbers. Support the clutch centre assembly by restingthe back plateon the open jaws of a large vice or wooden blocks with the hub hanging down with a fairly large gap underneath and then just apply steady pressure on the clutch centre to push it out bringing the plate out with it. The clutch centre has the 3 vanes that bear against the rubbers and they will probably be stuck to those as well. If it won't budge, try soaking the hub in petrol overnight to dissolve the rubberto loosen it.

The reason the post retaining nuts move slightly each way is because there is a flat on the post locating shoulder and a corresponding shaped hole in the back plate. If the posts are tight you can leave them alone, but if you can move them by hand you need to tighten them up and then re-centre punch them to stop them loosening. If you do not like the centre punch method, remove the nuts completely, clean up the threads and then use Loctite. Regards, Richard.

Sorry Jonathan, I didn't know you had already posted.

Richard.

Previously richard_cornish wrote:

Sorry Jonathan, I didn't know you had already posted.

Richard.

Your instructions are far better for the centre that has glued itself together.

I found a clutch that would not come apart by rapping so I used Richard's technique but with a vise and a socket.

Norton use rubbers that entirely fill the space they are pressed into. That means that when they want to squish they have no space to squish into. This reduces their effectiveness. BSA realized this and redesigned their version of squish rubbers to be oval. The last time I needed a set of rubbers I carved them out of solid rubber in a roughly diamond shape. I couldn't carve a good oval. I can't tell if they are absorbing shocks any better but they are better in theory at least.