Reassembling the motor, have a few questions. It seems like the clutch pushrod is either too short or the clutch adjustment screw is too short, I'm not sure which. The clutch adjuster is from an R5 I had sitting around and the RD motor came to me without that cover. So I just took the adjuster off and put it on the RD engine cover I got off Ebay. The adjuster screw disappears all the way into the mechanism before it touches the pushrod, so the nut can't be used. I don't think the clutch itself is somehow out further, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on here. The 5/16 ball is in there, and looking at the shop manual it looks like there are two 5/16" balls, one on either end of the rod. When I took the motor apart there was only one. Anyway, even if I put a second one in there the adjuster screw would still be way down inside the adjuster, no way I'm getting a nut on there.
r5 and rd350 are interchangeable. one ball in the motor, one at the actuator
Okay cool.
Next question, I have everything in there now, both balls, etc and I ran into an issue where when I squeeze the clutch lever, the cable can't actuate the clutch, in that I don't see the plates separating in the basket. I'm squeezing as tight as I dare. So when assembling the clutch basket the six screws holding the springs are run in all the way, correct?
have you verified you have correct number of steels & fibers in there and ordered correctly? Also, the whole clutch assembled correctly?
Quote from: RDnuTZ on July 11, 2026, 06:56:00 PMhave you verified you have correct number of steels & fibers in there and ordered correctly? Also, the whole clutch assembled correctly?
This is a great question. There was a common upgrade that added an additional fiber. Following the manual wouldn't illustrate that. I ran into an issue with order of fiber vs steels a few months ago, and of course, the manual wasn't helpful at that point.
Yeah about that. I took the steel plates out of the RD motor, but had a new stack of friction plates. Some of the steels in the RD clutch had wear I wasn't crazy about so I swapped them out with ones from the R5. At least one of those was noticeably thicker than the RD ones. Anyway, I ended up stacking these like the manual shows as best I could tell. So first in was a steel, then a friction plate, alternating as such until I used up the seven friction plates, then capped it all off with a steel. So, that's 8 steels and 7 friction plates. The drawing is nearly impossible to discern what the actual count is supposed to be and I had a surplus of steel plates. Just seemed to make sense to me. Wouldn't surprise me if this was not correct.
see if this link to Yamaha website works, it is diagram of 1974 RD350 clutch:
https://yamaha-motor.com/parts/diagram/13834135/317283200
It's a little fuzzy too, but I am counting 7 frictions & 7 steels. Start with a fiber on the clutch boss and alternate. Also check the 2 Thrust plate washers are present in correct locations. Make sure the pressure plate is seated properly- sometimes I have had to rotate 1 way or the other to get it to seat. There's also the 2nd push rod with flattened head that sits under the pressure plate to make sure is there. I would not mix thicker and thinner frictions, but all should be within spec.
I have a complete 1974 clutch sitting on the bench out in my shop I can check tomorrow if Mark or Russ or somebody with more experience doesn't jump in 1st to correct all this for you.
if you stack a bunch of r5 steels in an rd basket your going to eat up a LOT of travel. depending on the basket you're using, if there is a flat plate made into the inner hub on the clutch, you dont use a steel there. IF there are just fingers, you need a steel there. so if its flat is friction/steel/friction/steel ending with afriction if its the later pressure plate w the splines, etc. remember, yamaha stuffed a 7 disc basket in the space set up for a 6 disc unit, so they changed a few things.. BUT it has to be the right distance.