i filed my clutch basket....strength?

ryguy21s22

New Member
Feb 11, 2014
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michigan
when i went to replace my clutch side crank seal i inspected my clutch basket and noticed it was stepped pretty bad. i heard you can do sum light filing to smooth out the stepping. im gonna say my stepping was a strong medium.
if you look at the clutch basket as if the gear side was down on the table, there are circle casting marks facing at you. i filed the stepping the the edge of that circle casting mark all the way around and got 90% of all my stepping smoothed out. then i sanded with 220 and 1000 grit sand paper. did this while trying to keep the same stock angle. im sure its not perfect but i paid attention to it.
any input on this? i didnt have the extra 150 for stock basket or 200 for after market basket. tried to do the best i could with what i had. think the strenght will still be good?
 
pics would help ?

and magnum billet baskets can be had for under $150, jus sayin.
 
I feel ya on the funds. I'm doing a complete rebuild so I will be filing mine as well. However once I have the funds I will be upgrading.
 
filing a clutch basket isn't a bad thing. it is a very common practice. but it is a one time fix. once new grooves form, you won't be able to file them again. you will need a new basket.
 
Filing is perfectly acceptable. But you can only do it once...
After filing, it will wear faster than it did before, because of the higher clearance, 'hammering' the basket.

Just make sure to clean up properly when finished.

The groves would probably cause clutch drag issues, especially if the clutch plates were removed (and not exactly in the same place) or replaced.
Difficulty getting neutral, or crawling forward are also common symptoms.

Happy filing
 
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Filing is perfectly acceptable. But you can only do it once...
After filing, it will wear faster than it did before, because of the higher clearance, 'hammering' the basket.

Just make sure to clean up properly when finished.

The groves would probably cause clutch drag issues, especially if the clutch plates were removed (and not exactly in the same place) or replaced.
Difficulty getting neutral, or crawling forward are also common symptoms.

Happy filing
"Crawling forward" that's exactly what mine was doing. Makes perfect sense now. And neutral was hard to find when running.
 
Well unless you are the original owner or bought the basket new, you have no idea how much use and abuse it has had. I doubt if you'll own it long enough to ever file it a second time.
Using care I file each finger the same number of strokes. If one still has a minute mark I don't worry about it. The amount removed won't weaken it enough to hardly measure. The plates will only be a hair "looser" than before you filed.