Steel or Aluminium Clutch Plates

[Brett]

Is there any great advantages or disadvantages of either sort. I was thinking about putting in steel plates to get increased oil life would this be the major advantage of steel over ally?

[Arigato]

You'll also have more flywheel effect with the steel.

[mikesmith]

Clutch will last longer,less chance of warping.

[Brett]

I only weigh 63kg (138lb) so am not overly worried about flywheel effect.  Do you think all the bearings and gears will last longer through not having aluminium paste running through them which seemingly happens in the first five minutes of changing oil.

[KXcam22]

Brett,
  Steel used to be the ONLY clutch plate material.  The manufacturers started using aluminum to make bikes lighter without consideration for durability. That said, my alumimun plates have lasted far longer than I ever expected. Steel will last longer, work better when hot and not polute your trans oil with residue.  You will notice a slight increase in flywheel effect.  The clutch turns 5X slower then the flywheel and since the inertia (flywheel effect) is based on the cube of the rotational speed (physics), so the effect of more weight on the clutch is far less than if it was at the flywheel.  I plan on putting in some steel plates in the next few weeks. Hope this helps. Cam.

[ebers17]

Cam, so if i'm setting my bike up for the woods, the steel plates would be better for me because of the flywheel effect in itself? Seth

[mikesmith]

Steel plates are the way to go,but as Cam said his my aluminum plates lasted WAY longer than I expected them to.But that also depends on the rider and I ride some tight single track and just about every thing else.I would have to say the oil contamination was the worst part of running aluminum plates,I suggest a magnetic drain plug to.

[KXcam22]

Seth,
 You will notice the extra flywheel effect a little bit, but certainly not to the extent a real flywheel weight would produce.  Also, as Mike says, the oil contamination is probably one of the better reasons to switch to steel plates.  Over time the contamination can make the trans bearings run a bit rough.  For woods riding your clutch will handle abuse better without losing its feel (the aluminum plates expand more when hot and will start to gall when they get really hot) and not polute your trans oil at the same time.  Gotta make me a magnetic drain plug too (can't buy one since I helicoiled the drain hole in a hurry before I noticed it was an uncommon metric thread). Oops. Cam.

[KXcam22]

I just found another disadvantage of aluminum clutch plates when I pulled my clutch cover off.  The 4 tiny bearings that support the powervalve shaft and the waterpump shaft can't handle the fine aluminum particles that pollute the transoil.  Mine were totaly shot and would barely spin!!  Cheap to replace but one of them is really hard to get out. Cam.