Classic Vespa Largeframe Clutch

Saturday, 23 February 2008

The largeframe Vespa clutch has remained almost the basic same design since the early Vespa Models. The Cltuch is made up of a clutch basket , three cork plates and two steel plates held together with a set of internal springs (normaly 6 or 7 springs). Basicaly the Classic Vespa largeframe clutch works as follows;(i) The clutch is connceted directly to the crankshaft and while the engine is running the cluch rotates in gear oil;(ii) Inside the clutch basket are the clutch plates made up of three cork plates and two steel plates. the cork plates fit into the side cutout of the clutch basket and spin in unison with the clutch basket while the steel plates are connected to the drive gear and can rotate independanlty of the clutch basket and cork plates;  (iii) Srings (either 6 or 7) apply pressure to sandwich together the cork plates and the steel plates; (iv) When the clutch is disengaged the steel plates rotate independant of the cork plates; (v) When the clutch is engaged presure is applied to the clutch baket and the springs apply presure to sandwich the cork and steel plates together so that the whole clutch then rotates. Most classic Vespas have a 6 sping clutch however some models (mainly the Vespa Rally) have a a 7 spring clutch so as to deal with the extra power . The clutch suffers from genral day to day wear and tear and  if your Vespa is a daily runner then you will find that  the Clutch will be in need of attention from time to time. The most common problem is clutch slipping, clutch drag or the lurching. sometimes the problem is easly fixed with a top up of oil in the gear box if that deos not fix the problem you will find that the clutch corks need replacing.