Nightmare T140 Clutch Removal On My Barn Find Triumph Bonneville Rebuild | 19

Nightmare T140 Clutch Removal On My Barn Find Triumph Bonneville Rebuild | 19
In this episode I finally manage to remove the clutch centre from my 1975 Triumph Bonneville T140V. This has taken a lot longer than I expected and is stopping me from stripping the gearbox side of the engine.
Here's what I used in this video:
Clutch Removal Tool: ebay.us/I5AYLD
Bearing Puller Set: ebay.us/b7ZtAV
Map Gas: ebay.us/DzZShG
Imperial Combination Spanner Set: ebay.us/gYz85M
Imperial 1/2inch Socket set: ebay.us/jylH05
Imperial Allen Hex Bit Sockets: ebay.us/iFV0OQ
I intended to strip the primary side and check the clutch and all of the other parts from that side. I found that the clutch centre wouldn’t detach from the gearbox shaft. I had one of the special tools that screws into the clutch centre to pull it off, the taper on the shaft. Unfortunately the first attempt stripped the threads off the end of the tool without budging it. This surprised me as a I have used the tool before on an engine that appeared to be in much worse condition than this one without any problems. I bought a second tool and had exactly the same result. Even though this time I had used MAP gas to heat the centre. A bit deterred, I decided to buy a third version of the special tool, this time I heated the clutch centre until the rubber was melting and running out of it, but the threads of the tool still stripped off.
However I did manage to at least strip the clutch hub off the centre so that I could access the clutch centre easier, and hopefully get a puller to grip onto the back of the clutch centre. I could also direct the heat directly at the part. To get a 2 legged puller to fit, I had to grind a little of the back of the legs so that they would fit in. I heated the centre with MAP gas until it changed colour and the engine cases were getting almost too hot to touch. I tried tapping the end of the puller, which is a recommended way, in order to shock the clutch centre off. This didn’t work. I then used an impact driver to tighten the puller. The only result I got was that the end snapped off one leg of the puller.
My next effort was to use a bearing puller, this time, with it pulling on the clutch centre around the part where the dogs/splines are machined. The first effort snapped one of the connecting legs off the puller. So next I used some heavy duty right angled legs to pull on the bearing puller. I also put a lot of heat into the clutch centre. This time it did come off. Although to be honest I really didn’t think it was going to budge.
I found that the Woodruff key was snapped in half, and that the shaft and the inside of the clutch centre were very marred. I am not sure what had happened to it, whether it had spun in the past or had cold welded or what. I do know that whatever happened to this part made it virtually impossible to remove. I am sure I will need to buy a new gearbox shaft before I can rebuild the gearbox.
Now I had the clutch apart I could take a better look at the clutch hub and the outer basket. I could see that the hub was quite worn and would need to be replaced, however the outer basket could be reused. I will be buying new clutch plates and steels as well so most of the clutch will be new when I eventually get the bike running again.
Although it seems quite simple this one part being stuck caused me a good 10 hours of work over a few weeks. Putting my work on the engine back by more than a month. I do hope that I don’t find something equally frustrating as I get further into the engine. I know that some parts can be problems, but this clutch centre wasn’t one of them :)
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