Clutch Operations A wet clutch is one that is soaked in oil, as opposed to having no oil i n the parts.

It has a series of plates called drive plates, engaged in a basket to apply drive to the vehicle. A wet clutch consists of a series of discs inside a cage or the clutch basket. Each drive plate has notches on the end of it that fit in the slots in the clutch basket or cage. The pressure plate assembly, whi ch includes the drive plates and discs, slides into the the cage to engage it. S ince the clutch basket is connected to the drive chain, this puts the vehicle in to drive. Drive Plates In the drive plate assembly, only some of the plates are always spinning , even though this is connected to the engine all the time. The friction plates are what actually apply the leverage to get the vehicle moving. When these squee ze together, it engages the clutch, and all the discs start moving together. Thi s includes the notched drive discs, which come in contact with the clutch basket . Drive Plate Assembly The drive plate actually looks like a stack of pancakes with one frictio n plate, one driving plate, one friction plate, etc., stacked one on top of anot her. It is is held together by springs and screws called drive screws, which app ly the pressure to the plates, and this needs oil to operate properly. Wet Operation This whole mechanism is soaked in oil because of the amount of friction involved in its operation. In a dry clutch, there is no oil in the mechanism. It is an assembly of dry plates that operates on friction. A wet clutch uses the f riction component of the oil between the drive plates to allow the plates to sli de past each other and for proper operation.