| Nathan, you're describing the same symptoms I had last summer... very grabby on the take-off but no sign of slipping once engaged, and a deep 'groan' type noise when engaging.
Turned out that both the plate tangs and the outer basket were grooved to buggery. Material on the plates still had plenty of life, and there was no issue with dust build-up cos I've got a very vented cover. New plates and outer basket (48t STM) and all is fine and dandy again.
Wip the cover off and have a nose down the contact points of plates/basket and you should see if it's notching, but the heaviest wear was on the bottom of the stack so the true extent couldn't be seen without taking the plates out.
n |