This 1972 R5 has sticking clutch plates. It starts fine and I get it rolling with my feet and then shift into gear, the bike judders (real jerky) bad. I removed the rh crank cover and the clutch basket moves separately from the oil pump drive gear (whatever, the large gear behind the basket) This is not right, right?  I couldn't pull the basket because I didn't have a large enough socket at my shop.

EDIT- Ok, so through further research, the clutch basket must only have about 2 degrees of movement, mine has quite a bit more play. There are rubber dampers under the plate that is riveted in place.  

I've had quite a few 250 / 350 400 Yamaha twins over the last fifty years .
It's not unusual to have quite a bit of play between the clutch basket and it's drive gear .
You can buy rivets and rubbers ex Yambits in the UK . Other US suppliers such as Economy Cycle or HVCC
may also be able to supply similar product .
That won't likely be the cause of your shuddering . Warped steels and / or glazed friction plates are your likely culprits .
I'd probably replace the lot , and also replace the clutch springs .( I can go a bit overboard , but I only like to do it once ) .

Good info, I will also plan to delete the rubber cushion rings also. Thanks.

Guessing that your R5 has sat a long time and the clutch plates have fused together. The shuttering is the engine barely turning over in low gear with the locked up clutch.
   You need take the clutch apart &  probably will have to pry the plates off each other. May get by with just a cleanup . Be careful to record how it all goes together bud.
 My 71 R5 had no rubber rings but may have when new

The R5 is new to me but has surely sat for a while. I have the pressure plate and clutch plates out. The plates were not stuck as bad as I thought they would be. The steels aren't even rusty at all.
I'm going to get the basket with drive gear off today. I'll grind the rivets and remove the backing plate to see the condition of the rubber dampers.
Looks like Yambits and HVC Cycle has the replacement rubbers.

 Ok #10 is a fat Oring & stretches over the gear & into the V gap between gear & basket. It's to damp out any basket rattle & probably helps when the internal cush rubbers are worn.
But not sure that's what you mean. Sounds like plates are sticking together but freeing to a point when in gear clutch in.
Can only give them a clean up or replace.
But talking Juddering [my version] i had a "78 DT250 which Groaned in the clutch [audible] if i gave it a hard time taking off.
It never slipped or got swollen with lots of lever play you get if they swell up--never did anything wrong so i 'never bothered to go in there'. New fibers would have stopped it.
I used it in the forrest & got plenty of work but still did it.
So depends exactly what you mean by juddering but hope you get it sorted.
Had an R5 once & good bike too.

I went with Swoops suggestion and bought new fibers and steel plates from Yambits.  Problem solved!
The existing clutch plates didn't look bad but the trans oil was green. I suspect that someone thought since it's 2 stroke oil, it goes in the trans. That was more than likely the root cause of the jerking and sticking (never had an RD350 or 400 do that). 

As a side note. The illustrated parts shows the thicker steel plate in first then alternating fiber/steel, and shows starting with the steel plate and ending up with a steel plate so 6 fiber and 7 steels. 

The Yambits came with 7 and 7. I just ended with a fiber plate against the pressure plate and all is well.  My existing had 6 fiber and 7 steel plates..

Nice!

Early bikes didn't have a "splined" pressure plate that can engage with the inner hub which is why stack ends with a steel... that last steel takes the torque of the last fiber and transmits it to the inner hub through the steel.

Without a steel going on last, the pressure plate is subjected to the torque from the last fiber...  and the posts, springs, and screws are not really designed for transmitting torque. 

That said, on a stock engine it's likely not a big deal...  a lot of bikes have been put together that way.  With more HP and/or if someone is abusing and dumping the clutch, it might become an issue.

You can see in the RD400 parts list the stack ends in a fiber but they have "teeth" in the pressure plate #8 that engage with the inner hub #4.
www.partzilla.com/catalog/yamaha/motorcycle/1976/rd400c/clutch

On the R5, the pressure plate #7 is smooth...  it relies on the teeth in the last steel to transmit the torque to inner hub #2.
www.partzilla.com/catalog/yamaha/motorcycle/1972/r5c/clutch. 

 

I understand that the old style pp needs to end in a steel. I tried to end in a steel and left one fiber out and the clutch slipped like crazy. I then leaned the bike way over (so I wouldn't have to drain the oil) and added the 7th fiber. It works great.
Do you think I should try at the pp to have a fiber/fiber/steel so it ends with the steel?

I also must note that the "slip" at the basket in relation to the drive gear seemed excessive. I first thought that was my juddering issue. I was going to drill the rivets from the basket backing plate and replace the rubber dampers (this is not shown in the illustrated parts view but HVC and Yambits has the dampers in the event of excessive play.  I figured I would just try the clutch disc replace first before going in deep on the dampers.. I saved myself from that extra work.

You never want to use fiber on fiber. 

I would just leave it like it is.  Yambits might be selling thinner frictions than original?  That seems like what Yamaha did...  they went from 4mm to 3mm and either used a shorter basket (narrower engine width) or added more discs.