Clutch? Drive shaft

[Incubus]

I am quickly, I hope, teetering on the brink of having a reliable cycle. It starts, runs, idles, charges and does almost everything a daily ride should do. This issue isn't enough to keep me from riding Succubus, it keeps me from riding her much.

When I really lay on the throttle the bike kind of shudders a bit. It's great coming off the line to about 5,000 rpm, but above that it loses that wonderful rocket-like acceleration and seems sort of like it sometimes grabs and sometimes doesn't. Since it does it in all gears I doubt it is the transmission and suspect the clutch. But it doesn't feel the clutch completely slipping. The bike rattles like it's trying to grab but can't quite conect completely. Sort of like anti-lock brakes when you really slam on them.

I've replaced the clutch springs and it's not a big deal to replace the clutch friction disks. However, I've never owned a bike with a drive shaft, so I don't know what it would feel like when the middle drive or final drive are starting to go. Would it be symptoms like described? I want to make this final (I hope) issue pinpointed and fixed so I can get about the serous business of showing off my new hot rod.

As always, thanks.

Patrick

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Patrick,

I don't believe it's your clutch either! The clutch failing usually occurs in the higher gears at higher rpm's, but you will see the rpm's going higher, but won't feel the bike accelerating, the speedo won't go any faster!

I think I remember you have repaired your p/u coil wires recently. A synopsis of your work/repairs would be helpful to others before they try to offer ideas!

IF you have POD filters on, take them off and try riding it again and see if you can get it up over 5krpm. If so....then you may have the kind that restricts airflow thru the air ports in the inlet bell due to a prominent lip on the mounting portion of the air filter pods. That's partially why I made those LOWE's velocity stack style mounts for mine!
T.C.

PS, found THAT THREAD , this link puts you on page 4 where the photos start, and shows the mod I came up with! FYI!

[HobbyMan]

I too don't believe it is the clutch or grear related. With worn gears, you can hear them hammer sound when they slip. When you are really opening it up, a worn clutch won't let go and regrab creating the the feeling that you are getting. It will just let go and the rpm will rise a lot. Soundls like a ignition or fuel problem. Maby the mixture is off.

[webbcraft2150]

Having been driving on a worn clutch for a couple of years, it does sound symtomatic of a worn clutch IMHO. If I run thru the gears normally, everything works fine. I I hammer it, it slips starting around 5k, the sweet spot on the XS. There is a slight shudder, but when I back it off a little, it will hook up again. This is more pronounced in the higher gears as the massive torque shows up more. I have all the clutch pieces to replace it, which I hope to do next weekend.

BTW, I will have left over OEM clutch plates due to a "bulk" purchase of of Ebay if you are interested. The local Yammarobber dealer in Austin (you know who) had the cover gasket and springs on the shelf.

[Erik the Red]

Sounds similar to what Rhona was doing last fall. Started with a ragged, engine racing sound (best way I can think to describe it) in 5th gear about 4.5 to 5k rpm, then showed up in 4th gear about same rpm. I could get it to do it down to 2nd gear, same rpm.

I had previously adjusted the clutch w/ v. little freeplay which eventually became no freeplay. TC is way smarter than me, esp. at nearly '4.6 Guru' status, so I'm second guessing my input here a bit.

But I'd recommend checking the clutch adjustment before doing anything else more complicated. It'll take you 5-10 minutes, and if that's it, problem solved. If it's not it, then at worst, you have a properly adjusted clutch.

MHO.

[Incubus]

I have been messing with the clutch mechanism and cable adjustments, as well as the cable routing for the last couple of days. I usually can get a clutch zeroed in well on my other bikes and this clutch is the same type as the others. I had clutch slippage issues with my Honda CB750 last year and the symptoms were exactly as TC describes. Winding out and loss of grab. This is different. The engine doesn't wind out when it shudders, it just stops grabbing consistently. I have a replacement P/U coil assembly that I picked up last weekend that I am going to install tonight to see if my repair on my P/U coils was less than adequate. It might well have been. The PO had done the wire repair and cut one wire down to just a stub. By the time I got the stub stripped I was soldering almost directly to the magnet. It might not have taken well. The replacement I found is so low milage that the previous owner never did the wire fix.

Expect a PM, Webbcraft. I already replaced the clutch springs already, but putting in new OEM clutch plates is something I wanted to do anyway, even if the replacement P/U solves the issue.

At least now I can ride it, if I want to ride it like a great big moped....

Patrick

[DeanR]

Only one cable adjuster on our clutch cables, correct? Up at the lever. A buddy swears there should be another at the other end.

[DiverRay]

Dean,
The other end has an adjuster on it, but not for the cable. If you go to the "Tech Tips" from the MAIN page, you can find the thread on adjusting the clutch.