I finally got another XS-11 again!!!

[walterpowelljr]

Well I finally found a 1980 XS-11 STD and it runs good, But of course I will need a tank and seat because the seat frame is rusty! The bike runs good down the road but the clutch is on its last leg! I use to own a 1978 Yamaha xs-1100E if some of you remember that gave me alot of problems and I later sold it,, But soon after I started dreading my sale of the bike! When I drove home on it today it gave me flashbacks of being 18yrs old again "Im 39yrs old now" My Hayabusa is a blast for speed but there is nothing like just cruising on the old XS!
I think I will try to find a shop to replace my clutch since I have never done one before! I wanted to let you all know I appreciate all the help with suggestions on my problems I was having with the 78 model. You guys are great!
Here is what it looks like when I bought it, But I will be changing this look!

[DGXSER]

Congrats on getting the new ride!!! Yep, with every ride I like this bike more and more.

As to the clutch, it is really pretty simple to deal with. You definitely should own a torque wrench in my opinion though. Just this weekend we were installing camshafts and I was surprised at how little force it took to reach the required torque.

For the clutch, you do not even need to drain the oil, do it on the side stand. The oil runs out of the cover and you can pull it. Then look at the tech tip on the dremel repair for 2nd gear. It has great pics and descriptions of a number of areas and repairs as part fo getting down to repairing the gears. The clutch and its removal and installation are covered.

Welcome to XS11, or back as the case may be!

[trbig]

Yup... clutch is simple. AND, you may just need to adjust it. If not, just a good set of heavy duty springs to throw in there is @ $16. If you can hold off for a month and come to the rally we're having in Talhina, OK, we can get the job done in just a few minutes in the parking lot.

Here's the link to that in the rallies section...

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23700


And welcome back!


Tod

[walterpowelljr]

I dont know about trying to replace the clutch myself, I would probably screw it up! I cant wait to get this fixed.

[MindWebs]

clutches...

If i can do it.... so can you!!

but i forget what the torque wrench was for i didn't have one...

so i just tightened everything up (reasonably) remember your working with aluminum.

i have a 7-800 miles on the new clutch and all seems well...

i did my S1 clutch the same way and that has several thousand miles on it.

a torque wrench may not be as important if you are careful when tightening things up.

But.... i've been wrong before. so if i'm in error, someone please chime in and say so...

[DGXSER]

Well, I did work for years on cages without ever owning a torque wrench successfully. I just remembered about how hard I had to pull to get it loose and put it back the same.

But with steel and aluminum it gets much tougher. They seem to galvanize together making loosening kinda tough compared to tightening to 7 or 7-1/2 ft-lbs. I have tightened a few bolts including cam bolts, and valve cover bolts recently thinking I was just pretensioning for the final torque only to find the torque wrench indicating I was done or over torqued. Aluminum can strip out pretty easy by comparison to the steel so I use my torque wrenches on the bike almost religously.

But truly, the clutch is not very difficult at all. I had mine out, measured, and re-installed in less than 4 hours and that includes time to go search for new springs and get them ordered, as well as go though how the clutch works with my daughter. If you have any plans to do your own work on the bike, this is an easy ice breaker to perform.

[CatatonicBug]

If you have any plans to do your own work on the bike, this is an easy ice breaker to perform.

I agree! I used the 2nd gear fix as my first real bike work, and it turned out to be a lot less difficult than it seemed. The clutch is just a tiny part of that process. If the clutch is all you're doing, there's not a lot you can mess up, as long as you are careful when tightening down the "star" plate.

The torque wrench is for tightening the center nut on the clutch as it gets torqued to 51 ft/lbs. If you use an impact, that should work too, then just be sure to bend the retaining washer up around the nut.

Follow the tech tips and the manuals, and you'll save a TON of money and feel a lot better about it when you're done!