| Author | Message | ||
     Nsakellis |
It all started on a cross-country ride from Miami to North Carolina last October after I pressed on through about 300 or so miles of super heavy "soaked to the bone" rain and first started noticing my shifts were getting a little "sticky." The ride up was to check out the autumn leaves and run The Tail of the Dragon, during which the shifting was less than optimum, but still okay, or at least so I thought. I had it in mind to check it out once I got back to Miami, but as fate would have it I experienced what I thought was a blown clutch just a little south of Daytona. The clutch was fine one moment and then it was completely inoperative the next. I made it home and pulled my Uly into my garage without clutching and then got to checking things out. The first thing I discovered was that my primary fluid had tuned milky and after reading up on some posts about possible culprits, it seemed like the cause had to do with the integrity of the clutch cable having been breached, which made sense at the time because upon inspection mine was most definitely burned up by that area where it comes close to being in contact with the forward header. Upon tearing down the primary, however, and expecting to see fragments of a blown friction plate or similar debris, there wasn't anything like that. Anyway, still thinking the problem was somewhere in the clutch pack, I proceeded to tear it down and then install a replacement Barnett clutch pack. My problem now is that the clutch does not disengage and I can't figure out why. I've disassembled and reassembled the Barnett clutch pack twice, so I'm confident about things having been installed in the right order, but I'm otherwise stumped as what now is the problem. Suffice it say that any suggestions or insights would be much appreciated! | ||
| Skipbarberman |
Milky primary fluid indicates to me that water got into the crankcase....likely through the compromised cable assembly believe it or not. I would check the ramp and clutch actuation assembly in the case, and then the proper routing, condition, and adjustment of the cable. I have (2) XB9Rs; a 2003 and 2005. I was having problems with hard shifting on the 2003 (with 9600 mi) compared to the 2005 (with 25k mi). I made sure the oil level was just below the plates, and that the cable freeplay adjusted per the manual, and matched my 2005 (3mm at the perch). Now, the 2003 shifts fine. Just a starting point, hope this helps. | ||
| Shoggin |
If you are 100% sure you have it adjusted correctly at the clutch hub (lightly seat and back off 1/4 turn), and the cable (1/8" play) ...RTFM  Pull the primary off again and check the clutch ramp. They have been known to fail and will cause exactly what you describe. Either replace the cover or there was a repair kit available at one time. | ||
| Nsakellis |
Thanks Skipbarberman and Shoggin! Its looking like I had both things going on -- both the water intrusion through the compromised clutch cable (which accounted for the sticky shifting) and then the casting failure on the primary cover (which caused the ultimate complete clutch failure). I also put my request for help out on the Buell XB12X Ulysses Owners group on Facebook, and a bunch of the responses were right in line with Shoggin's post about the primary cover failure. I won't know for certain if the primary cover is the issue until I get a chance to tear my Uly down again, but if thats what the problem is, then I've now learned that the name of the shop that manufactures the repair kit and also offers a installation service for it is DMF Machining up in New York, so will have to see how this all plays out. | ||
| Ducbsa |
Take a look here: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/384 2/282980.html |
