| Author | Message | ||
     General_ulysses |
Took my 97 S1 out for a ride today. Ran great initially, but just 2 miles into the ride all of a sudden the clutch just disengages almost completely and starts slipping like crazy. Everything else seems completely normal, engine runs perfect, clutch lever action feels perfect, shifting normal. Just a slipping clutch out of the blue. I could just barely nurse it back to my house at about 20 mph, if I tried to apply more power it would slip bad. Before I pop the clutch inspection cover off, any ideas what happened? I recently replaced the transfer chain tensioner about 300 miles ago and had the side cover off. There were no problems and everything worked fine afterwards...until now. Any ideas what's going on inside? | ||
| Buellistic |
Clutch Class 101, just PM me for a copy ... | ||
| Cyclonecharlie |
Check your front sprocket for spinning on the shaft. | ||
| General_ulysses |
Hmm...Maybe it is a spinning sprocket? But why would that happen? Isn't it on a splined shaft? As long as it stays on the shaft shouldn't it transmit power? I've never ever had anything like this happen on a jap bike. I've had the countertsprocket bolt come loose, but as long as the countersprocket stayed on the shaft, it still transmitted full power. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Unless you chewed the splines off the shaft...if the sprocket bolt comes loose, the sprocket can "walk" on the shaft. Walking/wobbling allows movement, and enough movement for enough time can strip the splines. | ||
| Dannybuell |
My 96 S1 has 104,000 miles. Early on I lost 2 front sprockets in a short period of time. When the nut loosens and it walks off the shaft the splines eventually gets destroyed. The dealer told me I was racing too hard. When it happened the next time I took it to an independent shop. The shop double nutted it. The pulley has been performing like a champ for the last 15 years! This tells me that labor is everything!! | ||
| Sparky |
Early S1's had a batch of sprockets with faulty hardening on the splines which would eventually shear and show up with symptoms like a slipping clutch. That happened with my 96 S1 early on. That could be your problem. | ||
| Buellistic |
CHECK the DRIVE BELT counter shaft sprocket !!! | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Splines on the front sprocket have shown up here a number of times as an issue over the years. As Sparky said on S1's, if memory serves it has primarily been on S1's though someone with an early S3 might have reported this at some time as well... just working from memory here, rather than a general google search of the site. Hope it's an easy fix for you! | ||
| General_ulysses |
Well I checked the countersprocket/pulley thing. You guys were right, it's stripped like a big dog. I don't have a socket big enough to remove it yet, just hoping the output shaft from the engine is not also stripped. That would really suck. Man these Hardley's sure ain't jap bikes. I'm not used to such lacklustre engineering. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Read sparkys post above. A faulty part isn't lackluster engineering...its a mis-made part. Simple. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
So was a batch not hardened correctly? Also, if it's stripped, how are you supposed to hold the damn thing to turn the nut??? | ||
| General_ulysses |
Rat - Yeah maybe you're right, it's manufacturing instead of engineering. I just recall my old 5-10 hp japanese bikes having big, meaty flame hardened splines driving the countersprocket. No matter how abused and neglected, they never failed - ever. They didn't have a whole bunch of itty bitty poorly hardened splines for 90hp. Natex - I'm pretty sure I can zip the nut off because it's connected to the engine shaft. Put the engine in gear and use my air impact gun. The manual says it's a reverse thread, so you gotta "righty loosy." I just hope my engine output shaft is not toast. Can that shaft be removed/replaced without splitting the motor? Can used XB sprockets be used? Or do I have to buy a new one for $200? | ||
| Ratbuell |
The great thing about tubers is you can have the WHOLE TRANSMISSION in your lap without splitting cases. Pull the primary. Pull the clutch. You'll see the trap door held in with I think its five bolts. Easy-peasy. The mainshaft is attached to the case on the pulley side and is just as easily removed. | ||
| General_ulysses |
Thanks Rat, that's really nice to know I can take the transmission out without pulling the motor or splitting the cases. Maybe Harley engineering isn't so bad after all?  After picking up the giant 1 7/8" socket I needed at tractor supply and zipping off the retaining nut, here's what I found:  MACHINED CLEAN OFF  ARE THESE SHAFT SPLINES STILL OK??    | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
"You guys were right, it's stripped like a big dog." wut. "I just recall my old 5-10 hp japanese bikes having big, meaty flame hardened splines driving the countersprocket. No matter how abused and neglected, they never failed - ever. They didn't have a whole bunch of itty bitty poorly hardened splines for 90hp. " you had multiple motorcycles with 10< hp? how much abuse can you really do with 5hp anyway? | ||
| General_ulysses |
You can do a lot of abuse to a motorcycle with less than 10hp. Unless you forgot how much havoc a 12-13 year old can dish out? | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Lots of teensy splines are better at handling more force since there is more surface area. That is of course if it's hardened at all! | ||
| Alfau |
12-13 year old can dish out? they were dishing it out from day one | ||
| Alfau |
failed motorcycles manufacturers are plentiful. no shame in trying but consistent failure led to Harley Davidson dumping this concept. | ||
| Essmjay |
Those splines look good to me. |
