| Author | Message | ||
     Bells_of_mo |
Hello to all. This is a new one but as I was driving to storage to park the bike for the winter, the clutch lever / actuation was all over the place. This seemed to be linked to the rpms. When I was engine braking or decelerating, I had a full clutch lever and things were normal. As I gave gas to accelerate, the clutch lever would go limp and only actuate as the lever approached the handle bar. This is an '09 1125R and I just recently did the slave not too long ago. It seemed to bleed fine but could this just be a bleeding issue? Or something with the vacuum assist? Any help is appreciated! | ||
| Ceejay |
Which slave cylinder did you put in as a replacement? I've got an Oberon unit in my 08, and after putting a radial MC on it, I had a bunch of issues as I wasn't setting it up correctly - meaning I tightened the acorn nut down too far which was per Buell manual instructions. After reaching out to Oberon I retightened the acorn nut with blue lock-tite to where the face of the slave cylinder is almost flush with the the chamfer on the sleeve and all is good again. If it's an EBR unit, I'd imagine that the set up is a bit different though so hopefully someone with one of those can chime in as well. | ||
| Stevel |
Take it apart and look. It is not rocket science. Something moved. Look. It takes more time to type this blog than to open it up. | ||
| 34nineteen |
Agreed! | ||
| Bells_of_mo |
It is an oberon unit going into a Rev B clutch cover. Install was problem free. I played around with the spherical nut to see if that does anything but it doesn't. I've had it open multiple times and and slave looks to be exactly where it should. The vacuum diaphragm is pretty new as well and looks fine. It seems to bleed fine. CeeJay, did you have any problems like I'm describing? I'm stumped as to why the rpms would change how the clutch actuates. It's like the hydraulics lose pressure when you're on the gas, then you get pressure back when you engine brake or drop rpms. Stevel, I come to this blog because there's a bunch of guys who know much more than me and usually have gone through the same issues at some point. I guess I'll just open it up and see if "something moved"? | ||
| Ceejay |
I didn't have the same issues you are having for the most part. I was getting a lot of clutch slip after the bike was fully warmed. Coupled with not having ridden it in almost two years meant some of that was related to how I felt it should be engaging. After reaching out to Oberon, just as you are doing with us, all was fixed. I know exactly how long it takes to pull off the clutch actuation cover and I can type a little faster than that. Not everyone has the same set-up in home/garage life or time and desire to tinker...Similarly it's very easy to throw stones without actually providing any input. The Buell manual states 89 lb/in or something like that. This torque setting pushes the slave cylinder into the sleeve too far for the oberon unit. Because the rotax motor has a clutch actuation that is opposite of the majority of other motorbike manufacturers (per Oberon engineer) having it sit too far into the sleeve means it will cause slippage after warmed up if the acorn nut is tightened down too much. For example - I could pull away fine after initially starting the bike - but a half an hour later the clutch wouldn't even grab regardless of rpm. This made it feel as thought the clutch went bad while I was deployed - obviously not possible. Another thing to check is the springs. Ensure that you put the one Oberon supplied spring in the proper location vs. keeping the old installed. Shouldn't be causing the problem but may be something to look at. | ||
| Ceejay |
Oh - I’ve actually worked with rockets and rocket scientists - many of the scientists couldn’t tell you what a tube cutter was for much less how to fix a clutch actuation problem. As such, I always find the statement, “it’s not rocket science” a bit disingenuous, but hey you go with your bad self | ||
| Bells_of_mo |
Thanks for the response, Ceejay! Yeah, I've had those same symptoms when I initially made the move to the oberon unit. I also loosened the nut a bit to get full bite on the clutch and that, coupled with re-bleeding and things were hunky dory. I'll pop the slave out and check the spring location next trip to storage. I was a little concerned with the clutch release pin at one point. If I got it seated properly, it never gave me issues but sometimes there was "play" in getting it centered (on the back side, not the nut side) before putting everything back together. But yeah, I always crack up when people say "just figure it out" type responses on a forum where people come to figure it out. And you're correct Ceejay, we all have different setups and amounts of time to tinker so I tend to collect as much info as I can before setting aside that time to be as efficient as I can with the fix. (Message edited by Bells Of Mo on January 16, 2021) | ||
| Alex |
I would remove the vacuum line from the throttle body to the clutch and see if things change. It reáds like the vacuum assist function works just opposite. |
