Clutch rattle?

[Steve]

Steve, been away from home too long?

Shorter this time than the same time last year.

Last year I was in Flori-duh from the first of January to mid-May.

This year, it's Mississississippippi from the first of January to 'only' mid-March.

.

[TheCafeKid]

DD, the weakening of the backing plate springs is mostly due to te side loading of the clutch basket because of the helical gear set. It's a common problem, noticed mostly on the bigger GSes, and especially so on bikes with big bore jobs, head work, etc that are putting out alot of horsepower. However, NO large cc GS is immune to this (aside from the 77-79 750 because it actually had straight cut gears instead of helical) and any one can exhibit the rattle you hear.

Now, I'm not going to say that yours or anyone elses bike is doomed from the factory with the chances of an exploding clutch basket. But, the posibility is there. Ignore the weakened springs long enough, and the clutch basket *could* come apart. The result of this, especially at speed, will likely be quite catastrophic and could involve you sitting in the middle of the road on your butt, covered in oil and wondering WTF just happened. Then again, it may never happen.

It's less prone to happening in the shafties as they just don't produce the HP the way the 1100E does but it HAS been seen out of them.


"shimming" the springs is a bandaid fix at best. If you're really worried about it, pull the basket and send it off to have it fixed with a heavy duty plate and welded.

[ddaniels]

It's not that I'm overly concerned about it. I just hate the rattley noise. Maybe I should just get a newer bike eh?

[Dogma]

...
Now, I'm not going to say that yours or anyone elses bike is doomed from the factory with the chances of an exploding clutch basket. But, the posibility is there. Ignore the weakened springs long enough, and the clutch basket *could* come apart. The result of this, especially at speed, will likely be quite catastrophic and could involve you sitting in the middle of the road on your butt, covered in oil and wondering WTF just happened. Then again, it may never happen.

...

I think I'd be willing to do that if someone could get it on video.

[Testarossa]

Did you separate the carbs when you cleaned them? Did the rattle occur before the carb cleaning? I would suggest that you sync the carbs before you tear into the clutch. I have had a similar situation where a single carb that was very out of sync due to removal. It caused a very annoying knock at idle. Once re-synced all was well.

[ddaniels]

Did you separate the carbs when you cleaned them? Did the rattle occur before the carb cleaning? I would suggest that you sync the carbs before you tear into the clutch. I have had a similar situation where a single carb that was very out of sync due to removal. It caused a very annoying knock at idle. Once re-synced all was well.

Yes, I seperated the carbs. And I'm sure it needs sync'ing. Just waiting on the adapters to get here. I've already taken the clutch cover off though. Upon closer inspection, I can see back inside the clutch housing where some of the screws holding bits and pieces on behind the basket have been boogered up with somebody else's screwdriver. So, somebody's been in there before. But I have no idea what they were doing.

[Nessism]

DD, the weakening of the backing plate springs is mostly due to te side loading of the clutch basket because of the helical gear set.

Na Josh, the side load has nothing to do with it; the hub springs are in pure compression. The springs are simply too soft and fatigue with stress cycles. I did the shimming trick on a GS1000 hub, and Salty Monk (Dan) did his too and both have been successful. A heavy duty back plate is better of course but you are talking about a LOT of money to have one of those installed so I don't blame people from passing.

[srsupertrap]

It's not that I'm overly concerned about it. I just hate the rattley noise. Maybe I should just get a newer bike eh?

No concerns but I agree the rattley noise adds to the riders perception that he is not sitting on a quality machine. I fixed mine for that reason alone.

The GS1100 4V owners have an advantage because they can readily find used drag welded clutch baskets on EBay. Every so often a GS1000 welded clutch basket will show up on EBay but few and far between. Schnitz has the kit

[TheCafeKid]

Na Josh, the side load has nothing to do with it; the hub springs are in pure compression. The springs are simply too soft and fatigue with stress cycles. I did the shimming trick on a GS1000 hub, and Salty Monk (Dan) did his too and both have been successful. A heavy duty back plate is better of course but you are talking about a LOT of money to have one of those installed so I don't blame people from passing.

Right you are, I confused my diagnosis with the reason for welding the backing plate. The rivets. But same end result.

Oddly enough our GSes aren't the only ones with "explosive" clutch baskets. The ZRXes apparently suffer from the same possibility, but due to an entirely different cause. They use a chain driven starter. And the tensioner can make contact with the clutch hub at full extension on start up. There are differing opinions as to why when and what exactly happens but the general consensus is on start up with the bike in gear and the clutch pulled, the tensioner kicks out far/hard enough to make brief contact. At any rate, eventually the tensioner gets out of wack, and the chain jumps off and !bang! You've got a pile of clutch springs, broken fibers etc floating around in your cases. Crappy.

[cowboyup3371]

Right you are, I confused my diagnosis with the reason for welding the backing plate. The rivets. But same end result.

Oddly enough our GSes aren't the only ones with "explosive" clutch baskets. The ZRXes apparently suffer from the same possibility, but due to an entirely different cause. They use a chain driven starter. And the tensioner can make contact with the clutch hub at full extension on start up. There are differing opinions as to why when and what exactly happens but the general consensus is on start up with the bike in gear and the clutch pulled, the tensioner kicks out far/hard enough to make brief contact. At any rate, eventually the tensioner gets out of wack, and the chain jumps off and !bang! You've got a pile of clutch springs, broken fibers etc floating around in your cases. Crappy.

What are you doing to prevent that from happening?

[ddaniels]

I ended up buying another clutch basket from TeamDar that had nice tight springs in it. Got it all assembled and put back together yesterday and today. Sync'd the carbs after putting in some new oil. I do not hear any rattle anymore. Very cool! Thanks TeamDar. Waiting for it to cool so I can put the socket head screws back in the intake boots, put on the tank, seat, and go test my new tires. Getting close to being on the road with it. I'm also hoping NOT to hear any ticking noises when I take off since putting in a different set of cams. But it sure purrs nicely at idle now.

[TheCafeKid]

What are you doing to prevent that from happening?

Some machinists on the board have manufactured a sleeve that limits the travel of the tensioner rod. It still takes up the slack as it should but doesn't go rocketing overboard and smacking the basket. Just a silly little sleeve. Amazing what gets overlooked in original design/manufacture.