1 yr. Old Clutch, and STILL Can't Get The Sweet Spot??

[shortlid]

I had a Suzuki Mech. replace ALL the metal and fiber plates in the clutch on my '80 GS850G about a year ago. We used the stock springs cause the High Performance ones were too stiff for street use (I thought). Now if the bike is stoped with the clutch all the way in she will not get N! She shifts pretty hard even with the clutch in and if you rev it while in gear with the clutch all the way in the bike surges forward! But if I back off the adjustment it slips at higher PPM in tall gears? Can someone go over the basics of clutch adjustment for me. Basicly what moving the cable IN or OUT does up at the lever and down at the clutch arm? Could the clutch cable be to streached?:lol:

 

[Jethro]

Hey there buddy!

I might not be the best one to tell you, becasue I have never consulted the manual on my clutch adjustment, other than cable free play. The one thing I can say is that the amount of free play makes a big difference. I think for my bike the recommended free play is 2-4mm, and if I don't have that right on, the clutch either grabs or slips. Make sure that the free play is consistant at the lever as well as the arm on the push rod going into the cover. If the free play isn't the same, you must have a cable problem. Sometimes the lining in the cable wears out and the free play gets all screwed up becasue of it.

Hope this helps!

 

[Detman101]

Sounds like the same problem I'm having.
Time for a new clutch cable...

 

[shortlid]

OK, how much?

OK, how much?

How much is a clutch cable and what is the proper mounting for it? Mine goes under the gauge pod and every time I pull in the clutch the pod moves up a little!! Annoying!! :evil:

 

[HiSPL]

Did your mechanic use suzuki fiber plates or something else?

I ask because I have Barnett plates in my bike and they drag no matter how you adjust it. It is very annoying, but the fibers came with the bike in a box of spare parts so I can't complain about the price. :lol: BTW, my bike acts just like yours, can't find neutral, and the bike wants to roll with the lever all the way in. The best advice I can give is adjust it to where full engagement is at the last 1/2 inch of lever movement and just live with it or change out to OEM Suzuki plates. They are the best anyway....

 

[HiSPL]

And FYI, Vesrah plates work pretty well too, but their lifespan is pretty short. Like 10 to 15 thousand miles...

 

[DarkDevil]

On my bike (gs750es) there are three places to adjust the clutch. Once at the handlebars, once on the top of the sproket/engine cover, and then if you take another cover off the sproketcover theres a nut and a screw. You might want to tighten (or loosen...) this a little.. and then try adjusting at the other two points.

When I went to get one of my cables replaced the shop didn't have the right cable so we had to take the casing from mine, and put a new cable inside it, to make one that fit.

 

[shortlid]

Plates

Plates

The metal plates are stock Suzuki, the fiber plates are Parts Unlimited from Dennis Kirk?

 

[Jethro]

Parts unlimited plates are Barnett (at least when I got mine last- almost 5 years ago).

 

[earlfor]

I have Vesrah clutch plates in my 1150. Same plates for 31,000 miles. They're still fine. Wish I could get that kind of milage from a set of tires though.

Earl

And FYI, Vesrah plates work pretty well too, but their lifespan is pretty short. Like 10 to 15 thousand miles...

 

[HiSPL]

OK, I admit that the Vesrah plates are in my 750 that I really abused the clutch in. 8-[

 

[shortlid]

Barnett plates OK?

Barnett plates OK?

Are the Barnett plates OK?? I tried going through the clutch adjustment listed in my Cymers manual. Now I can get N, but it CLUNKS into gear from N with the clutch in!!

 

[feelergaugephil]

Did the clutch slip before the new plates were put in? Could you get Neutral before? or has all this happend after the new plates?
Also, check what oil is in there! as if I put normal car oil 10w/30 in my gs1000g the clutch also slips and I cant get Neutral easy.

 

[shortlid]

beofre, after

beofre, after

Before I replaced the clutch, a year ago it was slipping under hard accel. Now it only slips when I adjust it a certain way. I do have Wal-Mart
10W-"40" oil in it for the spring. I run 20W-50 during the summer in it. :lol:

 

[focus frenzy]

Re: Barnett plates OK?

Re: Barnett plates OK?

Are the Barnett plates OK?? I tried going through the clutch adjustment listed in my Cymers manual. Now I can get N, but it CLUNKS into gear from N with the clutch in!!

the clunk is normal, these transmissions are not syncronised like car transmissions and add in the wet clutch where you have oil in it acting similar to a torque converter and you have the shafts in the transmission still spinning with the clutch engaged. as long as you can shift to neutral with the engine running and reving doesn't make the bike try to move every thing is fine.

 

[shortlid]

THANKS, focus frenzy!

THANKS, focus frenzy!

Thanks, Focus Frenzy I thought It was my clutch mis-adjusted! By following the directions in Clymers, I can get N fine and when I rev it it does not move. Sweet, but it does have quite a hard CLUNK when in N with the clutch in going to 1 st. or 2 nd.! :evil:

 

[Jethro]

Yeah man, these bikes all clunk pretty good when you throw it in gear. Even brandy new.

 

[shortlid]

OK, now what???

OK, now what???

OK, so I took your guys advice and it worked great with the 10W-40 weight oil in the bike. Now that I put 20W-50 of the same brand in it the clutch adjustment if all off again! If I don't switch to 20W-50 my '80 GS850G uses oil fast during the 90 degree heat we are having! But now it is back to moving when I rev it and hard to shift to N when stoped!! :evil:

 

[shortlid]

Any insight?

Any insight?

Any one had this happen where you clutch comes all out of adjustment when you switch oil weights? :evil:

 

[Anonymous]

Just replaced my clutch cable on my GS1100GK. What a difference that made! Smoother shifts, and no more clutch chatter under a load. Funny how a cable can make that much change, huh? Well, oil can do the same thing.

My bike was run on regular motor oil when I first got it. It smoked on the left (low) side at start, and the clutch dragged and slipped and generally made a mess of things. I changed to AMSOIL synthetic motorcycle oil, and both of those problems went away.

I've written this schpiel a couple times now, and I think the guys here suspect me of being an AMSOIL salesman, but honestly it was recommended to me by a mechanic and part-time AMSOIL salesman, and even though it was $10 a quart, I still use it today, over a year later.

Even though some bikes work fine with regular motor oil, many will not. Synthetic contains fewer impurities and will leave fewer deposits in the crankcase. That leads to a cleaner crankcase and thus a cleaner clutch, which will drag and slip much less. Further, I believe that dedicated motorcycle oil contains different additives that equip it to run in an air-cooled environment, in a high-revving engine, a wet clutch, and a transmission (as opposed to regular motor oil which runs in a low-revving water-cooled engine only).

Best of all, as long as your bike doesn't leak oil, you can get away with 10k miles on a change of the synthetic.

So, would I advise you to go out and buy $40 oil? Not necessarily. But it worked for me, and it might work for you.

For my $.02, don't worry about the clunk, especially if it's when the bike is cold. That's normal. It should diminish when hot. Also, if you're approaching a stop sign or any situation where you're OK with holding in the clutch for a bit, just apply gentle pressure to the shifter (from N) as you slow to a stop. As wheel speed and engine speed hit a harmonious sweet spot, you'll feel the bike drop into 1st effortlessly. Get the hang of that and you only really need to clunk when you first start out.