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Clutch basket springs

Tom R

Tom R

Forum Mentor
Past Site Supporter
I took my GS1100LT clutch apart (since I already had to drain the fresh oil after the crankcase filled with gas - A strange new occurrence) to investigate a light thunk sound I hear when letting out the clutch. It only happens on occasion, maybe 1 out of 5 starts, and it doesn't seem to be related to how fast I launch - though it's rare that I launch very hard.

Two of the springs on the clutch basket rattle a little bit, but don't seem like they could fall out - the other four are tight. Could this cause the thunk sound I'm hearing? Everything else seems in order.

It looks like a chunk of something got loose in there and scarred up some of the case and plates, and wore areas of the green paint off the some of the springs; but I noticed this several years ago when I split the cases on this. I'm guessing this is when the basket springs loosened up.
The only thing I've done this year is deglaze my clutch fibers and steels and give it new springs.

Any ideas?
 
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Um it could be... you say you replaced the spring this year and two of them rattle? Are they not tightened down or worn that much... if they where original I would say replace them but when I did my springs none of them rattled around and it did tighten things up with new OEM springs.
 
Has the clutch basket been modified with heavy duty springs already? The part about green paint on the springs makes me wonder.
 
After rereading my 4am post, maybe it wasn't so clear which springs I'm refering to. Ape racing calls it their Gorilla clutch hub assembly http://gszone.biz/clutches.html .
I think my bike might have an aftermarket clutch basket as it looks just like the Ape basket, green springs and all ,which is a bit different than stock.
The springs I replaced are just the plate compression springs.

I guess what I'm really wondering is, with the 1/16" or so play, do I have to worry about those two green springs?
 
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You can kinda see some of the previous damage in the pic.
 
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Well, for sure you have a modified basket. You can tell by the welded pins to the basket. Stock ones are not welded, just held there with a shoulder on the back. My thinking is that those loose springs, at the most, would only cause somewhat of a rattling sound at idle, not a clunking sound. I replaced my basket with another one that had tighter springs in the back. Mine was rattling pretty good at idle. Not so much anymore.
 
Tom I think it is a transmission noise you can hear, not a clutch issue.
 
Tom I found this picture among my many thousands that I have.

You will see in the picture where I have hilited it in red that there is space either side of where one dog slides in to the other and as the clutch is let out one of the dogs turns until it comes up against the other one and when you are talking about 80 to 100hp then that can certainly cause a clunk. My bike does it, but only in first as I take off. If the dogs are already resting up against each other then there will be no clunk and I think this is what you are experiencing.

S3010009.jpg



Also Tom check out this link, it was a question I asked some time ago on a similar issue and I think you will find the responses interesting.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=170519


.
 
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Suzuki_Don said:
Tom I think it is a transmission noise you can hear, not a clutch issue.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I didn't want to hear. I'm not convinced it's the dogs making contact with each other though, since the bike is moving and the transmission is already engaged when I hear it. I'd think they should be firmly against eachother by that point.
I'm gonna try to smooth out the drive plate grooves on the basket itself, maybe a plate or two is hanging up some and only lets go after enough pressure is on it - then clunk ?
 
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ddaniels said:
Well, for sure you have a modified basket. You can tell by the welded pins to the basket. Stock ones are not welded, just held there with a shoulder on the back. My thinking is that those loose springs, at the most, would only cause somewhat of a rattling sound at idle, not a clunking sound. I replaced my basket with another one that had tighter springs in the back. Mine was rattling pretty good at idle. Not so much anymore.
Click to expand...

I agree, it's hard to see how two kinda loose springs could cause a clunk sound - it certainly isn't beyond me to miss something though.
After looking at it again, the basket is cast aluminum Suzuki. I don't know too much history of this bike - so who knows what the PO's did any why.
 
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