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Clutch/Drivetrain issue -> grinding noise, no power to wheel.

  • Thread starter Thread starter vcalvarese
  • Start date Start date
V

vcalvarese

Guest
Hey all!

Some disappointing turn of events on my Friday afternoon ride. Riding along slow and steady, and wham - no power to the wheel. No loud noises, no warning signs (that I could tell). Essentially, I can put the bike in first gear alright, but then when I go to release the clutch and get moving the bike sits still and I hear a kind of clattering/grinding noise in the gear box and nothing happens. It tries to move forward ever so slightly, but then just starts making the noise. At first I thought that maybe the chain came off the front sprocket, but I removed the case and the chain is mounted on the sprocket just fine and when up on the center stand, rotates just fine throughout the whole chain length. When up on the center stand and running - shifting into first with clutch in is pretty rough, and the rear wheel starts to turn as if it was in gear and the clutch is out. Then, shifting up into second- same situation- rear wheel is turning. Shifting up into third, fourth, and fifth the wheel stops turning while the clutch is in, as it should. Shifting down through the gears is smoother, and the no power is being transferred to the chain. After a couple rounds of this I put the bike back down and tried to get her going. Same noise, no power.

Obviously I'm going to have to open up the clutch and see what is really going on, but I wanted to ask you kind folks if anything similar has happened to you. I can't find any similar scenario in my searches of the forum. This would be my first adventure into clutch world on my GS :nightmare:
 
Quick side note - I 'may' have added a little too much oil before my ride. I drained the excess off, but still no luck.
 
Well, the chain's on the front sprocket, but is the front sprocket still on the splines?

The other day, my front sprocket nut backed off and the sprocket slid off the splines onto the threads. Rev rev, no spin.
 
check your front sprocket by removing and inspect your splines.
cross your fingers...loss of power to the rear wheel on a chain drive model is not good.
 
Thanks for the replies! Does anyone have a picture of the splines? I'm pretty green with sprocket world. The engine is definitely putting power to the sprocket, it just seems under load it's not linking up somewhere. It doesn't feel like a clutch issue in my opinion. I can see the chain getting "bumped" under load when it's slipping
 
Scratch that.. Google is magic sometimes! I'll have to check to see of the sprocket is seated on the splines. The bike starts to pull forward but the starts doing the slipping chain bump thing.
 
That's another members bike. I think the sprocket nut came loose and/ or fell off entirely allowing the sprocket to slide off and kill the threads. on an 1150 I previously owned the nut came loose and caused some wear on the splines, but luckily it was still usable. .
 
I really hope you aren't starting it and trying to ride it just to hear the noise again... If it is something internally you aren't going to like what you see once you open it up
 
huntb said:
I really hope you aren't starting it and trying to ride it just to hear the noise again... If it is something internally you aren't going to like what you see once you open it up
Click to expand...

Nope, I think I heard enough:rolleyes:

next step is I'm going to open up the sprocket cover again and check to see if the sprocket fell off the splines. The sprocket nut was a little loose when I checked it, but I figured it shouldn't be super tight. Am I assuming wrong?
 
The nut should be tight, tight, tight. But the fact it's there means the sprocket probably didn't fall off the splines. I just changed sprockets and chain on a friends bike. He had almost no teeth left on the rear. Are there any teeth left on your front sprocket? Neglect will do that.
 
Sandy said:
The nut should be tight, tight, tight. But the fact it's there means the sprocket probably didn't fall off the splines. I just changed sprockets and chain on a friends bike. He had almost no teeth left on the rear. Are there any teeth left on your front sprocket? Neglect will do that.
Click to expand...

There are teeth left as far as I can tell. The sprocket spins with the chain with the rear wheel up and bike in neautral. I did not have eyes on the sprocket though to see if the chain just wasn't catching. I've been away from the bike for a week or so, but hope to dive back in this weekend. The bike has about 40k miles on the clock at this point, and I will say that I have not serviced the chain or sprocket. The nut jiggles back and forth a tiny bit, and seems to be held on by the locking washer. I'm not sure of the correct name for that washer piece. I plan to get the nut off there and see what's up with the spline and I'll get back with results. Any other words of wisdom before I dive in!?

Thank you thank you thank you
 
If you are really lucky, just the inner teeth of the sprocket are badly worn and the output shaft splines are still good.
Then, all that you should really need is a new correctly installed front CS sprocket. If the rear sprocket shows wear, I would replace it and the chain at the same time.
Z1 Enterprises can get you a good deal on all three parts if you call them.
 
I'm gong to open this thread back up. I finally had the time to get back into trying to solve this issue. I checked the teeth on the front sprocket and they seem to be ok (I'll post a picture). The splines on the countershaft post also look to be solid with little if any signs of wear. When assembled together the sprocket has no play on the splines that I can tell. I cranked the nut on tight and tried to get her moving- I could ease it into gear and cruise around at 5mph (better than before) , but with any real gassing I would loose power and hear the slipping/ grinding noise. The chain is definitely not slipping, I can see that clearly while on the saddle. This happens in every gear, btw, and also it shifts smooth into gear(s)

Am I missing something here? It definitely feels like grinding, and not a clutch slip - but I'm no expert.
 
vcalvarese said:
I'm gong to open this thread back up. I finally had the time to get back into trying to solve this issue. I checked the teeth on the front sprocket and they seem to be ok (I'll post a picture). The splines on the countershaft post also look to be solid with little if any signs of wear. When assembled together the sprocket has no play on the splines that I can tell. I cranked the nut on tight and tried to get her moving- I could ease it into gear and cruise around at 5mph (better than before) , but with any real gassing I would loose power and hear the slipping/ grinding noise. The chain is definitely not slipping, I can see that clearly while on the saddle. This happens in every gear, btw, and also it shifts smooth into gear(s)

Am I missing something here? It definitely feels like grinding, and not a clutch slip - but I'm no expert.
Click to expand...

Well, the clutch is the next thing to check -open 'er up!
 
allojohn said:
Well, the clutch is the next thing to check -open 'er up!
Click to expand...

Guess that is my next move huh? In my experiences with clutches i've never heard grinding noises before, but then again I haven't had a TON of experience by any means. I will reiterate the fact that when this happened last fall, I was taking a long easy sweeping turn without any throttle jerks, and out of the blue the power was lost, and the grinding noise started. No bangs/pops/booms/clicks, just started happening. As soon as I would let off the clutch and give it any gas at all, grind/bump noise in transmission area.
 
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