• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Clutch Problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kevin GS1100
  • Start date Start date
K

Kevin GS1100

Guest
This is my first thread but I have been on the site many times over the past year getting great information about fixing up this bike and solving problems that I have had with it. What a great a site! The problem I have now I'm a little nervous about and need some guidance. I have what I think is "clutch rattle". The sound is comming from my left foot. It is worse when at low idle or when I start letting the clutch release. It dosn't seem to correlate with RPM. It seems to go away when in gear. I have ordered the clutch cover gasket but I do not know what I might be looking for once I take the cover off and want to be prepared. I'm not afraid to turn wrenches but I have no experience with bike repair, other then the valve repair that the site led me through and even less with clutches. The weather is nice here in Maine and the season is short so I'm wondering if this is something that I should or could do when the snow flys and ride it for now. The clucth has recently started to slip when I get on it hard. Any ideas or info would be appreciated.
 
Kevin GS1100 said:
This is my first thread but I have been on the site many times over the past year getting great information about fixing up this bike and solving problems that I have had with it. What a great a site! The problem I have now I'm a little nervous about and need some guidance. I have what I think is "clutch rattle". The sound is comming from my left foot. It is worse when at low idle or when I start letting the clutch release. It dosn't seem to correlate with RPM. It seems to go away when in gear. I have ordered the clutch cover gasket but I do not know what I might be looking for once I take the cover off and want to be prepared. I'm not afraid to turn wrenches but I have no experience with bike repair, other then the valve repair that the site led me through and even less with clutches. The weather is nice here in Maine and the season is short so I'm wondering if this is something that I should or could do when the snow flys and ride it for now. The clucth has recently started to slip when I get on it hard. Any ideas or info would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Your clutch is on the right side, you say the noise is on the left. Clutch baskets often loosen up and rattle, but the clutch is on the right. Clutch rattle usually goes away when you pull in the clutch.
As for the slipping, if you dont want to replace the plates, you can put in new stock springs, heavier EBC springs, or the hard Barnett spings.
 
The rattle is comming from the left side when sitting on the bike. I read something about a starter clutch. Could that be making a rattle from with the symptoms described? Is that on the left side?
 
Ok, so I take that left cover off. I'll need a new gasket, right. The bolt that I'm looking for is center to the large part of the cover? Would that have anything to do with the clutch slipping or is that a whole different problem that I need to address. I noticed the rattle and the slipping at the time but that could be just coincidence. Thanks for your help.
 
Kevin GS1100 said:
Ok, so I take that left cover off. I'll need a new gasket, right. The bolt that I'm looking for is center to the large part of the cover? Would that have anything to do with the clutch slipping or is that a whole different problem that I need to address. I noticed the rattle and the slipping at the time but that could be just coincidence. Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
you shouldnt need a new gasket as there is no chance of a leak. is the sprocket loose on the splines?
clutch may be a different problem but sort the rattle out first before it does any damage
 
Sorry about being stupid but I want to make sure that I get this right. Do I take the cover off by left foot? Do I have to drain the oil first? There seems to be a gasket for that cover. Will I find the sprocket and splines underneath that cover? Again, I'm sorry that you have to explain every detail but I just want to be sure that I do this right. Thanks again
 
There are 2 covers on the left side. The cover closest to the front of the bike #16 is the stator cover, which covers (the stator) and the starter clutch. It sticks out some.

The sprocket cover doesn't take a gasket and simply covers the small sprocket that the chain rides around.

Image



Sprocket cover is #24 on the fisch.

Nic
 
Last edited:
You'll have to remove the clutch foot lever first then you can unbolt and remove the cover. Check to see if the nut holding the sprocket is tight and that the sprocket doesn't have any play.


however, If your clutch is slipping and there is a rattle associated with the workings of the clutch hand lever, there is a good chance that you should actually look at the Right side of the bike. It might be more noticable from the left side especially if the clutch hub is loose and rattling.

Does the sound go away at idle after it has warmed up some and in neutral?

Nic
 
Last edited:
This is a shafty so if recall corectly there isn't a sprocket under the sprocket cover. The sound seems to get worse when it gets warmed up and still rattles in neutral. Is the nut that you are talking about on the starter clutch or stator or do I need to do some more digging after removing the cover to the secoundary drive?
 
Kevin GS1100 said:
This is a shafty so if recall corectly there isn't a sprocket under the sprocket cover. The sound seems to get worse when it gets warmed up and still rattles in neutral. Is the nut that you are talking about on the starter clutch or stator or do I need to do some more digging after removing the cover to the secoundary drive?
Click to expand...

I was guessing as to what bike you are working on. Might want to put it in your Signature.

I was talking about the nut that holds the sprocket for a chain driven bike, so disregard that piece of advice.

Hopefully someone more knowledgable with shafties can provide more info regarding the drive unit.

Nic
 
When you remove the stator cover, you will see there is a shaft that locks in with a small washer.
The shaft locks in a cog, that presses up against the starter motor....
You may want to check if any of that is lose.
when you remove the magneto cover (stator cover) the cog should just fall lose...

Just a thought.
 
Thanks for the advice. I ordered the gasket and if I get it this weekend I'll pop that cover off and check it out. Have a great 4th and I'll update later.
 
Ok, I took the cover off and the large nut that is center to the crank is tight. what seems weird is the double gear that is between the starter gear and the large gear that is on the crank. It is free to move and comes right out when you remove the pin that holds it in place. I think the cover holds it in place but there seems to be a lot of movement. There is one washer on the outside of the double sprocket but nothing on in
the inside. Is this normal? There is a little wear on the gear that is attached the the starter that seems to be to wider then the the gear that it rides on idicating that the double gear is wondering. It looks like the double gear is wandering on that starter gear but there is no wear on that double gear. The starter is tight and not moving. I started to start it this morning but noticed the rattle right away and decided to investigate before I ride anymore. What do you think my next move should be?
 
Last edited:
I wanted to add that the shaft that comes from the starter is worn. I do not think it is worn enough to cause the gear to jump but it does allow movement of the reduction gear and could be the cause of the sound. Can I replace that shaft comming from the starter or do I need to replace the whole starter? How do remove the starter? Is it just the two screws in the back and then slide it out backwards?
 
Ok, so before I buy a new starter I wanted to check the clutch. The big nut in the middle I could move with my fingers so I bent the tab away and tried to tighten. The clutch moves when I try to tighten the clutch so I can't get it real tight. Is ther a trick to this? The sound that heard seemed to definitely come from the left side but now I think that it might have clutch rattle. Could the sound of clutch rattle carry through to the other side? I'm not sure if I should replace the starter or put all back together after I figure out how to tighten that nut and hope that the clutch rattle is the problem. I'm lost. Any advice out there?
 
The idle gear does float there and is held in place by the cover and the other gears, so that's normal.

There should be two washers/spacers, one on the inside and one on the outside of the gear as pictured (#3):

Image




A little wear on the starter throw is normal. To remove it you are correct. The two bolts hold it in place and you simply pull it back out.

The Inner clutch hub will spin so you have to make or acquire a tool to hold it in place when you tighten the hub nut, or just use an impact gun.

Link here on the topic: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=129799&highlight=clutch+hub

Also, a good thing to get is a heavy duty hub nut...offered from Ape:

http://gszone.biz/clutches.html

nut.jpg


and other vendors.

If it's loose enough it sure can make a lot of noise, cause vibration and can hamper clutch operation.

Nic
 
Last edited:
Ok, I got everything back together. I tightened up the nut on the clutch side everything else looked great concerning the clutch and I didn't do anything to the stator side. I still have the rattle! while I had the covers off I polished them up nice so Im not too disappointed in having to do all of that work and still have the same problem. I guess my next move is going to be to buy a new stater and hope that the spline on the old one is just worn down soo much that it causing the idle gear to be too loose and rattle. I found one for $175 which seems like a good price although I do not want to spend this money and find out that it's not the problem. any way, can I replace the starter without removing the stator cover? If you have any other suggestions before I order this I would love to hear them. Thanks for your help.
 
The only time the starter or reduction gear move is when you are starting it, they are connected to a one-way clutch on the crankshaft. So, I doubt that is where your rattle is coming from.
I would check your cam chain tensioner, cam chains can rattle quite bad.
 
Ok, it has an automatic cam chain adjuster on it but I went out and loosened the lock nut and tried to turn the set screw clockwise, I couldn't turn it, it was tight on the shaft so I backed it off a 1/4 turn and set the lock nut making sure the set screw stayed in position. I turned the crank over by hand a couple of times and then started it. It still rattles. I did a valve job this spring and took notice the chain seemed good but is there any other way to check that it working properly without removing the tensioner? Can you think of any other possibilities? thanks for your help on this it seems that could be a possibility but the noise progressed so fast I would think you would here something like this progress a little slower if it were chain stretch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top