Subject: Grabby clutch....no....lurching tranny
Author: Ian Adkins
Date: Oct 26, 2003, 5:54 AM
Post ID: 1714997650
Hey all,
Finally a solution to my "grabby clutch". By the way I am no longer going to
call this a clutch problem because Ed and I feel that the problem was in the
tranny. Here are the details and my thoughts on this. I would be interesting
to hear what you think of the logic:
The two problems that I was facing on the white Eldo were a "lurching" as
the clutch was engaged and a "binding" noise that was heard when the bike
was on the center stand and idling in gear. We thought that the sound might
be a bad pinion gear but all was clean and tight in the rear end.
As I have mentioned many a time....the clutch assembly looked good with no
apparant wear in the splines. No metal bits.....no real sign of anything
wrong.
The tranny felt nice and smooth...shifted through all the gears....felt as
though everything was nice and tight. Ed and I decided to pull the back
plate off to have a look inside....just to ok the tranny....we had done
everything else!
As I removed the nut holding the layshaft (one coming out of the
tranny...hooks into the ujoint) I thought something didn't feel right. It
undid very easy and was binding a bit as I backed it off. Weird I thought.
As we pulled the back plate I noticed that the speedo ball was sitting out
from the recess. There was also definate signs of scoring around the nut.
Interestingly the ball bearing was fine. I should have taken pics but I did
not bring the camera...damm!
Well...Ed and I discussed the idea of what would happen if the ball was out
and why there wasn't more damage to everything. We didn't really know until
we put everything back together and were running through the gears before
tightening the nut on the layshaft.
As we were running through the gears we noticed that the layshaft would
shift back as we changed gears. Here is my thought on the binding...the
lurching:
Whomever worked on the tranny.....the either did not put the speedo ball in
the correct recess (there is only one) or it popped out as they tightened
the nut. At any rate as the nut was tightened against the ball bearing and
once the locktab was knocked down then it was set in position....too loose.
So why the "lurch"? Well....as I said earlier...I noticed the layshaft
moving as I shifted through the gears. Well....if the layshaft could not
shift as it was inserted into the ujoint then as I engaged the clutch the
layshaft could slide on the helical gear...essentially "jumping". I am
thinking that this "lurch" was caused by that.....the helical gears sliding
a bit.
As for the binding noise.....I am pretty sure that the ball bearing was the
culprit for that. As to why this did not destroy things? I think the gears
could stay engaged and under normal loads shifted to a position that did not
place undo pressure on the ball bearing. The problem all seemed to be
associated with engaging the clutch.....putting load into the tranny that
would caused this apparant shift in the layshaft.
So....all the gears looked perfect in the tranny.....the ball bearing is
back into its recess...the lock ring is nice and tight. All that is left is
to reinstall the engine and test the bike.
Thoughts?
Will get back to you all as I get into testing....Ian