Subject: RE: bearing damage?
Author: Todd Nordwig
Date: Apr 21, 2005, 6:01 PM
Post ID: 1718742309
Greg,
Thanks for the response. I did what you suggested and found that plunger
was slowly turning with the clutch not engaged and it did stop turning when
engaged. At about 50% of clutch pull, this sound of metals in contact did
occur. I watched the plunger as the sound came and went with various
pressures on the clutch lever. It seems the noise is intermittent with
revving the engine also, but when at idle it is consistent with clutch
engagment. I took the ambo out for a spin and it shifts fine, but I am
concerned about really screwing something up with the transmission. There
seems to be a significant amount of oil weeping from the plunger. Is that
normal? Is my tranny on the brink of failure? With the increased pressure
on the plunger would this indicate a pressure plate failure? This bike is
85% NOS and should be holding up better than this....Any comments or
suggestions would be appreciated.
Todd (newly enrolled in theGuzzi school of hard knocks).......but lovin' it
| From: Greg Bender <gr-@thisoldtractor.com> Reply-To: Loopfram-@topica.com To: Loopfram-@topica.com |
| Hi Todd, With the clutch engaged, you simply want to be sure that the throw-out bearing isn't turning. The easiest way to check is to put the bike on the centerstand, start it up with it in neutral, and look at the rear of the transmission. If the plunger under the lever arm on the back of the transmission is turning, then your bearing is turning, too |
| At the clutch lever, there should be 1/8" (4mm) of freeplay. With that much freeplay, the plunger shouldn't rotate. If it does, then I would suspect some type of snag in the cable itself. As for the noise you are hearing, I would think that the throwout bearing would begin to "whirl" before the clutch is 2/3 dissengaged...but who knows. The good news is that it should be pretty straight forward to check the throwout bearing (just draw it out with a magnet from the rear of the transmision. It could be that you have one of the early ball-type throw-out bearings that had a tendency to fail. The needle-type are much hardier. |
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