More clutch questions

[dpcarson]

OK, so clutch issues on an old bike I bought to fix up (2000 tourer 78k miles)).  When I got it, clutch shifted through upper gears well but had those tell tale signs of damper plate frag out.  Rebuilt master cylinder and slave before tearing into clutch just eliminating easy fixes first before pulling clutch, so all of that has been done.  Pulled clutch and of course damper was fragged out.  I had another wrecked bike I had that I parted out.  It ran ok as far as drive train.  Pulled the clutch out of that (97 tourer 27k miles).  replaced the fragged clutch with the good clutch.  Re-assembled.  System bled.  Clutch does feel to fully disengage.  No pull when clutch is in and when bike is off but in gear, you can disengage the clutch and bike rolls freely without feeling any grabbing.  Thought we had success, but....

Oil in (rotella t4 10w-30) and fired it up and ready to take a test run.  Clutch in and then start to shift into gear and grinds going into first and does the same shifting into second.  Goes into 3 through 5 fine and downshifts fine.  At idle I disengage clutch and hold it for 30 seconds and then try to go into first, same issue.  grinding going into 1st.  Turn it off.  Put in gear and pull clutch and bikes rolls fine with no resistance.  What do I start on next, or what did I miss re-assembling?

[h13man]

The little port with the cover over it in the bottom of the MC may need extra cleaning etc. Particles do get in there and screw things up.

[semo97]

why 15/30 oil doesn't that have friction modifiers in it? Most use T6 5/40 no modifiers

[John Schmidt]

I'd suspect that port only if there were issues shifting in all the gears. There apparently isn't. Question: does your bike have a heel/toe shifter? They have been known to cause shifting problems in the lower end due to excess wear in the shifting forks. The excess wear apparently comes from the extra pressure of slamming gears into place with the HT shifter, pressure not realized with the stock shifter arm. In any case whether from a HT shifter or not, it sounds as though you may have some worn forks internally which would require splitting the case to replace/repair. Hope not for your sake! Keep us posted on what you find.

Re. the HT shifter, I heard of a Wing owner in Florida that had bought the extended warranty and had a HT that eventually caused problems. Before taking it to the dealer for repair, he reinstalled the OEM shifter arm to cover up the fact he had been using a HT...but to no avail. When the shop tore the motor down, they denied the warrantly repair. Apparently the wear patteren on the shifter forks are specific to the HT device and the shop manager recognized it from experience with other bikes. I realize many have used a HT for years with no ill effects, myself included. I'm merely passing along information, nothing more.

[dpcarson]

Not 15/40 oil.  10w-30 Rotella. 

The transmission shifted fine with the old clutch with the busted damper plate.  No shifting problems at all.  So I would not suspect forks at this point.  No heel toe shifter.  OEM shifter.

[John Schmidt]

Not 15/40 oil.  10w-30 Rotella. 

The transmission shifted fine with the old clutch with the busted damper plate.  No shifting problems at all.  So I would not suspect forks at this point.  No heel toe shifter.  OEM shifter.

Good!   

[Highbinder]

If you don't have pressure on the lever, it sounds like you still have air in the line. the lever should have tension on it all the time when operating correctly.

[rug_burn]

I remember there was something about a little mark on the clutch damper plate that had to be lined up with the mark on the clutch 'cage'.   That might be worth checking... but the memory of that is a little foggy...