99 valk trike

[cmawest]

i have a 99 valk standard that i bought 10 years ago with 1400 miles on it. by the time i decided to trike it, it still only had around 20K on it, runs perfect, and today has 58K on it, i'm starting to get some grinding, (clattering) when shifting down from 2cd to 1st, even at 5 MPH. no grinding in any other gear, up or down. i have used shell blue bottle 5W40 synthetic since i bought it. the bike has never given me any trouble and still crosses country just fine, but this gear grinding is bothering me, anyone know what's up with it ? i also have a 98 tourer that's not triked that has none of the problems, but its only got 25K on the odometer.

[John Schmidt]

I know it will thicken as it warms up, but I still feel the 5w40 is a bit thin. Might check the clutch hydraulics for leaks possibly inside the clutch servo itself, you might be losing pressure somewhere along the line. Go through the entire system, the master cylinder may also be beginning to show signs of age and needs a rebuild. Don't look at the miles, look at the years since last it was checked/rebuilt.

[The emperor has no clothes]

A shifter buddy might help.

[Pluggy]

Good shifting requires full clutch disengagement.  When is the last time the clutch fluid was changed?  A Honda can turn DOT4 fluid into non-functional Jello in a few years.  Honda says change the fluid ever two years.  That's a good first step.

[cmawest]

thats all good advice, but why only from 2cd to 1st and no where else. all other shifts up or down just click right in. i just tried changing the oil to 15W45, no change

[Pluggy]

thats all good advice, but why only from 2cd to 1st and no where else. all other shifts up or down just click right in. i just tried changing the oil to 15W45, no change

2nd to 1st?  Not sure, but on any Valkyrie that shift makes a real "clunk".  It reads like the clutch is semi-engaged.  Changing that fluid is cheap, easy and would eliminate one possibility.

[Dusty]

My issues are here. Sounds similar. I have not found a solution yet. Plan to look into it over the winter.

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,126056.0.html

Dusty

[Jims99]

Personally I have never liked the synthetic oil on any bike with a wet clutch. I know some people have had luck with it. I would check into changing oil and see if that helps, may take 500-1000 miles to work the old out of the clutch. This is just my personal experience with synthetic. Others may have had better luck.

[Jess from VA]

Maybe a longshotbut is your clutch bushing in the lever still good?  

From our Shoptalk, and likely OLD (re prices).  

 Clutch lever bushing

The Honda part Number 2285-MBO-006 is $10

The Suzuki part number 59892-08A00 is $3 and exactly the same part.

https://www.partzilla.com/product/honda/22885-MB0-006?gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs8qK-_mTgQMVV-_ICh0b7gEnEAQYAiABEgJU-vD_BwE

[cmawest]

went to valkyrie school this morning, spent a bit of time with Tony Jones down in grand jct. CO. tony is a retired honda tech from phoenix, az, over 30 years.

did you know that the valkyrie trans does not use helical gears (tapered) but  old fashion square gears, and operated flawlessly without synchros. tony has never had to overhaul a valkyrie transmission, a lot of folks have found ways to trash valk. clutches but Tony don't know how. basicaly it sounds like you could pin targets to it and the bullets would bounce off while it was leaping tall buildings in a single bound. in tonys opinion there is no such thing as a stronger trans. he felt the grinding was probably some crud in the master cyl, or in the slave cyl. recomended i flush the entire system a couple times and refill and bleed. worked like  a charm, a small gob of what looked like birdshit came out of the slave cyl onto my bleeder bottle and viola ! no more problem. damn i like these bikes. and by the way, plain old car sythetics don't really do well with a wet clutch, but shell rottela 5W40 works like a charm and quiets the john deer transmission, :-)