Gear box, clutch, Drive shaft or final drive?

[F6Ghostrider VRCC #32501]

Hello fellow Valk riders. First time in, but have read many postings. Here's my issue; I am riding my Dad's 98 Tourer. Dad passed two years ago and I've been riding and caring for his cruiser since March 09. The Dragon has 110K miles, 18K of which are mine. I don't have a record of what Dad's service routine was. I bought 2 new timing belts, but I'm not sure id I need to replace the timing cover seals. Those guys are $20 each. I ride her about 70 miles everyday, 5 days a week when it's not wet. Tuesday night, riding @ 35 mph & about 2 miles into my commute, I heard & felt a metallic clunk. At first, I thought I hit something in the road I didn't see. But then I heard it again within the next 2 miles. Soon afterward, I was on the highway and rolled on the throttle to about 75 mph. Once again, that sound. I slowly backed off to 60 mph & then felt a vibration. I backed off even more. The vibration & sound went away. I cruised @ 55 mph for a few more miles. At 15 miles into my ride, I heard the same clunk, this time with a grinding sound. Like metal gears grinding. No more forward movement except for momentum. It didn't matter shifting up or down. I'm stuck. So it appears I have a complete failure of something other than a loose nut behind the wheel. LOL! Can anyone help with diagnosis that I can do? The dealer told me $400 for a new clutch installed, if that's what it is. That doesn't sound too unreasonable, IF that's what it is. Looking forward to hearing from others with the same love for the Valkyrie.   

[Daniel Meyer]

I don't think it's the clutch...

Sounds like the pinion cup/driveshaft. Not a hard fix. Around $100 for parts.

Pull the rear wheel and the pumpkin off...the pinion cup is where the driveshaft inserts into the rear end...my bet is those splines are gone. You'll need a shaft and pinion cup.

If it's not that, it's probably the u-joint, also not a hard fix...detailed here: http://www.rattlebars.com/mtz/ujoint.html

Could also be the rear wheel splines, easy to check, pull the rear wheel...

But my bet is the pinion cup.

[MP]

+1 on Daniels answer.  Either a pinion cup or u-joint.  Probably the first. 

Not clutch, IMHO

MP

[Valkpilot]

Hello fellow Valk riders. First time in, but have read many postings. Here's my issue; I am riding my Dad's 98 Tourer. Dad passed two years ago and I've been riding and caring for his cruiser since March 09. The Dragon has 110K miles, 18K of which are mine. I don't have a record of what Dad's service routine was. I bought 2 new timing belts, but I'm not sure id I need to replace the timing cover seals. Those guys are $20 each. I ride her about 70 miles everyday, 5 days a week when it's not wet. Tuesday night, riding @ 35 mph & about 2 miles into my commute, I heard & felt a metallic clunk. At first, I thought I hit something in the road I didn't see. But then I heard it again within the next 2 miles. Soon afterward, I was on the highway and rolled on the throttle to about 75 mph. Once again, that sound. I slowly backed off to 60 mph & then felt a vibration. I backed off even more. The vibration & sound went away. I cruised @ 55 mph for a few more miles. At 15 miles into my ride, I heard the same clunk, this time with a grinding sound. Like metal gears grinding. No more forward movement except for momentum. It didn't matter shifting up or down. I'm stuck. So it appears I have a complete failure of something other than a loose nut behind the wheel. LOL! Can anyone help with diagnosis that I can do? The dealer told me $400 for a new clutch installed, if that's what it is. That doesn't sound too unreasonable, IF that's what it is. Looking forward to hearing from others with the same love for the Valkyrie.   

If your dealer went right for the clutch, he doesn't know these bikes.

The most likely culprits are:

• Drive shaft and pinion cup splines
• Drive gear and driven hub splines
• U-joint

All these can be easily evaluated by performing a rear drive train service.  Here are some relevant links:

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/clutchnoise.htm

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/Elusive%203rd%20O-Ring.htm

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/TireChangeSplineLube.htm

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,18257.0.html

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,15167.0.html

[chip]

Sounds like mine ,when as these guys said, pinion cup and drive shaft splines failed. I knew it was the transmission, Jeff K had me check the shaft, and pinion splines. Never so happy to spend 100.00 instead of the steelers estimate for transmission work. 2500.00

[Thunderbolt]

I'm thinking U-joint.  Follow the Rattlebars link for how to remove and check it.

[deadwood]

Pinion cup, but also take a look at the u-joint while you are there.  With the miles on the bike you might as well change it too.

[Jeff K]

My experience has been that even with a complete failure of a ujoint the bike will still move, not quietly, not well, but the yokes still mesh enough to engage.
I've had two u joins go bad. One made so much vibration I stopped riding and fixed it, the other time it gave a short hard vibration and then exploded, but I limped it off of the highway to the next off ramp.
When it grinds and looses all drive it normally points to stripped pinion splines.

Just my opinion. 

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

Sounds just like mine did when the pinion cup stripped  out.  An  easy fix and pretty cheap. HDL has all the parts. Less than 100 bucks.

[Chrisj CMA]

Hello fellow Valk riders. First time in, but have read many postings. Here's my issue; I am riding my Dad's 98 Tourer. Dad passed two years ago and I've been riding and caring for his cruiser since March 09. The Dragon has 110K miles, 18K of which are mine. I don't have a record of what Dad's service routine was. I bought 2 new timing belts, but I'm not sure id I need to replace the timing cover seals. Those guys are $20 each. I ride her about 70 miles everyday, 5 days a week when it's not wet. Tuesday night, riding @ 35 mph & about 2 miles into my commute, I heard & felt a metallic clunk. At first, I thought I hit something in the road I didn't see. But then I heard it again within the next 2 miles. Soon afterward, I was on the highway and rolled on the throttle to about 75 mph. Once again, that sound. I slowly backed off to 60 mph & then felt a vibration. I backed off even more. The vibration & sound went away. I cruised @ 55 mph for a few more miles. At 15 miles into my ride, I heard the same clunk, this time with a grinding sound. Like metal gears grinding. No more forward movement except for momentum. It didn't matter shifting up or down. I'm stuck. So it appears I have a complete failure of something other than a loose nut behind the wheel. LOL! Can anyone help with diagnosis that I can do? The dealer told me $400 for a new clutch installed, if that's what it is. That doesn't sound too unreasonable, IF that's what it is. Looking forward to hearing from others with the same love for the Valkyrie.   

I would think by your great discription U-Joint.  But be prepared for bad news when you take her apart.  The rear end doesnt like to go 18K miles with no lube in there.......good luck

[PapaHotel]

I rode my Valk 1200 miles home on a bad U-joint. I wouldn't do it again, however I have since found out that U-joints are back-ordered till Feb 2011 (mine failed in June....)
  Symptoms for me was the vibration, but also a gutteral rumble when U-joint is not delivering power in a positive or negative mode.

[deadwood]

So what did you find out?