hey all,

so lately i've been getting a nasty rattle coming from the general motor region. I don't suspect CCT's as i'm not getting that marble in a paint can sound. The closest thing i can liken it to is shaking a jenga block around a plastic beach pale. the noise gets worse as the bike warms up and mainly appears when i'm easing out the clutch and getting underway in 1st gear. You can hear it a bit in the 1st to 2nd shift as well but after that...it goes away.

My bike has about 23 or 24k on it...would it be an anomoly if it was the clutch starting to poop the bed?

Could using the wrong oil contribute to this? i've read that using normal automotive oil can cause slippage problems as moto and auto oils have different friction properties. Now that i think back i may have used non moto specific stuff last fall. It has moto specific in it now. If this is the issue is there a way to get the friction plates clean?

could it possible be weak or dying springs?

any help is much appreciated gents.

 

Bueller...?

 

Well oil is oil just so long as it doesn't have "friction modifiers" (extra long chain hydrocarbons) that can gum up motorcycle clutches. And if you didn't have problems back then, it's unlikely they'd show up after you switched back to "motorcycle" oil.

It might still be ccts, the marble sound is after it fails and the your head is destroyed.. But really I have not had the sounds you describe.. I did have a fair bit of noise prior to replacing my ccts with apes, it was a mild metallic slap noise that would go away as the engine heated up. Once the apes were on there that sound was gone.

 

if it was CCT's wouldnt i be hearing that rattle when revving in neutral or on decel?

 

You would think so.. Perhaps you have a broken clutch disk or something? (there are 10 of them) I don't know how much work it is to dig into that, and I don't know how to find out other than opening it up and looking. Hopefully someone else has more ideas for you.

 

Sounds like a Clutch needle bearing.

 

thanks for the ideas guys. I'm going to rip into the clutch next time i change the oil.

Will i be risking any serious damage if i keep ride it for another week or so without correcting it?

do you need to pull the clutch basket to get to the needle bearings?

 

I get a little clutch 'chatter' when and if I go hard on acceleration off the line, but that's the only time. I've wondered about this noise myself, though I don't know if it's the same as what you've got. (Sorry, not much help ... looking for some discussion here.)

 

Mine makes a strange sound also when under heavy acceleration from a dead stop. I don't think this is all too uncommon. I seem to remember reading a thread about this a while back. I agree this may not be the same issue as the one you have but I would do a search just to see if there are any similarities.

 

Welcome to the world of big twins with big carbs...... The sound you describe is the carbs slides opening and closing...... two big plastic blocks sliding back and forth..... nothing to worry about my friend.....

Cheers,
Mike

 

Oh and before you rip into the clutch, I have over 70k on the stock clutch with no problems at all so far......

 

if you are going to crack into the clutch, make sure you have a new gasket prior to opening

 

If it aint broke, dont fix it ...

(stethescope and a healthy ear saves $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$)

 

Here is a wacky prospect but could it be a failing chain? I have had riders describe this exact scenario to find the chain makes clinking noises off the bottom but beyond that its drowned out by engine noise ( & already under load). I actually had a guy who had chain & sprockets so worn that when you gave it gas in gear the chain would skip over the sprocket teeth & made a horrible noise. I noticed this while test riding the bike for a friend. He bought the bike for $1800 under book value due to the noise & it was all fixed with chain & sprockets. Long story but true