Clutch

About how many miles do the clutch plates last on average?
What are some signs of them wearing?
I have had and issue where I have had problems going over 70-75 mph. I think I can smell the clutch but I'm not sure. Could this be a sign of the clutch plates starting to wear? Can I adjust the cable? I'm shifting through the gears okay.

I have 32k on her mostly freeway miles.

 

about 32K

shift to 2 or 3 hard and the motor goes faster than the bike, until you let off the gas a little then it hooks up

i doubt you smell the clutch, especially going 70
a lot of slipping is from sacked out springs, they loose tension over the years
as long as your in there change out the whole shebang

 

Isn't there just a clutch replacement kit?

 

there may be, check with "chacal" the parts man. most likely all you'll want is friction plates and clutch springs the other parts, the steel plates, don't usually go bad

 

Thanks, but does this soud like a clutch issue?

 

well you started down the clutch road so thats where we went
now if we forget the clutch altogether i'am going to ask
stock air filters and exhaust ?
inline fuel filter ?
did you ever take the petcock out of the tank, for a little cleaning ?
my first guess is it's starving for gas at a prolonged 70 mph
and what you smell when you stop is a lean hot motor
that make any sense ?

 

I was just asking if this sounds like a symptom of a clutch starting to wear out. My manual doesn't really specify when to check or replace. With over 30 k I just want to make sure I keep up on all of my maintenance. If this is not a sign of clutch wear then what direction to start looking.
Thanks

 

To me if it was a clutch issue I think that you would have noticed the engine reving up higher then the speed of the bike (basically a bad clutch will disengage/slip under heavy load; just imagine what the engine would act like if you were accelerating hard and without letting off the gas you pulled in the clutch to disengage it).

I would personally say that you should start with a general tune up on the bike which would be:
-Check the valve shim clearances (correct if any are out of spec)
-Clean the carbs (search 'clunk test' and 'church of clean')
-Inspect/rebuild petcock
-Resyncronize the carbs once clean
-Ride the bike and check the spark plugs for correct mixture
-Correct mixture if nessecary
-Add an inline filter (the 90 deg kind works the best).
-Smell the oil for gas and trouble shoot if the oil smells like gasonline.


While your at it you should go over the brake system (search 'rear brake pad delamination').

 

Most of this has been done before I got the bike. I have never done the valves (don't have the tools) I already have a filter in place. I'll check the oil for gas smells.
Thanks

 

To check the valve shims all you need is a $5 set of feeler gauges and the standard (I think it is 5mm) allen key. Also to replace any shim all you need is a zip tie and 2 fine flat head screw drives, so I would say that you can definitly do the check yourself. I personally would not trust that the carbs are properly cleaned given the behaviour of the bike. I would also highly recommened that you take the time (maybe around 20minutes) to inspect the brakes because if they are sticking on it can really kill your bikes power.

You should also do a compression check on the cylinders as it might help you locate your problem.

Also you may want to just quickly check the inline filter to insure that it is not clogged.

 

Check your brakes, if you are smelling something your brakes could be hanging up. Brakes will get warm under normal riding but should not get smoking hot.

 

Thanks I'll check this.

 

The PO removed the baffles from the exhaust pipe. The way he did this he removed the cap from the end than remove the baffles than he just replaced the cap and put one bolt to hold it in place. I found the cap has cracked around the bolt and was starting to work its way out of the pipe. Could this cause the bike to stall by effecting the carbs?

 

Yeah, and if that little bleed of hole in the master cylinder is plugged as they get hotter they build up pressure and grab even tighter. Slow the bike down and make a stink.