16500 miles and the clutch is slipping.WTF .

Mine is booked in later this month for clutch replacement under warranty. 2010 and 21k. I hope I can get some pictures and info when they do it.


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I don't doubt what you are saying (clutch slipping at 21 kmiles, clutch plate found worn). However, that does not seem to be consistent with the experience of very many others with these clutches.
These clutches can obviously start slipping if contaminated with oil. That might happen independently of how worn the clutch parts are. Yours had not been contaminated as you say.

That said, I would believe that there is at least one of the following possible reasons involved:
- The clutch operational mechanism is/was somehow faulty (maybe only during a part of your 21 kmiles), could be just the clutch lever touching the hand guard.
- You might have a habit of letting the clutch slip a lot.
 
I see more than a few bikes with worn out clutches at under 30k miles and as low as 18k miles. If they're used for commuting in heavy traffic and the rider feathers the clutch or rides the clutch the majority of time it'll wear out. It's a single plate dry clutch, Just use it as a switch to change gear and not to adjust speed/progress in heavy traffic.
 
I see more than a few bikes with worn out clutches at under 30k miles and as low as 18k miles. If they're used for commuting in heavy traffic and the rider feathers the clutch or rides the clutch the majority of time it'll wear out. It's a single plate dry clutch, Just use it as a switch to change gear and not to adjust speed/progress in heavy traffic.

I find the clutch action is usually no problem though a lighter action would be welcome. However it gets very tiring in traffic jams. Riding into the centre of London a few years ago became a miserable experience as my hand strength crumbled.
The high bottom gear adds to the problem as very low speeds need a lot of clutch. But the engine will chug nicely at those speeds there is no need for lots of revs to avoid stalling. At 50K my clutch was about 1/2 worn. It now has 73K with no signs of trouble.
 
My 2005 would slip if I had been using it in very slow traffic where things got pretty hot.
Replacement is not easy , basically cutting the bike in half to get to clutch. I left it to Barrie Robson in York and was relieved of around 700 beer tokens.
Clutch wasn't worn but one of the seals had leaked and contaminated the plate - have all the shaft seals replaced while you're in there, cheap prevention.
I guess I had done similar miles to you at the time, using a lighter oil possibly contributed to it getting past the seals
 
Question re seals - you would change the rear crankshaft seal but would you change the gearbox seals?
 
Question re seals - you would change the rear crankshaft seal but would you change the gearbox seals?

I wouldn't change any if they're not leaking...

I've found the seal that seems to leak the most is the balance shaft seal.
 
As per my recent thread, my 2010 TC had a clutch slip problem at 5,500 miles.

It was fixed under warranty, but not sure whether it was a replacement clutch (hope so) or oil seal fixed and plates cleaned.

Anyhow the bike has now down over 150,000 miles.

So that's either 150,000 on the original clutch or 145,000 on a new one :) - they can last

Mostly motorway use and of course a sympathetic rider.....
 
The gearbox has a seal on final drive shaft but aren’t the others using grease filled bearings?
All six gearbox bearings are standard “2rs “ style sealed bearings
The front of the input shaft has a lipped seal,and another on the rear of the input shaft ,where the clutch slave sits,
If this seal leaks the action of the clutch cylinder can push the oil down the centre of the input shaft,where the clutch push rod resides,and can then contaminate the friction plate,it will only take a small amount to cause slip.
The clutch slave cyl needs to come off for a looksee,it will be fairly obvious if the seal here has leaked.
The engine balance shaft is also prone to weeping,however some bikes can run around for ages without plate contamination.
 
Just fixed a leak on the bleed nipple and banjo on the slave cylinder and while I was there took the slave off to check inside.
Sorry for the dumb question Mike but do you need to withdraw the push rod fully or is it obvious without removing it?
The inside of the slave was very clean as was the rear of the housing where the rod entered and there was no obvious trace of oil there just a bit of moly left but as I said I didn't remove the push rod as the shock would have had to be dropped.
Thanks in advance.
Paul
 
Just fixed a leak on the bleed nipple and banjo on the slave cylinder and while I was there took the slave off to check inside.
Sorry for the dumb question Mike but do you need to withdraw the push rod fully or is it obvious without removing it?
The inside of the slave was very clean as was the rear of the housing where the rod entered and there was no obvious trace of oil there just a bit of moly left but as I said I didn't remove the push rod as the shock would have had to be dropped.
Thanks in advance.
Paul
If either the slave or rear input shaft seal had leaked it would be obvious,fluid would dribble out on removal of the slave.
You would be able to determine what it is by the smell,,gear oil stinks
 
I had a leak from the clutch slave bleed nipple. It dropped into the rear swing arm but really wasn’t obvious. Discovered because I got oil on the back of my hand when taking off the slave.
I also had fine bubbles escaping from the master cylinder when bleeding the system. It needed gentle lever movement to fully clear the fluid.
BUT my issue was dragging clutch not slipping. It’s since done another 25K with no problems though I still don’t like the clutch action.
 
A trip 2 Specsavers for you Dave....:rob

:blast

No, I don't need glasses, you see, when my mother said don't do that it will make you go blind I stopped it
and thus have not gone blind or wear glasses. (yet!!).:augie:augie
 
I wonder how the op is getting on with his as he's not come back to reply,
 
It’s not as hard to change as you might expect. The rear frame hinges up on the top mounts complete with air box. Swing arm (IIRC) has to come off but gives chance to change/grease it’s bearings.
Gearbox unbolts from engine and there’s the clutch in all its glory.
My gearbox was jammed solid to the top LHS dowel. Tapping the box to M12 and using a turned down bolt jacked it off the engine without damage.
Check out how many there are on eBay with broken mounting lugs.
 


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