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Clutch went out!

Step Four:

Remove the right crankcase cover:

First take a rubber mallet and hit the crankcase cover around the edges of the cover, remove the oil dip stick, put the small end of your ratchet into the dip stick hole and pry outward slowly as to not damage anything. The right crankcase cover will pop lose. Remove the two bolts on the inside of the right side case that hold the sensor unit. Remove the right crankcase out of your way for now.

010.jpg

011.jpg
 
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I bet if I took that cover off, I could find the broken timing chain tensioner spring in my engine. Ain't gonna happen! I've put 3,000 miles on it since I changed the tensioner (with no problems)

Thanks for this thread OCR!
 
Always interested to see pics of things taken apart. Thanks OCR. One thing I noticed was that you changed the oil the day before the clutch died. Do you feel that those two events are related? Did you use a different oil or anything that time? Hopefully this won't derail the thread into a BITOG petroleum vs. synthetic crapfest.
 
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Lou Wambsganss said:
Always interested to see pics of things taken apart. Thanks OCR. One thing I noticed was that you changed the oil the day before the clutch died. Do you feel that those two events are related? Did you use a different oil or anything that time? Hopefully this won't derail the thread into a BITOG pretoleum vs. synthetic crapfest.
Click to expand...

Lou Wambsganss is 100% on the money. The synthetic motorcycle oil I had been using of late completely blued and glazed my clutch plates.

New clutch plate next to the glazed blue plate. Very little wear on the plates, the plates are just glazed.

012.jpg

I knew better than to use the synthetic oil, but let someone I have known for years talk me into trying the new synthetic. As an old dealer I have seen this so many times, but I let someone I know well tell me how much better the new motorcycle synthetic is. Like always with the synthetic oil, about 50,000 an the clutch plates are gone, glazed and blued.
 
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There are lots of good synthetic motorcycle oils. It wasn't ruined because it was synthetic unless it wasn't labeled for MC use. (No friction modifiers)
 
Oh great. A discussion on the clutch is becoming an oil thread! :).

Anyone ever heard the phrase 'Post hoc ergo propter hoc'? It means 'after, therefore because of'. It is the way the human brain works. We think: It did happen after the oil change. Yet on the other hand, the bike did have - I think- well over 50,000 miles. On the other hand, - I'm guessing - they were a lot of 'highway' miles and OCR is an experienced rider. And so on. There are more hands but I'll stop there.

I think we need to be scientific and repeat the experiment. Who wants to put that oil in their bike? :)
 
General clutch discussion.........not a diagnosis of this worn clutch on OCRbike.

The typical signs the clutch is starting to leave :

1. slipping is first noticed in higher gears 5-6 with roll on the throttle. High load up hill makes it more noticeable.

2. More frequent need to adjust clutch cable free play.

3. Clutch engagement point changing. (can ne related to the free play changing)

As mentioned by others ......one worn clutch does not make a trend or a standard.
History of other mid size Honda's bikes usually get 75,000 to 100,000 miles as the norm. Use and user being the wide card.

"Riding the clutch" can cause premature wear.
Sticking clutch cable cause lack of full engagement. ( Rusty cable) even with the lined cable)
Riding with no clutch cable free play causes lack of full engagement. As far mods that could cause no clutch free play 1. handle bar risers ( changing the effective cablelength) and 2. bark busters (changing the routing). 3. Adding excessive weight and wind resistance will add to the bikes load both starting and cruising.

I have seen several worn clutches at 3-5000 miles and each was caused by excessive slipping of the clutch on starting out. The 3000 mile failure was caused by consistent starting in second gear from a start by a novice rider.

If this becomes an oil thread it is not the one last oil change that is the cause........BUT the oil used over the entire clutch life. ( I am not in that camp)
 
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As long as the oil used meets the manufacturer's specification for viscosity and additives, then it shouldn't affect anything, synthetic or not. To me blue means heat, I would argue the clutch was designed for a very low cost budget friendly city commuter bike, not one to be loaded down with gear and boxes like I and a lot of us do, so perhaps it needs to be upgraded to increase longevity and handle the abuse.
 
Old Can Ride said:
Lou Wambsganss is 100% on the money. The synthetic motorcycle oil I had been using of late completely blued and glazed my clutch plates.

New clutch plate next to the glazed blue plate. Very little wear on the plates, the plates are just glazed.

View attachment 21337

I knew better than to use the synthetic oil, but let someone I have known for years talk me into trying the new synthetic. As an old dealer I have seen this so many times, but I let someone I know well tell me how much better the new motorcycle synthetic is. Like always with the synthetic oil, about 50,000 an the clutch plates are gone, glazed and blued.
Click to expand...

Just curious. Did you mic the plates to see if they are worn past the service spec? If they aren't worn, the oil may be too slippery. I've seen it happen.
 
One other consideration. I don't know what the reccommended weight/carry of the NC is but I'm pretty sure with a loaded for bear bike and OCR on it, his NC was at the limit.
With the amount of "loaded for bear" trips he takes, I think the clutch did well.
 
itlives said:
One other consideration. I don't know what the reccommended weight/carry of the NC is but I'm pretty sure with a loaded for bear bike and OCR on it, his NC was at the limit.
With the amount of "loaded for bear" trips he takes, I think the clutch did well.
Click to expand...

Weight limit for cargo, farkles, rider, etc. is ~460 lbs. As for how much weight OCR puts on the bike I can not say for certain (though as I understand it he is often out of gas so that would make the bike a few pounds lighter...)

I have the 10w-30 version of the oil OCR is using in my bike right now... I guess I'll let you guys know in a few years when I hit 50k miles if my clutch failed in the same way.

Also if the standard NC gets ~50k miles on a clutch, assuming that OCR didn't burn his clutch up with oil, popping wheelies, trying to push start the bike, or by pouring sugar in the oil port (that is the kind of glaze we are talking about right?) does that mean a DCT will get ~100k miles?

Suppose only time will give the answers to these questions...
 
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