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Bleed the Clutch

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Old Apr 17, 2008 | 04:19 PM
  #1  
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Bleed the Clutch

Ok...

So I'm riding to the office, bike's runnin' great, clutch is fine...
I get to the office, and I turn it off... (again, everything's fine...)
I come back out, about 15 mins later... She started right up, no problems..

THEN, I click first gear, and let out my clutch...
NOTHING... I did about 5 mph @ like 6k RPM's.
It did this for about 5 mins, then worked normal again.
The next day, in the morning, it was fine... rode all day, fine...
Got back to my house, went to leave...and BOOM..doin' it again...
5 mins go by, and it's fine again...
Then it did it again today... So that's three times in three days.

My question is, could this be just a "bleed" problem? I cleaned out the clutch fluid tub on the handle bar, then bled the clutch... Did I not bleed it enough??
IF the clutch is "going", and it's just worn out.. Would it keep "re-working" fine?
HELP, please..

I'm not sure what to do, and I can't afford weekly trips to the mechanic. I was hoping someone could steer me in the right direction... And if it may only be a bleed problem.. How do I go about it on the VTR ?

Thanks in advance,
~Mike
Old Apr 17, 2008 | 07:03 PM
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sounds like your clutch pushrod might be dirty. take off your sprocket cover and check it out.
Old Apr 17, 2008 | 07:44 PM
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Sounds like you have a bit of air still trapped in the clutch line. Just bleed the hell out of it and it should be fine.
Old Apr 17, 2008 | 07:54 PM
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Originally Posted by dakmatik
sounds like your clutch pushrod might be dirty. take off your sprocket cover and check it out.

Sounds dead on what the issue is, Air in the line would not casue the clutch to disengage and slip.

Air in the line would cause you to have issues getting the clutch to disengage allowiing you to change a gear.

By default the clutch springs keep the clutch pack tight and ready to roll. The clutch master cylinder/slave cylinder push a rod thru the engine and disengae the clutch pack allowing you to disengae the tranny from the crank.

The rod has got to be hanging up.
Old Apr 17, 2008 | 08:01 PM
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It could be a bleed problem but it could also point to an air leak in the system. I fought the same thing with my clutch. On and then off or not quite but on a Superhawk the last thing you need is a soft engage.

TxSC found all the parts and not the over-priced kit someplace on line and installed the parts for me. The clutch action smoothed out but the point of engagement is little changed.

The lock is very solid and I have no doubt from what other riders wrote when I started to have my problems that the point of engagement for the Superhawk is "out there."

More than likely your clutch is fine. You just need to clean up the hydraulics before you start throwing parts into the bin.
Old Apr 18, 2008 | 03:46 AM
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It could be a bleeding issue but I don't think so. If you have air in the line most of the time you would not be able to get the clutch to disengage. Sound like either the push rod is haging up or your clutch basket is worn and now has groves in it. How Many miles on the bike?
Old Apr 18, 2008 | 12:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Thumper
Sounds dead on what the issue is, Air in the line would not casue the clutch to disengage and slip.
Well I thought that myself until it happened to me. I had a bit of air in the system when a bleeder didn't seat completely and it did the exact same thing. Pulled the bleeder and cleaned it, re bleed the system and the problem was gone.
So unless you have had the problem you might not want to be so definite with your answers.
Old Apr 18, 2008 | 02:22 PM
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The rod on mine was hanging. When I would bleed the slave it would release and every thing was great. Over time the problem would reappear. TXSC rebuilt both the slave and the master for about $30 in parts for each unit. Wasn't difficult - just got to get all the little parts back in the right spot. What a difference. Like I said it feels new again. I will be talking to Erik this weekend so I will find out where he found the individual parts. I may still have the list in my PM's. I will try to get the source from him.
Old Apr 21, 2008 | 11:32 AM
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Guys, THANK YOU for the help. I haven't checked in before today because I've been pretty busy with work, and my spare time is usually spent on my baby (my hawk).

I'm printing this page to show my mechanic, because I've found every post in this thread to be helpful to me.

Here's my clutch update:
I heard that if it needed bled, it would stall, as compared to it not engaging. In my case, I can let the clutch lever all the way out, and my bike sits still (sometimes it will move very slow). If I ride it for a few mins, it will be ok enough for me to ride it, and not get creamed every time I start (from a stop sign or red light).. Even once it feels completely engaged, it grabs very far. Almost like even though I'm moving, and not slipping, my clutch isn't grabbing as soon as it should.

After my mechanic looked at it, he could feel from pulling the lever there was no return pressure. He figured a piece of debris or something was keeping it from working correctly, so we flushed the system completely and refilled. After that, it worked like brand new. And for the first time in a week, worked brand new continuously. No matter where I stopped, or for how long, it was great all weekend. No problems.

This morning, on the way to work it worked great. Even worked fantastic on the way back!
THEN... It sat for about 15 maybe 20 mins, and it did it again. SAME thing, and three days later. There's no return pressure, and that clutch feels like it's grabbing wayyyy to late again. Although if I didn't know the bike, I wouldn't know it was grabbing late...BUT you don't even need to own a bike to see something is wrong when the clutch is out and you're not moving LOL.

Well, I guess my next venture will be to take the casing apart and get to cleaning it. I'm still really confused because it works fine, then works crappy..works fine, then crappy... Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to figure out what it is
Old Apr 21, 2008 | 11:40 AM
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Oh, just saw that one too... The bike has 16k miles on it
Old Apr 22, 2008 | 06:05 PM
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I did ride with TxSuperChicken this weekend and he told me the parts to rebuild the master and the slave came from Ron Ayers. One is a rebuild kit and the other is loose parts. About $30 for both units. It has made a huge difference in the operation of the clutch and the problem has not recurred. Good luck! Just take everything apart and clean everything and reassemble with the new parts.
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