Vibrations already on idle

[drifter-paul]

Plus these dampener rubbers that hold the two rods for the engine to frame mounts are ONLY lightly tensioned (18 ft/lbs from memory) . The exhausts connect to the engine , the engine mounts are housed in (hidden - not obvious) rubber sleeves and the arse end of the exhaust SHOULD connect via rubber mounts to the frame.

[Troll]

Troll:  Which 'rubber mounts inside the tubes' are you referring to?

The tubes have rubber bushings inside them.    https://www.partzilla.com/product/kawasaki/92075-1739?ref=705ccb19e3ce3c8a61eed3108f7a00b3a171c291

[chief]

This is a rubber mounted motor, rubber can degrade over time. Look at the motor mounts. V-twins in general vibrate. My 77 harley vibrated so much I couldn't use the side mirrors.

Honestly, just looking at the video, it is hard to tell if the vibration is excessive or not. If you can look at another one someplace it might help you. Even an early Vulcan could give you an idea.

[Bucko]

I replaced the rubber mounts inside the tubes on mine about 12,000 miles ago. Made a tremendous difference. The were just completely worn out after 125,000 miles. As far as the headlight goes, it's on a steel tongue that it will vibrate at times.

Troll:  Which 'rubber mounts inside the tubes' are you referring to?

[misiek735]

As I mentioned in my previous posts, the clutch came back from the company, it was entirely rebuild. I also changed the timing chain, setup the timing chain properly (moving the crank counterclockwise ~305° between the front and rear cylinder), I double checked the balancer and assembly the entire motorcycle since the engine needed to be removed from the frame to do this job.

The motorcycle is shaking in the same way as in the videos that I posted, there is no improvement. I run out of ideas what else to do...

I will try to meet some other owner of vn1500 and kindly ask to see how their motorcycle is running. If someone's vn1500 vibrates the same as mine, well... it seems that it is normal and in my opinion slightly disappointing behaviour...

[Troll]

I replaced the rubber mounts inside the tubes on mine about 12,000 miles ago. Made a tremendous difference. The were just completely worn out after 125,000 miles. As far as the headlight goes, it's on a steel tongue that it will vibrate at times.

[misiek735]

Hello!

I bought a 1999 Drifter 1500. Unfortunately I experience huge vibrations in the front headlight, handlebar, mirrors, windshield and registration plate holder. The vibrations are happening not during driving, they are already noticeable while the engine works in idle. Please watch the video in the highest resolution with the highest fps setting:

1st video:

https://youtu.be/-rmA-ASH2bY

2nd video, higher stable rpm:

https://youtu.be/apvuN9-3UpI

- The engine fluids and the driveshaft fluids as well as the filters has been replaced.
- The sparkplugs has been replaced.
- The engine mount dumper and the bolts are ok, tightened to the correct torque.
- I checked if the mark on the gear balancer (16085-1286) is "in line" with the rotor (21007-1354)- that's on the left side of the engine (generator).
- The nuts of the rear suspension and the exhaust are tightened to the correct torque.
- The bearings of the front fork are ok.
- The compression on the front and rear cylinders are the same.

The next thing which I want to do (and I hope it will solve this issue), is to ship the entire clutch (including the housing comp clutch, plates, needle bearing (92046-1175) etc.) to a specialized company which regenerates clutches. They can decide if some elements of the clutch are necessary to replace and they own some special machine which checks if the clutch is well balanced. Just to let you know, the clutch is making more noise when the clutch lever is not squeezed. When I squeeze it then it's more quiet - I checked the direction of the sound with the stethoscope. The clutch itself works perfectly ok while driving the motorcycle, but I noticed that the 2nd and the 3rd gear likes to do some rattling noise while engaging, as well as those gears does not engage as easy as 4th or 5th gear.

Apart from all this stuffs that I checked, I have no idea what else could cause the vibration issue. I also plan to take a look at the timing chain, because I can see that the camshaft chain tensioner has only 3 "teeth" left to be fully extended. I did not check if the timing chain itself is properly mounted to its signs, I guess it is because the engine works...

At the time of writing this post, I also own Drifter 800 from 1999. There are no vibrations at all, driving this motorcycle during the last 8 years was and still is a pleasure.

I cannot believe, that Drifter 1500 vibrates so much, that after 1h of driving I don't feel my hands. On the 5th gear at 80 km/h I cannot see anything in the mirrors - not even mentioning the headlight visibility in the nights...

Any suggestion will be highly appreciated.