Drifter clutch

[53Indian]

And if it's leaking fluid on the garage floor as mine was it's most likely the small rubber seal on the clutch push rod.
A cheap and easy fix! 

[capnconch]

Wow I haven't been on forum for a good while, how the posts have slowed down!
Anyway just thought of a problem I had on my '04 after leaving it in the garage during a long winter.
Come spring I was eager to ride again but my clutch wouldn't engage, no lever pressure. I changed the oil but no go. warmed up in neutral and then let it set a day..no go. I shopped for new clutch parts and was ready to go that route. So as a last ditch effort I started it up warmed it up in neutral then while in neutral I rolled it down a slight hill and at about 4-5 mph hit the shifter into either 1st or 2nd gear (I disremember)and took off down the street. Did a few low rpm non clutch shifts worked the clutch lever and rode it a bit then viola! clutch lever pressure returned and shifting came back to normal. I was a very happy fella. Don't let those clutch plates set and stick together.

One other thing, I parked it for the winter with the old oil in it...Not good!
change oil, ride it a few miles at end of riding season and then store bike. This probably won't occur again.

[Bucko]

I've done mine 3 times so far, about every 20,000 miles I have to replace the Clutch Spring, I've got 66,000 carefree miles on my 1500 99 Drifter. There's very detailed writeups of how to do it.

The updated two-piece spring holder (mentioned in Chief's post) fixes the original spring wear problem (spring shouldn't need to be replaced again).

[Rlato]

I just purchased a 99 1500 Drifter, #126 with 34,000 miles. It is slipping when I accelerate in all gears. Could it be the wrong oil or is the clutch bad? Any ideas?

You need a New Clutch Spring, it's about a 2 hour job if you do it yourself. I've done mine 3 times so far, about every 20,000 miles I have to replace the Clutch Spring, I've got 66,000 carefree miles on my 1500 99 Drifter. There's very detailed writeups of how to do it.

[Tim]

A quick thing you should also try is to open the clutch reservoir on the handlebars and gently pull the clutch lever. There is a really tiny hole for the fluid return that gets clogged with crud.
Guitar string, one bristle from a wire brush, paperclip all work to ream it out. It should shoot when you pull the lever - if not it's clogged.
I just did mine for the second time - huge improvement.

[chief]

Do you know if the clutch springs and holders have been upgraded from originals?  Kaw originally shipped our bikes with a single holder and a weak clutch spring which caused slipping pretty quickly.  The link below is for that mod. Using the current batch of holders and spring works well. Did mine about 2005... no problems since.

Have you changed the oil using only recommended oils?  Any oil with friction modifiers will cause problems for Drifters.

Here's some history and mod on how to do it.

https://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/clutchspringreplacement.html

[OR Seedman]

Have you changed the oil yet?  could be old oil or bad friction plates...or a combination of both.  I would try an oil change first if you haven't done so already.  If it still does it, then most likely you need new plates.....relatively inexpensive and fairly easy to do if you have any wrenching experience.  I would upgrade the pressure plate at the same time..

[Petersoned96@gmail.com]

I just purchased a 99 1500 Drifter, #126 with 34,000 miles. It is slipping when I accelerate in all gears. Could it be the wrong oil or is the clutch bad? Any ideas?