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Posted by Rlato
- February 18, 2024, 10:27:20 AMQuote from: Petersoned96@gmail.com on August 28, 2023, 20:19:51 PMI 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.
Posted by Tim
- September 06, 2023, 18:24:57 PMA 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.
Posted by chief
- August 31, 2023, 17:12:42 PMDo 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
Posted by OR Seedman
- August 29, 2023, 11:41:33 AMHave 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..
Posted by Petersoned96@gmail.com
- August 28, 2023, 20:19:51 PMI 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?