So today I go for an hour and a half ride, got back to town, stopped for coffee, half hour later got on, fired up, kicked her down into first, let the clutch out, nothing. Hmm. Still in neutral. Down into first again, let the clutch out, 50 feet later pulled the clutch back in to roll between 2 parked vehicles, let the clutch out, and nothing, in neutral again. ?? So, kick it down into first again, out onto the road, shift to second, it shifted in to second like a Harley; calunk! ?? Never did that before. Shifted up through the gears, ok, all worked good. Back down to first, took off, into second, calunk! again. Rest of the gears, up and down, no problem. Just going into second from first. Any ideas, anybody? Only around 12000 miles on her, 2002 model year.
Thanks in advance;
49
Inside the clutch reservoir there is a tiny return hole. If that is plugged by dirt or something, it could cause that. A pin will clean it out nicely.
Of course, if you lived further south, it wouldn't be so long between riding seasons and the dirt might not have a chance to get in there! ;D
It would seem to me that it would do it in all gears, not just second gear and first gear, like yesterday. Another strange thing yeterday; the cooling fan ran a lot. Was only about 75F, and this is the first time it did that, too. The fan virtually never runs. And the coolant level was good. Poor old girl having a few aging pains I gues. :(
Not sure if this applies to you but my "99'er had a similar problem when I first bought it. Only in my case the clutch would hang up between gears. As it turned out my problem was due to bad oil in the engine/trans/clutch. Apparently the clutch plates were not releasing properly. Not sure what oil the PO used in the bike nor how long it had been in there. Took two changes before the problem was completely gone. Now it is smooth as silk.
I've been running Kaw synthetic. This is the first winter the bike has been in cold storage rather than heated storage. Don't know if that us anything to do with it, but going to pick up fresh oil and filter next week when I am in the city. No source of oil or filter for it here where I live, so will be changing it at first opportunity.
Thanks for the ideas, PC and Jmbo
Quote from: jmbo on May 13, 2015, 14:28:17 PM
Not sure if this applies to you but my "99'er had a similar problem when I first bought it. Only in my case the clutch would hang up between gears. As it turned out my problem was due to bad oil in the engine/trans/clutch. Apparently the clutch plates were not releasing properly. Not sure what oil the PO used in the bike nor how long it had been in there. Took two changes before the problem was completely gone. Now it is smooth as silk.
Feel like weighing in on this Troll? Your experience here would be appreciated...
Thx in advance;
I'm thinking...I have one idea, but I hope I'm wrong. When I bought mine, it was doing something quite similar. I had a bent 1-2 fork, a broken tooth on the output gear, and one of the lock rings was pushed out of it's slot. Can't say which happened first, but it sure did a lot of damage. Stayed in 1st, but it would hop out of second with a loud bang. I rode it a little bit, skipping over second but I had to rebuild the trans. VERY EXPENSIVE JOB...I'm going out for a little ride shortly, so I'll go over to the KAW dealer who rebuilt the trans and ask their opinion...Again, I hope I'm wrong...
As I promised, I went to the dealer and asked the guy who rebuilt mine. He wanted to know if it hops out of 1st all the time, and does it stay in second...possible displaced lock ring, but of course, he can't see it any better than I can.
Thanks Troll. Your knowledge and experience with the inner working of these bikes is highly valued. I too hope you are wrong. going to try it one more time, mostly to warm it up, then draining the oil and pulling the screen to look for "spare parts" That is the only time it did that in first; the hard shift to second was every time. I rode it around the neighborhood at low speed, so I could go from first to second and back, several times, everything worked as it should except for the hard shift to second from first. Definitely going to be beyond my mechanical experience; like I said to GB, it is about 75 years newer than what I am experienced at.
I'll keep updating this as I get more knowledge of what is going on; maybe this will be of use to someone else as a troubleshooting guide.
Maybe the clutch is hanging up....seems strange to have happened while sitting, but it's a possibility. If it's not popping out of gear, that's a good sign
Feels more like the trans isn't going into first all the way, twice in about 50 feet it went all the way to neutral, back into first, let the clutch out and it is in neutral. Then that meaty(for lack of a better word) clunk going into second. Remember how hard your Harley shifted? Just like that. Which it has never done before this year. Got too busy today to give it another try, but hopefully tomorrow. I guess if if doesn't grenade, when I pull the screen, if there is any cannibalism going on in there it will show up there. And the drain plug. :-\ Regardless, it will get new oil and filter, can't do too many oil changes.
Thanks.
So today I took the old girl (Drifter,lol) for a 2 hour run, I pulled the clutch in and waited a couple of seconds before shifting, did this all the way through town, upshift and downshift. After that, shifted normally, and everything performed as it should. Tried this on the suggestion by one of our esteemed members that maybe the clutch was sticking. guess I should think about going to Meanstreak springs; I've heard they are a better way to go.
Thanks for the tips and suggestions all of you, much appreciated. Just goes to prove that 2 heads are better than one, and several is even better; unless there is a shortage of beer...... ;)
Glad to hear it was a cheap fix. The other way would have been about $1500 labor plus parts...
Ouch! Being in Canada probably double that. I couldn't see that it was internal as I have owned it since almost new, and I don't ride it hard or abuse it whatsoever. So what is the best fix for a sticky clutch, is it the Meanstreak spring fix?
I used the Judge washers. Works great.
Quote from: greenbarn on May 17, 2015, 12:28:21 PM
I used the Judge washers. Works great.
Okay, you lost me. What are 'Judge washers'?
Quote'Judge washers'
people in black robes who go around and cleaning and tidying up for you.......
Here Come da judge....
http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/index.php?topic=32568.msg71219#msg71219
[ot]
Quote from: 49Reo on May 14, 2015, 14:30:09 PM
... then draining the oil and pulling the screen to look for "spare parts" ...
I don't want to hijack this thread but, there is a screen? I saw others referencing the screen with the classic but for the life of me, I couldn't find it on my Drifter (1500) so I just assumed they were different. Where is the screen located?
Thanks and again, didn't mean to hijack this thread.[/ot]
The pick up screen is located behind the big flanged nut on the left side of the crank case.
Same screen and set up as the 800.....FYI
Concerning Judges washers and meanstreak springs...
Kawasaki upgraded the Drifter springs (same for all 1500/1600's) and added a second holder which resolved the flexing issues of early Drifter springs. I used those to upgrade mine rather than dealing with makeshift/aftermarket solutions. BTW the meanstreak spring used is the spring for one specific year... after that they are the same as the Drifter and all other 1500/1600 models.
http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/clutchparts.html
http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/tipclutch1.html
Quote from: chief on May 19, 2015, 10:07:37 AM
Concerning Judges washers and meanstreak springs...
Kawasaki upgraded the Drifter springs (same for all 1500/1600's) and added a second holder which resolved the flexing issues of early Drifter springs. I used those to upgrade mine rather than dealing with makeshift/aftermarket solutions. BTW the meanstreak spring used is the spring for one specific year... after that they are the same as the Drifter and all other 1500/1600 models.
http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/clutchparts.html
http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/tipclutch1.html
If I recall, I looked into both options when I did mine. I think I remember that to do it with the new Kaw parts, it was quite a bit more expensive than the judge washers... so I went with the washers. At that time, it was easy and quick to get them from him. If it was going to take too long, or hard to get in touch with him (I had heard of some folks having a hard time getting in touch with him) then I would have done the OEM improved parts list.