Eureka Springs killed my bike!

The setup: '81 650 Maxim 25k miles, 173mile trip to Eureka Springs, miles and miles of great twisties, two up riding the whole way and great weather.

The assumed killer: Stop and go traffic on the very steep streets of downtown Eureka while riding two up on a 28 year old bike that I am sure has the original clutch plates.

The Symptoms: After leaving downtown to go to an old mine south of town, I stopped on a pull off and heard a very odd, scary, clunking sound. It was very much like the sound of a loose shift, if that makes sense. After my wife dismounted I tried to replicate the sound. I was only able to replicate the sound when doing low speed turns while feathering the clutch/gas. After resting for a bit, thinking about the problem I put the bike in gear (not running), pulled in the clutch and tried to push the bike forward. The rear wheel was locked. I was able to start the bike, sit at idle, ride, shift, etc. But if the bike was running, in gear, clutched and I tried to push the bike backward it would start to stall.

I decided my ride was over, left my wife with another rider and wife, and had someone follow me as far into town as the bike would go. After finding Road Dawg's Leather shop, parking the bike and calling the closest dealership I was told that I was probably correct, the clutch was shot, but that he did not have parts. After an hour or so I tried the in gear, clutched trick and the rear wheel was not locked. Another few miles down the road and the bike was at our cabin; a few trips ferrying everyone back and forth and we spent the rest of the day/evening/night downtown. A taxi returned us to our cabin that night, while the rest of the group got to enjoy the twisties a little more.

After the calvery arrived the next day (in an F150 with a ramp and straps) I had suffer the discrace of returning the Maxim to Oklahoma in the back of a truck. We did stop in Noel, Mo to float the river, so it was not all bad.

SO...

The Questions: I am sure the stalling, and locked wheel is clutch related, I am not as sure about the clunk sound. Any thoughts?

I have some brand new driver plates, I figure I will need a gasket, springs, friction plates, and ????

Len to the rescue... I will be contacting you soon.

 

Damn dude, that's a sad story, but if you fix it, you are sure to have more good days ahead

(P.S. I'm not familiar with clutch plates, so the only thing you're gonna get outta me is encouragement

 

have you been able to reproduce the clunk?

I wonder if something has slipped and the clutch no longer disengages fully. I'd check the obvious, like the cable, perch and the clutch arm assembly on the side cover. Otherwise, it sounds like it's clutch R&R time....

I wonder if it's possible for the teeth on the lever axle gear to slip. I would try to take the arm off and turn it one or two teeth to the left, so the clutch would disengage a bit more. If that helps, then something definitely slipped inside.

Maybe someone else will chime in...

oh yeah, and Eureka Springs ate the transmission in my Crown Vic a couple of years ago. I always wanted to take my bike down there, but have been hesitant for this same reason.

Good luck!

 

Spring retaining bolts and washers, perhaps a new throwout arm bearing, and gosh knows what else until you get in there and root araound and make darn sure you didn't do any "significant" damage.

The scary, clunking sound is not a good omen.........

 

I have not so much as started her since I got home. There are some chores that need to be taken care of first. The road WAS quite noisey so I did not get that good of a listen. I will see what I can do tonight when I get off work.

The worst part is that the current XJ project is currently taking up the entire shop (that is the complete rebuild of what was my 650j).