Clutch noise when clutch level is not pressed

[MTBiker]

Im starting the XChallenge on neutral gear. I always pull clutch lever.
After last trip I noticed that when bike is running on neutral and clutch lever is pulled bike sounds much more quieter then when I release clutch lever and clutch is disengaged. It sounds for me more or less like some worn bearing but maybe Im wrong and that is completely normal thing.
Any advices or comments??

 

[Losttheplot]

Im starting the XChallenge on neutral gear. I always pull clutch lever.
After last trip I noticed that when bike is running on neutral and clutch lever is pulled bike sounds much more quieter then when I release clutch lever and clutch is disengaged. It sounds for me more or less like some worn bearing but maybe Im wrong and that is completely normal thing.
Any advices or comments??

It could be the bearing in the middle of the clutch, or it could be the gear box (these are constant mesh, so will always be rotating, despite not providing any drive).

I found some play in the centre shaft on my clutch on sunday, but appearently this is normal.

If you want to pop the clutch cover off to have a look, follow these steps:

Remove cable
Remove cable lever (where the cable attaches to the shaft on the clutch housing).

Undo all the bolts on the clutch cover
"encourage" clutch cover to move with the use of a soft faced malllet- you may need a few wedges etc to free the cover.

Pull cover off.

I'm sure Ferret will be along in a minute with a photo of what the inside of the clutch looks like.

This is worth doing anyway- i've just had the clutch fail on my bike. This was down to the teeth on the other end of the cable shaft (the one iniside the clutch cover) and the centre shaft failing. These teeth need to mesh together to make the clutch work.

HTH

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

It could be the bearing in the middle of the clutch, or it could be the gear box (these are constant mesh, so will always be rotating, despite not providing any drive).

I found some play in the centre shaft on my clutch on sunday, but appearently this is normal.

If you want to pop the clutch cover off to have a look, follow these steps:

Remove cable
Remove cable lever (where the cable attaches to the shaft on the clutch housing).

Undo all the bolts on the clutch cover
"encourage" clutch cover to move with the use of a soft faced malllet- you may need a few wedges etc to free the cover.

Pull cover off.

I'm sure Ferret will be along in a minute with a photo of what the inside of the clutch looks like.

This is worth doing anyway- i've just had the clutch fail on my bike. This was down to the teeth on the other end of the cable shaft (the one iniside the clutch cover) and the centre shaft failing. These teeth need to mesh together to make the clutch work.

HTH

Known problem in the USA and reported there and BMW seem to know about and the there is talk of a redesigned clutch cover too

Here's the stuff from AdvRider

2007 G650 XCountry and maybe XChallenge

Reported in USA

There is a design fault with the clutch housing.
The splined shaft that engages the clutch chews away at the clutch housing causing it to stick and jam.
I have just had mine sorted under warranty.

Some details off the recall and parts required that have been passed onto me.

Service detail:

Clutch lever hard to pull in, bike walks when clutch disengaged, almost impossible to find neutral.
Inspected Cable and found freeplay maxed out at lever adjuster and spine adjustment at cover.
Inspected cable length, ok.
Removed Clutch access cover and found tooth missing on pivot arm operates clutch plates.
Searched bulletins and measures, found PUMA Measure US-22898888-02 ordered all necessary parts...

Parts:
Needle sleeve: T99L00N
Operating Shaft: T21500
Set of clutch Disks: T212A2
Release Bearing: T21500
Shaft Seal: T99DooTW
Gasket: T99D00TG
Clutch Rel. Fork Lever: T21500
Needle Sleeve: T99L00N
New design clutch housing


Hope this helps as there is not a lot of info out there about this problem.


PUMA Measure US-22898888-02 replaces the following parts--

Clutch Disks 21217700413
Operating Shaft 21217700306
Needle sleeve 21217701501
Release Bearing 21217709526
Shaft Seal 21217700173
Clutch Release Fork Lever 21217700227

 

[Losttheplot]

Known problem in the USA and reported there and BMW seem to know about and the there is talk of a redesigned clutch cover too

Here's the stuff from AdvRider

2007 G650 XCountry and maybe XChallenge

Reported in USA

There is a design fault with the clutch housing.
The splined shaft that engages the clutch chews away at the clutch housing causing it to stick and jam.
I have just had mine sorted under warranty.

Some details off the recall and parts required that have been passed onto me.

Service detail:

Clutch lever hard to pull in, bike walks when clutch disengaged, almost impossible to find neutral.
Inspected Cable and found freeplay maxed out at lever adjuster and spine adjustment at cover.
Inspected cable length, ok.
Removed Clutch access cover and found tooth missing on pivot arm operates clutch plates.
Searched bulletins and measures, found PUMA Measure US-22898888-02 ordered all necessary parts...

Parts:
Needle sleeve: T99L00N
Operating Shaft: T21500
Set of clutch Disks: T212A2
Release Bearing: T21500
Shaft Seal: T99DooTW
Gasket: T99D00TG
Clutch Rel. Fork Lever: T21500
Needle Sleeve: T99L00N
New design clutch housing


Hope this helps as there is not a lot of info out there about this problem.


PUMA Measure US-22898888-02 replaces the following parts--

Clutch Disks 21217700413
Operating Shaft 21217700306
Needle sleeve 21217701501
Release Bearing 21217709526
Shaft Seal 21217700173
Clutch Release Fork Lever 21217700227

Cheers JB! I'll have a chat with my man on the inside, and see if there is an official recall/ solution for this.

 

[viv]

Im starting the XChallenge on neutral gear. I always pull clutch lever.
After last trip I noticed that when bike is running on neutral and clutch lever is pulled bike sounds much more quieter then when I release clutch lever and clutch is disengaged. It sounds for me more or less like some worn bearing but maybe Im wrong and that is completely normal thing.
Any advices or comments??

My Xcountry did the same thing both before I changed the clutch cable, plates and springs and after. I also checked the bearings and there was no play in them. So, since my clutch now works great following the new parts, I've decided that the noise is normal. It's certainly no worse after 6000miles.

Viv

 

[Losttheplot]

Clutch problems continue..

Well i finally got to strip the clutch and replace the parts today.

On closer inspection i don't think the shafts loosing splines and teeth is the primary cause. The main culprit i think is the little bearing that is fitted into the clutch cover, just by where the 2 offending shafts connect.

Mine has or is in the process of failing. i put the new shaft in, and it makes a rather horrific grinding sound when the shaft is rotated. on removal of the new shaft, there are a lot of metal fragments evident on the end of it.

 

[Petesmate]

I have a similar problem x challenge 2007. It's hard to get it into neutral, but other gears seem ok. Do you guys recommend replacing the parts that you've listed here? Many thanks dan.

 

[Losttheplot]

I have a similar problem x challenge 2007. It's hard to get it into neutral, but other gears seem ok. Do you guys recommend replacing the parts that you've listed here? Many thanks dan.

Have you tried adjusting the cable first?

i noticed this with mine after i put it back together. Everything seemed fine until i tried to stop, and the clutch wouldn't disengage

 

[Petesmate]

Have you tried adjusting the cable first?

i noticed this with mine after i put it back together. Everything seemed fine until i tried to stop, and the clutch wouldn't disengage

Thanks for reply. Cable is ok. It seems to only be hard to select when engines been runing a while. And once I've found neutral the green light won't come on until I give the lever a tap with the foot. Any more ideas?

 

[shugie]

Thanks for reply. Cable is ok. It seems to only be hard to select when engines been runing a while. And once I've found neutral the green light won't come on until I give the lever a tap with the foot. Any more ideas?

Mine does that as well, took it Bahnstormers, had them take a quick look. They adjusted the cable, made it looser, easy enough to change gear, but neutral is still a sod. Engineer at Bahnstormer said it won't go into neutral unless the bike is stationary, but even then it can be awkward. Another "they all do that" special BMW feature perhaps?

 

[GS_or_bust]

You don't need neutral, leave it in first when you stop. Side stand down stops the engine and it works like a parking brake. Jump on, clutch in start and ride away. On the BMW off road course they taught this, makes sense to me.

 

[Losttheplot]

You don't need neutral, leave it in first when you stop. Side stand down stops the engine and it works like a parking brake. Jump on, clutch in start and ride away. On the BMW off road course they taught this, makes sense to me.

If your going to use your XChallenge off road, if you have any sense the first thing you will bin is the sidestand switch.

I didn't, and it let me down in the most "inappropriate" place. I couldn;t even get a decent signal on my phone to ask on the forum.

But there is still the kill switch, and the ignition switch to use

 

[Losttheplot]

Mine does that as well, took it Bahnstormers, had them take a quick look. They adjusted the cable, made it looser, easy enough to change gear, but neutral is still a sod. Engineer at Bahnstormer said it won't go into neutral unless the bike is stationary, but even then it can be awkward. Another "they all do that" special BMW feature perhaps?

I used to run a husky enduro bike. finding neutral on that became a sod when the oil was shagged.

Changing the oil would cure the problem of clutch drag, which is what is causing the bike to resist going into neutral.

If anything i would give the clutch cable a bit of pre-tension. As long as there are no signs of slipping under heavy load, then i can't see a problem.

 

[shugie]

I used to run a husky enduro bike. finding neutral on that became a sod when the oil was shagged.

Changing the oil would cure the problem of clutch drag, which is what is causing the bike to resist going into neutral.

If anything i would give the clutch cable a bit of pre-tension. As long as there are no signs of slipping under heavy load, then i can't see a problem.

Oil should have been changed by Vines just before I got the bike from them, will have a look at it, see if it looks newish, or not. No slipping under load, so no sign of worn clutch.

Mine is an ex Off Road School bike, with some dings to show for it, but goes really well, clutch is my only real gripe with it, and I'm getting used to that.

 

[Petesmate]

I used to run a husky enduro bike. finding neutral on that became a sod when the oil was shagged.

Changing the oil would cure the problem of clutch drag, which is what is causing the bike to resist going into neutral.

If anything i would give the clutch cable a bit of pre-tension. As long as there are no signs of slipping under heavy load, then i can't see a problem.

I will try an oil change. Just wondered if there might be any underlying problems with gear box as I'm planing a trip across America and don't rely want it letting me down. Cheers

 

[viv]

Oil should have been changed by Vines just before I got the bike from them, will have a look at it, see if it looks newish, or not. No slipping under load, so no sign of worn clutch.

Mine is an ex Off Road School bike, with some dings to show for it, but goes really well, clutch is my only real gripe with it, and I'm getting used to that.

That sounds just like my story. I checked everything before changing the clutch plates and cable. It's been perfect since then.

It is hard to check the clutch plate wear but I did find some blueing on the plain plates and also some very slight warpage. Mine wasn't slipping as you might expect from a worn clutch but it was impossible to select neutral once stationary and it was affecting gear changes as well.

I even took all the plates out to see what was causing the dragging and that led me to realising that it really was the plates not releasing properly.


Full story here:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=662088


Viv

 

[Losttheplot]

It's done it again!

Clutch mechanism jammed up again this afternoon.