mcatrophy
Privileged to ride a 2018 FJR1300AS
I've been wanting to soak my second FJR's clutch for a little while. Although its behaviour was better than my '06 when that was new, it hasn't been as good as the '06 after its soak.
So, using my own guide (better than my memory!), posted here, I soaked my '10.
Several comments:
I was fortunate that the gasket came away cleanly from the crankcase with the cover, no issues needing a new one or in cleaning up the mating surfaces.
Because on my first clutch soak I got an SH__26 error, I wanted to make sure it was operating correctly before putting on the cover. So, with the cover off and before disassembling, I turned on the ignition. Clearly the AS (AE) does a self-check of the clutch operation, it immediately operated and relaxed the clutch, sounded like a single click it was so quick, but I could see it moved by something like 3 mm (1/8th inch) out and back. This was not measured in any way, just my observation of a very rapid event. I did take a video of it with my camera, I stripped out frames to try to get a better idea of movement and time.
(Click on image for larger view)
Just before it moved . . . . . . . . . . As far out as the video showed
All the pink dots on the friction were between the little arrows in the basket casting, shows they were deliberately assembled like this in the factory (I still have no real idea why).
The clutch was identical to my '06. It had the white dot, not the word "outer" on the inner ring, and didn't have the little retaining clip as found on some '08 and '09 clutches.
The plates didn't seem quite as dry as on my '06, but were definitely not swimming in oil. This is consistent with my above observations about its behaviour.
I soaked the plates for 4 hours, not overnight - this may or may not be good enough longer term, we shall see.
Then, having reassembled and checked the clutch movement again, I started the engine and let it [fast] idle for a few seconds. Again, I videoed this, and repeated with some still shots. These show the oil being centrifuged off the clutch basket, but I couldn't really tell how the oil was being moved into the area, though it was obviously splashing in from the crank.
The still shots were at about two second intervals, the first and last (about 9 seconds apart) are below:
You can clearly see the build-up of oil thrown out onto the inner casing.
The result after two days and a few local trips: although the bike was never bad, it would judder a little on the first cold move from rest of the day, that didn't happen on the one cold start today. Also, gear-changes are generally smoother with less need to try to match revs during the change.
It was well worth doing the soak.
All the pictures I took can be seen here, I treat them as extras to my first set, definitely not "stand-alone".
Ps. I waited until the bike was over two years old so that it was out of its UK warranty period of two years.
So, using my own guide (better than my memory!), posted here, I soaked my '10.
Several comments:
I was fortunate that the gasket came away cleanly from the crankcase with the cover, no issues needing a new one or in cleaning up the mating surfaces.
Because on my first clutch soak I got an SH__26 error, I wanted to make sure it was operating correctly before putting on the cover. So, with the cover off and before disassembling, I turned on the ignition. Clearly the AS (AE) does a self-check of the clutch operation, it immediately operated and relaxed the clutch, sounded like a single click it was so quick, but I could see it moved by something like 3 mm (1/8th inch) out and back. This was not measured in any way, just my observation of a very rapid event. I did take a video of it with my camera, I stripped out frames to try to get a better idea of movement and time.
(Click on image for larger view)
Just before it moved . . . . . . . . . . As far out as the video showed
All the pink dots on the friction were between the little arrows in the basket casting, shows they were deliberately assembled like this in the factory (I still have no real idea why).
The clutch was identical to my '06. It had the white dot, not the word "outer" on the inner ring, and didn't have the little retaining clip as found on some '08 and '09 clutches.
The plates didn't seem quite as dry as on my '06, but were definitely not swimming in oil. This is consistent with my above observations about its behaviour.
I soaked the plates for 4 hours, not overnight - this may or may not be good enough longer term, we shall see.
Then, having reassembled and checked the clutch movement again, I started the engine and let it [fast] idle for a few seconds. Again, I videoed this, and repeated with some still shots. These show the oil being centrifuged off the clutch basket, but I couldn't really tell how the oil was being moved into the area, though it was obviously splashing in from the crank.
The still shots were at about two second intervals, the first and last (about 9 seconds apart) are below:
You can clearly see the build-up of oil thrown out onto the inner casing.
The result after two days and a few local trips: although the bike was never bad, it would judder a little on the first cold move from rest of the day, that didn't happen on the one cold start today. Also, gear-changes are generally smoother with less need to try to match revs during the change.
It was well worth doing the soak.
All the pictures I took can be seen here, I treat them as extras to my first set, definitely not "stand-alone".
Ps. I waited until the bike was over two years old so that it was out of its UK warranty period of two years.
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