2006 A model and sticking clutch

[Sailandcrash]

"but shifting from 1st to 2nd at ~6000 rpm or higher is pretty rough"

I usually shift around 3 or 3500 and usually tolerable.

I have to remember not to shift with my toes, shift with my foot. The FJ likes to be shifted firmly.

I try to get in the habit of pulling the clutch all the way in, that helps, but sometimes I get lazy and that does not help.

For first gear, I pull in the clutch and then wait about three seconds or so, more better.

Have you replaced your clutch fluid? Mine went bad (???) and after new fluid, way better shifting.

You can adjust your clutch handle to a 2 or a 1 and see if that helps.

I had all the same problems, still some clunking or clatter, but much improved.

Hope this helps.

 

[gazza]

Hi all

Just adding to the clutch dilemma most of us are having. I brought my bike 05 when it hade done about 82,000 kms. At this stage i could not believe how silky smooth the clutch was through all the gears.A couple of years have past now and as i recall on one tour of New Zealands south island i noticed a change in the gear shifting.This happened over 3-4 days of touring as i recall and what i noticed was a gradual deteriation in the gear changing department,especially neutral to first and to a lesser degree first to second. The problem of course is also worse when starting the bike from cold and the trying to engage first gear because as we know the engine is idling higher during the warm up stage.I have done the clutch soak myself which i can honestly say was great for about two days and then we were back to the same situation.Up until recently i have always run castrol m/c oil and at the last change i have gone to full synthetic Amsoil 20/50 m/c oil and have noticed no improvement going to synthetic.Further more i have also had the clutch bled at the shop with guys i can trust and have explained the situation to them and have had still no improvement.Finally,I think these are fantastic bikes and i have just got used to living with the clutch issue,i guess like a lot of us here.To my way of thinking it is possibly an inherent fault of our much loved FJR's and maybe an issue of the clutch itself to receiving a reasonable ammount of oil?? Your thoughts???

Gazza

 

[user 213]

There is no "inherent fault" with FJR clutches. And most FJR owners don't have any issues.

@Gazza - You noticed a change while touring, so something is up besides normal wear. Any chance you missed a shift or were a little aggressive, especially on a shift to 2nd?

@Snowmobileguy - The bike should never lurch forward when shifting to first. You have a mechanical issue of some kind. Might be as simple as a bad slave/master cylinder. Or as ugly as a messed up clutch basket or mis-assembled clutch parts due to the PO or PO's mechanic. That you indicate someone else has been in there before is telling. Might be why the bike was sold with low miles. Trans work tends to be labor intensive. There have been some reports of second gear forks being bent by high rpm, hard shifting or just bad timing.

I have 140k miles on my '04 and zero issues with the clutch or shifting. :eh-smiley:

 

[Checkswrecks]

There is no "inherent fault" with FJR clutches. And most FJR owners don't have any issues.

@Gazza - You noticed a change while touring, so something is up besides normal wear. Any chance you missed a shift or were a little aggressive, especially on a shift to 2nd?

@Snowmobileguy - The bike should never lurch forward when shifting to first. You have a mechanical issue of some kind. Might be as simple as a bad slave/master cylinder. Or as ugly as a messed up clutch basket or mis-assembled clutch parts due to the PO or PO's mechanic. That you indicate someone else has been in there before is telling. Might be why the bike was sold with low miles. Trans work tends to be labor intensive. There have been some reports of second gear forks being bent by high rpm, hard shifting or just bad timing.

I have 140k miles on my '04 and zero issues with the clutch or shifting. :eh-smiley:

+1 to what OC wrote on both counts.

Snowmobiler, if you're that close to Bob's BMW, you're close to me in Damascus and I drive right by Bob's every week. Feel free to drop me a pm if you want to get together.

 

[dcarver]

Find another FJR and ask to ride it. Or swap bikes. That will help determine if it's just yours or not. My 06 does not lunge forward when engaging 1st and shifts smoothly (not the best bike, but not the worst either) even near redline. Something is not right with yours.

 

[El Toro Joe]

No problems with mine :yahoo: