Broken SV, clutch repair

[drew231506]

Ok well this is a bit of a follow up to my thread 2-guy, 2-up story. The shifter was stuck solid. (please keep in mind we have no idea what an engine is, how it works, or whats inside) Here's what we did...we took the clutch cover off and a lot of oil came streaming out...then we realized it had nothing to do with that. So then we went to the other side of the bike, drained the coolant, pulled the hoses and took the crankcase cover off.

This is where it got interesting...right when we opened the cover metal debris just fell out. There were metal flakes and metal "teeth", just pieces everywhere. While I'm no expert, I would say that this is not good. Picture below of what we saw.

We pulled each clutch plate out, and there were 6...which is interesting because if you order a new set it comes with 7!? So where is the 7th one? And why were there 2 plates without teeth next to each other...with no friction clutch plate between them?

So then i was messing with this thing that im touching with the screwdriver. I jammed a screw driver in there and it "popped" out...THE SHIFTER WAS FREE!!!! This pic is after it was freed up, before it was stuck down and to the left. This is attached to the rod that was stuck.

Here's a question for everyone...the shifter now freed up, goes right through all of the gears. But the clutch pull is really really light and has no effect on shifting. It doesnt feel like its doing anything at all. Is this because the clutch plates are out or because theres no fluids??? Or is the clutch messed up too??

The clutch line moves but doesnt do anything...

Let me know what you think.

(edit: prolly should post this on the SV site)

 

[Geezer]

My daughter's boyfriend has her SV, putting it back together after her get-off last year, so I don't have one to compare to. I can answer the one question, the clutch lever is only moving the cable at this point. The clutch springs provide most of the tension that you would normally feel at the clutch lever.

Look over the shaft that the clutch mounts to carefully for damage.

I wonder if the clutch simply self-destructed or something else caused it.

Did the engine run, in neutral, before you took the clutch cover off? You, of course, don't want to start the engine with the cover off because that will pump out all your oil.

 

[Checkswrecks]

OK, so sticking in gear was probably one of those big pieces of metal lodging somewhere in the shifter assembly. Be glad another piece didn't lodge between gear teeth at something like 60-70 mph.

So the first question is where the stuff came from? The second question is where did it all go? You haven't shown enough to really tell from the photos.

As for why the clutch is so light, yes, it's because you have the springs out to remove the plates.

 

[drew231506]

Ah yes...I see. I knew I would get some good answers. Checks, good questions. Our theory is that one clutch plate was completely destroyed. Although its hard to believe that the ENTIRE piece was destroyed. We found most of the teeth from one of the plates and a lot of small metal shavings. But no actual 7th plate...just two plates next to each other with no teeth where there was supposed to be one with teeth sitting between them.

Yea that had crossed our minds about a tooth lodging itself in the gearing at 70mph...that wouldn't have been so good.

We're going to put it back together with new plates and gaskets and see what happens. I just wonder what is preventing the piece in the picture from jamming again. And what happens if it jams at speed... Thanks for your help guys, makes sense about the clutch now.

 

[Ramblin Man]

First, a big "KICK ASS" for your willingness to dive in on this.

Second, buy youself a service manual.

Third, you seriously want to drop the oil pan if you can to make sure you get all of the debris out of the pan. If you have big chunks in the side cases, you probably have lots of little pieces in the pan which could end up getting slung up on the piston walls or someplace worse.

 

[drew231506]

First, a big "KICK ASS" for your willingness to dive in on this.
Second, buy youself a service manual.

Third, you seriously want to drop the oil pan if you can to make sure you get all of the debris out of the pan. If you have big chunks in the side cases, you probably have lots of little pieces in the pan which could end up getting slung up on the piston walls or someplace worse.

Crap...

Well that makes sense cause when we changed the oil a few weeks ago the oil bolt had metal shavings magnetized to it! I figured it was designed to pick up some of the natural debris in the oil and didn't think much of it. Hmmm Thanks for that!!! What about the other side case, cause we only fully took off the crankcase side, showing the gears, the clutch cover hasn't been fully removed. Might it have metal debris in it as well??