Clutch adjustment

[EJV]

Yup. In politically correct terms "I was told to fcuk off".

"Clutches are Wear Items" "Yamaha will not do anything for clutches unless it is a defect." (Mine, convenient, is not a defect.)

When I asked "So, if there is a defect causing this issue, I replace the clutch now, and the same thing happens in three months, warranty over, then what?" the response "I'm just the messenger, you can call Yamaha Customer Support".


I thought all the problems I had with BMW pissed me off....... Here we go again??

 

[dcstrom]

Yup. In politically correct terms "I was told to fcuk off".

"Clutches are Wear Items" "Yamaha will not do anything for clutches unless it is a defect." (Mine, convenient, is not a defect.)

OK let's assume Yamaha won't warranty the clutch under most circumstances - how much did the new plates cost and how long to replace?

 

[Yamaguy55]

My Tenere is the first Yamaha I've had with a diaphragm clutch spring: most are multiple coil spring pressure plates. That said, before I got into wheel reinvention 101, I would swap to a top level synthetic oil, andbe sure that the pushrods were not worn, and the oil pressure is within spec. The Tenere uses what I think is oil pressure at the low end of expected for plain bearings of about 10 psi, so if your wet clutch is dry, life will be short. I run Mobil 1 10-40 Racing 4t in all of my bikes, makes a big difference in clutch and transmission action. I don't claim Mobil has better synthetic oil than others, but it does work, and work well. Plus, it can be had at a lot of places.

If I were having this problem, I'd check for notching on the clutch basket and clutch hub. Check for freewheel when the plates are removed. If that and the pushrods are pristine with no dimples in the ends from the ball bearing throw out bearing I would install all new clutch plates, steels and friction, and a new diaphragm spring, and be sure to run synthetic JASO-MA oil.

 

[stevepsd]

OK let's assume Yamaha won't warranty the clutch under most circumstances - how much did the new plates cost and how long to replace?

A complete OEM clutch plate set (friction & metal plates) is right at $210 from Bike Bandit.

A additional $65 if you want to replace the two piece diaphragm clutch spring.

 

[Don in Lodi]

Anybody notice if Barnett is doing a clutch/pressure plate for these yet?

 

[dcstrom]

My Tenere is the first Yamaha I've had with a diaphragm clutch spring: most are multiple coil spring pressure plates. That said, before I got into wheel reinvention 101, I would swap to a top level synthetic oil, andbe sure that the pushrods were not worn, and the oil pressure is within spec. The Tenere uses what I think is oil pressure at the low end of expected for plain bearings of about 10 psi, so if your wet clutch is dry, life will be short. I run Mobil 1 10-40 Racing 4t in all of my bikes, makes a big difference in clutch and transmission action. I don't claim Mobil has better synthetic oil than others, but it does work, and work well. Plus, it can be had at a lot of places.

I'm cheap and have never used Mobil 1 (I use Shell Rotella 5-40) but rode a friends S10 a while back, which had smoother shifting than mine. It had Mobil 1 in it. I'll be trying it next time round.

 

[Yamaguy55]

I'm cheap and have never used Mobil 1 (I use Shell Rotella 5-40) but rode a friends S10 a while back, which had smoother shifting than mine. It had Mobil 1 in it. I'll be trying it next time round.

I go with the concept of "oil is cheap, crankshafts (cams, transmission parts) are expensive. I run premium oil and fuel in everything I own, and never have any problems with any of it. I even run Mobil 1 in my outdoor power equipment. Silly, perhaps, but it gets used hard, then put away for weeks at a time, then run hard again. I figure 1.5 quarts a year at oil change time is still cheaper than new tillers, mowers, chippers, snow blowers, etc. My JD tractor gets noticeably lower fuel consumption when using synthetic. So I buy a few big bottles every fall and everything gets fresh oil, and runs well all the time.

 

[Yamaguy55]

Update on oil pressure

I looked again at my factory manual: it really does say 9.4 PSI oil pressure @ 1100 RPM with the oil at 149-167 degrees F (65-75 C)!! Which from my point of view is very low for a plain bearing engine. The clutch gets lubed by whatever finds it's way there: page 2-35 of the manual shows a lube diagram, and there's an o'ring on the pushrod, so little to none of the oil inside of the pressurized mainshaft gets to the clutch. There does seem to be a spray nozzle directed at the clutch basket, as shown on page 2-31. How exactly that is aimed is unknown to me. The old two strokes had splash lubed clutches and worked reasonably well, but responded extremely well to the use of two-stroke specific gearbox lube when that became available. The transmissions went from OK to great just by changing the oil. The same things have happened to me when i started using synthetics in my bikes. It has slicked up the gearboxes in every one of them, and I switched over to synthetics back in the late 80s, early 90s.

The point I'm making is the combination of oil pressure at the low end (even my ball and roller bearing WR250R has 14 PSI minimum) and long stretches of idling in traffic with the clutch held in, while using basic petro oil, will no doubt cause any number of calamities.

I find it very surprising that the oil pressure is this low. I know many if not all manufacturers have been backing off oil pressure for years: CAT or Cummins dropped from 75 to 35 PSI in the late 80s and got something like 40 HP back, so the trend is certainly there. Many cars now use 5W20 oil year round. We have to watch how thin our oil is due to the transmission, but I tend to run 10-40 or 10-50 full synthetics. Yamaha doesn't have a habit of poor engineering on engine specs, quite the opposite: they are well known for overbuilding everything. So while the oil pressure spec is no doubt OK, I'd give the engine and transmission a break and run the best, slipperiest oil I could use (JASO MA) and not have the clutch slip. I'd also avoid long periods of idling with the clutch held in. I baby my stuff with uprated oil and such, but then run the snot out of it. It seems to work for me.
As fore the Barnett question: some people have had fabulous luck with their clutches, some haven't. Seems to be bike specific. I've never had a problem with Yamaha OEM clutches, and have had a pile of them. While I don't do prolonged idling with the clutch pulled in, I have flogged Yamaha clutches unmercifully during long stretches of start and stop traffic, and super technical rock gardens in the woods. So far, no clutch problems on any of my recent bikes: haven't had to touch them at all.