Clutch Clankin' (noise)

[Nick6153]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to the forum , and was hoping some of you guys could help point me in the right direction on some clutch noise I'm having (introduction thread is here: https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/threads/new-busa-owner.189545/).

The bike is an '09. The guy I bought it from was convinced it had a spun bearing, but after looking in to it a little bit, I don't think that's the case. The bike sounds good sitting at idle, however, when you let out on the clutch - even in neutral - your hear a very audible "clunk-clunk-clunk." Once the bike picks up some RPM's it goes away, but I'm pretty sure that's just because everything else just drowns it out.

I changed the oil tonight and ran it through a paint strainer, which turned up just a TINY bit of metal shavings. Enough to concern me a little, but not what I would think a spun bearing would do.

Next, I pulled the entire clutch basket to see what I was working with. I thought I'd found my problem when I seen two needle bearings missing, but further research tells me this is normal:

Other than that, the only obvious things that stick out is a few knicks on the cushion springs (possibly where the shavings came from), and the fact that most of them are loose (they have play in their housings - some just a little, and one almost 1/8")....I've found mixed opinions of whether or not this is normal. Of all the springs, only one was tight in the housing, which is the one marked with tape:

One other noteworthy problem was the order in which everything came apart. According to the manual, the steel rings in the basket were supposed to be last, but I pulled it apart in the order shown in the pic, which puts the rings between the clutch discs. I guess I could have let them slip underneath, but I don't see how. Here's the pic:

FYI - I have spun the transmission shaft with a drill, and no noise was noted (I spun it pretty fast, and it was dead quiet), which is another reason I believe it has something to do with the clutch basket.

Any help is appreciated, and thanks to everyone!

-Nick

 

[Dennis]

Welcome.

When you say steel rings, are you referring to the cushion rings? They look like mis-shaped thin, skinny washers. They should be against the back of the basket. First thing that goes in before any fibers or steels.

The heavy springs the in the outer basket are normally loose from my memory, but I can check my spare basket from a good running bike later.

 

[Nick6153]

Thanks for the reply, Dennis.

Yes, that's the rings I'm taking about. I'm not sure how, but the basket came apart in the order shown in the pic I posted earlier, which has those rings in front of the last disc. I don't know if they somehow slipped under the last disc or what.

Let me know what you come up with on the old basket - much appreciated!

 

[dave s]

The previous owner could have been in there but refit it wrongly, can't help you technically but good luck and keep us posted

 

[Nick6153]

Update:
I spent some more time messing around with it tonight and came up with a couple of possible theories - everyone please feel free to weight in with your experiences.

First, the cushion springs in the back of the basket do have a little wear. This is probably just due to them riding against the basket though, as I don't see how this could contribute to the noise.

I did measure out all the discs, and this clutch - according to the specs in the manual - is pretty well new. That really eliminates me ordering a new clutch kit unless I'm missing something.
The metal discs seem to be straight (no obvious warping), however there are a couple of heat spots. The one thing that really stood out though was the ring worn into the bottom plate that rides closest to the gearbox. The metal ring it was touching has worn a groove into it about .020-030" deep (my micrometer wasn't sharp enough to hit the bottom of the groove, so this is an estimate). That said, I still don't see how that could contribute to the noise. Pic:

Lastly, I messed around with the oil pump and gear drive. I couldn't find a tolerance for it in the manual, but this thing seems to have an awful lot of play. The pump spins smooth, but has a ton of place in-and-out, and clacks just like the noise I'm describing when you do it. I'm not sure if this is the cause though due to the pump constantly spinning whether the clutch is in or out; however, my assumption is the basket may shift with the clutch out letting it wobble a little....I really don't know. Here's a video showing the slop I'm talking about:

As you can see in the video, there's slack between the back of the gear and the snap ring as well as slack in the shaft as a whole ( I was trying to show that by putting my thumb on the middle toward the end).

If you have experience with any of this, please help! lol

 

[Nick6153]

Update:

Got this thing figured out now. See duplicate post here if you're interested:

https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/threads/clutch-clankin-noise.189570/

-Nick

 

[Mythos]

I posted on your thread in BUSA PROBLEMS but here was my first guess.