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Trouble shooting drive problem...shaft

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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Anonymous

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My 82 GS1100GK has had a slipping clutch for the last several thousand miles. It was only noticeable when the bike was given full throttle. I was putting off fixing it untill next year since the ridding season is close to over here in Minnesota. Last week as I was pulling away from a stop light I here a clang as I let my clutch out and my clutch, or so I though started to slip really bad. I was barely able to putt down the road a few hundred feet and then there was nothing. My neighbor helped me trailer it home and I ordered new fiber plates (9) and springs (6) and a gasket from the local Suzuki dealer. Put all of it in today and the clutch has good feel. It goes into and out of gear fine, But it still won't go. When it's up on the center stand it will barely move the rear Wheel. And it sounds like things are moving clutch \ transmission wise. I'm wondering if I have problems with my drive shaft or final drive. I'm not sure about the best way to trouble shoot this. I'd greatly appreicate and advice. Thanks!
 
Perhaps your driven gear, the gear that sits inside your rear wheel hub and meshes with the final drive gear, has lost its teeth. That happened to me on my first GS850 back in the summer of 1987.

Take off the rear wheel, pull out the driven gear and inspect it. Betcha the teeth are worn. Just speculating, and I may be wrong, but this is what I suspect.

Since that incident 17 years ago, no problems with this driven gear, since I lube it liberally with moly grease every time the rear wheel is off the bike.

Nick
 
I agree with Nick, check the wheel adapter. You can also loosen the drive shaft boot and see if the drive shaft is turning.
 
Hello there, I had the exact same problem on my 1981 GS650GL. I did the clutch and checks that everyone said would fix the problem, but nothing worked. I had to take the engine apart and after a little searching I found the problem to be in the transmission where there is a shaft with a pinion gear that has a heavy spring in it. This spring pushes a half moon shaped male part into a half moon shaped female part on the pinion gear. The whole spring (half moon thing allows the shock of acceleration - deceleration during shifting ) to be smoothed out and not be just a sharp gear on gear transition. The pinion gear slides over the shaft and has the female half moon welded to it. The spring pressure does not allow you find the problem when you are just looking at it, and running manually through all the shifts. Mine was broken just inside of the gear and was immpossible to see or find until I took the shaft apart by using a lathe and tail stock. My local Suzuki dealer couldn't believe that this gear failed there or that I was able to take it apart myself. The spring pressure is quite high, and I used the lathe tail stock to back off the spring pressure so I could remove the 2 keys which hold it all together. Gears are a matched set and should be changed together.

I hope this is not your problem, but I can assist with more info if it is.

Randy
 
Nick Diaz said:
Perhaps your driven gear, the gear that sits inside your rear wheel hub and meshes with the final drive gear, has lost its teeth. That happened to me on my first GS850 back in the summer of 1987.

Take off the rear wheel, pull out the driven gear and inspect it. Betcha the teeth are worn. Just speculating, and I may be wrong, but this is what I suspect.

Since that incident 17 years ago, no problems with this driven gear, since I lube it liberally with moly grease every time the rear wheel is off the bike.

Nick
Click to expand...

You were right Nick. The teeth were wore down to nothing! I'll be heading over to the local Suzuki dealer to order a driven gear. I hope they still carry the part. This must be a common wear item? My bike only has 34,000 miles on it. Thanks a lot for the help. I'll keep ya all updated on how everything works out.
 
Their is one on ebay if you are interested I have bid, you are welcome to bid yourself
 
Any driven gear off any big GS shafty, whether 850, 1000, or 1100, whether "L" model or standard model, or GK model -- any of these will fit your wheel and mesh with your final drive gear.

On my first 850, the failure happened at 24,000 miles, so yours was on borrowed time. That 850 of mine was also an 82. It seems that the later model gears were made of a softer metal that didn't last as long.

The only way to prevent this failure from happening again is to lube the splines on both liberally, using moly grease. Do that every time the rear wheel is off the bike. It's a common problem, but only if you neglect this maintenance. As I said, since July, 1987, I haven't had that problem on any of my GS bikes.

Nick
 
Any idea on cost? Mine has 55K on it, not slipping, but never know....
 
17 years ago I paid about $90 to replace this piece. Much more than that nowadays, I'm sure.

By the way, I have two such gears in my possession, both of them off 1980 GS850's. Each one is installed in a different wheel hub -- one in a stock 16-inch wheel, the original on the GK, and the other in a 17-inch wheel off a 1979 GS850. That way they take turns being used, and won't wear as rapidly.

Nick
 
You were right Nick. The teeth were wore down to nothing! I'll be heading over to the local Suzuki dealer to order a driven gear. I hope they still carry the part. This must be a common wear item? My bike only has 34,000 miles on it. Thanks a lot for the help. I'll keep ya all updated on how everything works out.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised you've not considered a savage yard. I know the top guy at the local yard near me, (Sky Cycle - they advertise in cycle world) knows GS parts pretty well. He also told me that beginning with '82 the final drives were not as durable. I have two '82s myself. First is an 850 purchased new (now has more than 94,000 with no failure, splines lubed at every tire change). The second an 1100 purchased with 17,000 last year, now has a velorex sidecar and over 2000 miles with the chair.

John
 
Moly grease is the way to go with the rear splines. Not just the normal car moly grease with 3% moly, but 40% or more moly grease. This is what Honda specifies for its shaft bikes, but it is harder to come by. All the long distance Honda and BM riders use this (ones who do a few 100,000kms on their bikes). Better to get this if you plan on keeping the bike.
 
Re: Trouble shooting drive problem...shaft

dude said:
My 82 GS1100GK has had a slipping clutch for the last several thousand miles. It was only noticeable when the bike was given full throttle. I was putting off fixing it untill next year since the ridding season is close to over here in Minnesota. Last week as I was pulling away from a stop light I here a clang as I let my clutch out and my clutch, or so I though started to slip really bad. I was barely able to putt down the road a few hundred feet and then there was nothing. My neighbor helped me trailer it home and I ordered new fiber plates (9) and springs (6) and a gasket from the local Suzuki dealer. Put all of it in today and the clutch has good feel. It goes into and out of gear fine, But it still won't go. When it's up on the center stand it will barely move the rear Wheel. And it sounds like things are moving clutch \ transmission wise. I'm wondering if I have problems with my drive shaft or final drive. I'm not sure about the best way to trouble shoot this. I'd greatly appreicate and advice. Thanks!
Click to expand...



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Perhaps your driven gear, the gear that sits inside your rear wheel hub and meshes with the final drive gear, has lost its teeth. That happened to me on my first GS850 back in the summer of 1987.


Update:
I replaced the driven gear, it was all chewed up. The bike rides and shifts great with the new clutch and gear. I also had to make a new windsheild for it due to the fact that a tie down broke when I trailered it home from where it broke down. I cut down a windsheild made for a Honda GL1100. A pain that I did not need. Thanks for all of the help!
 
saaz said:
Moly grease is the way to go with the rear splines. Not just the normal car moly grease with 3% moly, but 40% or more moly grease. This is what Honda specifies for its shaft bikes, but it is harder to come by. All the long distance Honda and BM riders use this (ones who do a few 100,000kms on their bikes). Better to get this if you plan on keeping the bike.
Click to expand...


You can also get the "Anti-seize" moly paste, which is 60 percent moly.
 
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