82 GS450L grinding sound

[Guest]

I have a grinding sound in the motor that happens off and on and it has gotten a lot worse quickly. You can feel the bike vibrate when you are driving it. It happens at idle but does not happen when the clutch is pulled in. Any suggestions on what it might be? Transmission? The bike has 26+ on it but still looks good, mostly original. What should I do?

[chuck hahn]

May be a loose clutch hub nut. Youll need to replace the gasket once the covr is off but I would start inside the clutch well and look things over. If the noise goes away or lessens with the squeezing of the lever thats a pretty good clue.

[chuck hahn]

Service manual.............

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21APM7hx6Q2ynLu-A&cid=2370B62DDF9F0C6B&id=2370B62DDF9F0C6B%211334&parId=2370B62DDF9F0C6B%211276&o=OneUp

[nelly]

thanks for the manual. I checked the clutch hub nut and it was tight, the fold over tab was tight against it. Pulled up the tab and nothing really moves. What else should I look for?

[tom203]

Sure sounds like clutch issue, but when you pull in clutch,you also back off on throttle. There's been a lot of camchain tensioner issues lately, I'd pull cam cover and have a look. A sloppy chain makes unpleasant noises.

[Gorminrider]

If you're not finding it easily , I think you'll have to locate the noise. Get or make some kind of stethescope...

[nelly]

2nd try at this post, my computer has been acting up. Pulling this apart is the next project after the bike.

I think that I have found the problem. When I removed the clutch, I can wiggle the transmission shaft sideways a little bit. It is either the bearing, the shaft or both. After spending the week thinking about it, I have decided to pull the engine and try to replace it. I have never done anything remotely like this but I have a local shop that will fine tune it when and if I ever get it back together. First I have to go clean off my workbench.

[John Park]

Sounds odd to have a tranny input bearing gone. I've put lots of long, hard miles on this gearbox and all they did was get better over time. OTOH, the helical primary gears do put a lot of side load on this one. How many miles?

Does it wiggle side to side or just in and out? Can you see the inner bearing race moving about or just the shaft?

I think that you can just pull the bottom case off and leave the top end undisturbed. I think there's a case bolt hidden under the oil pickup screen and maybe one in the oil filter compartment, so make absolutely sure you have all the bolts out before you bring out your 'persuaders'.

[nelly]

The shaft goes both side to side and in and out. I can see the inner part of the bearing, the part that the shaft goes through. It kind of looks like a washer from the side. This is moving also. Don't worry, I found the washer that goes between the clutch and the body so it is the actual inside of the bearing. I can see where this is moving toward and away from a bearing, an actual gap, I can see this by eye. It is very small and I can move this by hand. the bike only has 27k on it. Not a small amount but also not a lot.

The shaft does not seem to be loose inside the bearing, but the inner part of the bearing moves around. I can hear a clicking sound when I move it.

I also have a head gasket leak that I might end up taking care of since I have it that far apart. I will see when I get there.

Thanks for a heads up on those bolts, I will make a note of looking for them.

[nelly]

Ok, got everything apart and replaced two bearings (one was on backorder and also had to be drilled for the clutch pushrod). I am now ready to put it back together. There is no paper gasket but is there any liquid gasket that I put on when I put the case back together? It looks like something very thin was used in the original build.

[John Park]

Suzukibond, Yamabond; there's bunch of threads on what you're supposed to use - sparingly.

My question is why these bearings went when motors with far higher mileages have had no trouble with them. There are jets that control the oil flow to this shaft, one of which is behind the clutch pushrod seal, and if those are plugged with something [too much Suzukibond or whatever] then new bearings won't last long either. There's a flow chart for the lube system that I'd look long and hard at and make sure you're fixing the problem and not just the symptoms.

As I recall, the LH bearing is a roller that uses the shaft as it's inner surface. How can the bearing be hooped and the shaft still okay? Or did something else go wrong with it?

Are you the first guy in there or were there signs of previous entry?