Clutch Noises! 83 GS1100ED - Please Help!

[Anonymous]

I put my nice quiet factory exhaust on my newly acquired GS1100E last night. Much quieter than the open 4 into 1 that was on there. After I lowered the idle speed I developed a nasty rattle in the clutch that goes away when the lever is pulled in. I have not pulled any covers off as of yet. My main thing is to get this streetable and then work on it as needed. Does anyone have any ideas.Is this normal on a GS? I have a fairly quiet Suzuki Marauder so this was a shock to the system. It goes away if the idle speed is increased to 1200 rpm according to the tach. Thanks in advance for any help.
Mike 8O

[Anonymous]

Could be the drive 'dogs' on the clutch plates are worn and they're banging off the basket or worse case senario the clutck basket is coming loose at the rivets at the back where the 2 pieces come together. I'd at least take the cover off and have a look at it. If the basket comes apart, you may have quite a mess in there. Hope it's something simple.

Jon Kram
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81 GS750EX and proud of it!!

[Anonymous]

My 750ES has the exact same noise and I think its the springs in the back of the clutch basket rattling around a little , I had the clutch apart and put new plates etc in and the mechanic at the Suzuki dealership confirmed it would be the springs and advised me its quite normal for my model , I will only worry if it gets worse , The bikes got plenty of other rattles once I have my ear plugs in they all go away

[crag antler]

My 83 GS1100E has the same noise it seems you are having. It sounds almost like a loose chain or something but goes away as soon as you pull in the clutch. I have about 24,000 miles and was wondering the same.

[Anonymous]

My girlfriend's '81 650GL does the same thing. The rattle goes away if I increase the idle a little or pull in the clutch just a hair. Otherwise, the clutch and tranny or very quiet so I have opted to leave it alone for now.

[Anonymous]

Clutch problems...

I had the same problem on my 82 1100e, right before the clutch basket exploded. Found out the springs in the backingplate start to rattle, then they let go taking out the backingplate, oil pump, part of the case, and sometimes can take out number 4 piston. I would pull the clutch immediately and in spect the springs before you do some real damage. Replace it with a hub and heavy duty backing plate from Falicon. That's what I did and ave NO worries at all. Good luck, it's not a hard job to do.