Concerned clutch may be going

[Professor_D]

I bought a '98 Executive last summer and have been loving it. However, I'm wondering about the clutch. It has just a little over 25000 miles. Lately I've noticed that the clutch lever is almost all the way out before it locks into a gear, and I don't have to pull it in too far to be able to change gears.

Is this correct or should I have to pull the clutch in deeper to make it engage? Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated.

Big thanks,
D

[Roden]

The first thing to do, if you haven't done this already, is bleed the hydraulics on your clutch. The system over time, will become contaminated with moisture and gunky sludge can develop which will affect its operation.

It is pretty straight forward to do yourself but sometimes requires removal and clean out of the slave cylinder.

When I got my Sprint I had a spongy sort of feel to the clutch and gear changes were a bit clunky, I cleaned and flushed the system and now its as good as gold!

Cheers,

Roden

[MotT3]

Also set you span adjuster at the lever..1 is the lever travel furthest away from the bar and 4 the closest..but defo bleed the system as Roden has mentioned.

[Professor_D]

That sounds good. I'll check those first. I was trying to read up on it in my Haynes book and was hoping I wouldn't have to take the engine/clutch apart.

I'll have some time coming up in the next week or so to work on her. I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks,
D

[Roden]

You should be ok, the clutches seem to be plenty strong on these bikes.
Let us know how you get on.

Cheers,

Roden

[KitNYC]

I bet it's the hydraulics & not the clutch. I had my share of problems over the 2 years I had the bike, but I never felt the clutch slip over 2 years in NYC traffic.

Cheers,
-Kit

[trypcil]

Mine started slipping at 76k and I used the same plates in 2 different engines! Bleed, adjust chain - then bleed the brakes while you're at it! The fricton plate service limit is 3.6mm and a set is only going to cost $100 (inc gasket) or less and you can easily shove 'em in yerself - but I doubt that'll be the case, unless some loon's been drag racing or the such like!

[sailfish]

I thought that my clutch engaged far out on the lever range when I bought the bike. 45,000 miles later it's still the same.

[triumph.rider]

Not meaning to add more things for you to think about but this is something ive had problems with.......

When i got my trident, the clutch would slip at around 6000rpm in top gear. I put in new plates and springs with no joy. I spoke to a few chums who also had tridents and they said to check the slave cylinder.I did and found that the seal on the piston had expanded and was making travel of the piston difficult and was not fully releasing the piston. This is caused because the push rod that runs across the engine to the clutch does not have an oil seal on it. when on the side stand, il runs down it, and gets between the slave piston and the chamber and the opil attacks the seal, and expanding it. I thnk about 30 quid for a new kit (piston, seal n spring)

This same fault had happened on my chums bikes, as well, so its not unknown.....

Daz

[Professor_D]

I looked in the container of the master cylinder for the clutch today to find that there seemed to be plenty of oil. However, it was very cloudy and when I dredged the bottom I found that there was a lot of sludge in the bottom. My plan is to drain out the old fluid and put in some new.

I've been reading up in the Haynes book and it doesn't seem too hard. I bought some DOT 4 oil today.

Would you say it's comparable to changing the engine oil in terms of difficulty? Any tricks or cautions?

D