[Chrissylee]

Was just pulling into my driveway and changed down to 1st let clutch out and it was in neutral. Tried again to put in gear, sounded and felt like it went into 1st let clutch out and nothing didn't even stall. I can start bike pull clutch in put in gear let clutch out and nothing. Can push bike forwards and backwards whether in gear or not. What the?????

 

[Chrissylee]

Was just pulling into my driveway and changed down to 1st let clutch and it was in neutral. Tried again to put in gear, sounded and felt like it went into 1st let clutch and nothing didn't even stall. Plz help

 

[PugslyCat]

Had it been slipping in any or al gears prior to that event? I'm thinking your clutch has gone out and the plates need replaced.

 

[Chrissylee]

Had it been slipping in any or al gears prior to that event? I'm thinking your clutch has gone out and the plates need replaced.

No mate. It's been fine. Had her since brand new and she has done 33,000 klms. Was just about to put her in for her 30,000 service when this happened. Ya sure know how much ya bike weighs (222kg) when ya gotta push her home for the last 300 metres on a gravel driveway. I was thinking clutch plates after browsing thru some forums here.

 

[Chrissylee]

Had it been slipping in any or al gears prior to that event? I'm thinking your clutch has gone out and the plates need replaced.

Although The clutch doesn't feel any different and the gear selector still clicks it just don't click into gear. So what percentage would you say about clutch plates theory being right?

 

[PugslyCat]

I'm feeling pretty good about it, but keep in mind I haven't actually looked at the bike myself. I'm just another rider and not a mechanic that has seen it all, so take my guess as just that.

You might want to check for any metal fragments in the oil. If you had a catastrophic clutch plate failure there should be some glittering particles in it. Normally they will just start slipping for a while as they wear down, but the sudden loss of all engagement causes me to think that a plate has completely broken up. The pressure plate used in the larger Harleys has earned the nickname "grenade plate" just because of this type of failure.

A "typical" life span for a clutch is from 33,000 km (~20,000 miles) to 95,000 km (~60,000 miles). There is no good average for this because it all depends on how the bike is ridden and maintained. The amount of time the bike is ridden in the friction zone of the clutch is what matters. My daily commute can put less wear on the clutch than a long ride on which I get the bike up to highway speed and burn off a full tank of fuel in sixth gear.

Is it possible that the transmission is shifting fine but the front pulley bolt has broken? Normally that's a pretty spectacular failure, so I doubt you would miss that.

I have the same question about the belt. Does it have anything near proper tension or is it just loosely laying in place with a break in it?

 

[Slow Superlow]

One of the first things I did on my Sportster was get rid of that grenade plate. The damage they can cause when they come apart to me wasn't worth the risk. The bike probably had like 3k on it when I did it. To me it sounds like you'll be pulling the primary cover if a street even has one but keep us posted on what you find.

 

[PugslyCat]

In my earlier post I meant to say that the frequent stops and starts of my daily commute put MORE wear on the clutch than a long highway ride, not less.

 

[Bott]

Go out to the bike. Do not start it. Place transmission is 1st gear. Begin to push the bike and do not pull on the clutch lever in. This is just both hands on the bars and break the clutch plates loose at the push. Place it in top gear, push the bike again. It will push a lot easier, show compression, then break loose and roll easy, or 1st showed you this.

Shows anything from damaged, worn clutch plates, to a bolt holding the clutch assembly to the shaft, or the shaft has broken off holding that clutch assembly on.

I'm not not a me can neck, I just play one online.

 

[Papeleta]

Did you ever get the problem fixed?

 

[PugslyCat]

@Papeleta - If you hover over @Chrissylee's name you will see that they joined 7 months ago and were last logged in 6 months ago, so probably not going to get a response from him.