Hi guys I'm new here, couldn't find a workshop area so i thought I'd post it here.

Basically I fitted new clutch plates the other week, worked fine till about 4 days later and suddenly I'm getting a serious knocking/screaching noise. First i  thought top end, but now I believe it is the clutch.

I get serious clutch fade in heavy traffic. So much so the lever will have more than an inch of free play! And the bite point moves to less than an inch when you let lever out!
When out of heavy traffic it cools down and sorts itself out??
Still in traffic the noise gets even worse.

On long winding roads I don't seem to get the noise much.

I only replaced the friction plates. I didn't change the metal ones (they were slightly tinged blue in places, but seemed ok).

Somebody thinks i need to adjust the lever inside the sidecase, will do this today. But how would the clutch dragging slightly cause a severe knocking/screach?

It doesn't do it with the clutch in UNLESS its overheated by heavy traffic.
It refuses to do it while not in gear.

Anywho, It's a gs500EV 1996 model! If you have any idea whats wrong it'd be great to hear from you.   Thanks. 

Did you soak the plates in oil for a day before installing them? I'm assuming you have checked your oil level and it's a reputable motorcycle oil.........

Hi used rock oil and i soaked them for just over an hour. Cheers.

Adjusted the clutch push rod arm, and its fine now. Strange cure but there you go! Cheers!

Quote from: mysterious_rider on February 19, 2012, 08:33:12 AM
Adjusted the clutch push rod arm, and its fine now. Strange cure but there you go! Cheers!

Not strange at all, when putting in new clutch linings the clutch should be properly adjusted at all 3 places afterwards.  No doubt the thicker lining caused clutch slipping and overheating if the rod clearance was ajusted for the old worn linings.

I'm about to do this because my clutch slips if I open the throttle quickly.

Should I try adjusting the push rod thing first or swap out the friction plates with 14000kms.

If I go with swapping the plates, how long should I soak them for?

.

Quote from: SgtBatten on February 19, 2012, 05:21:20 PM
I'm about to do this because my clutch slips if I open the throttle quickly.

Should I try adjusting the push rod thing first or swap out the friction plates with 14000kms.

If I go with swapping the plates, how long should I soak them for?

First thing to do is to properly adjust your clutch in all three places.  First turn in the thumbwheel adjustment at the clutch lever all the way and lock it.  Then loosen the locknut at the cable end going into the sprocket cover housing and turn it in a bit to slack cable.  Then take off that little flange shaped cover on the sprocket housing and adjust the pushrod freeplay there.  Turn the screw in to touch the rod and back it off about 1/4 turn for proper clearance and lock down the locknut.  Then make final clutch freeplay adjustment at engine end of the cable.

The pushrod free play adjustment is often overlooked and usually needs adjustment at least once to get it working right.  I put 80k miles on my 97 GS and now have over 92k miles on my 02 GS both on the original oem clutches.  Got both bikes with too much pushrod free play and it had to be set properly to get the clutches working right.  I only set them once on each.  Both bikes started getting some clutch chatter making low speed downshift engagements on steep up grades after they had 70k miles or so on them.  I just slipped the clutches a lot to avoid the chatter and after the 97 GS had over 88k miles on it my son put in a low milage used engine due to high freeway oil consumption and tore the old one down.  I saw the clutch friction plates and the lining still looked good after all those miles of hard use.  New clutch springs would probably have helped a lot.  Start with getting it adjusted correctly all 3 places before you open it up to check the friction discs.  If the adjustment is OK and the friction plates look good try some new springs, aftermarket stiffer ones might help

Thanks mate.

Just bookmarked that post for when I get hOme.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Adjusted the clutch as described and it's not slipping as much but it hasn't entirely gone away either

Do yourself a favour and get new friction plates. The job itself is so easy to do. It's just a hassle removing engine bars, electrical thingy (there is two case bolts behind so you HAVE to remove it) and about 10000000 sidecase bolts.  After that its just unbolt the clutch plate holder, (6 bolts?) and remove old plates, put new ones in. Don't forget to remember the order the friction plates/metal plates go. It's so easy. Just SET THE ROD in the case after, which is what i forgot to do!! 

pulled the sprocket cover off again and had a look at how it all works this time rather than just turning nuts and bolts.

For whatever reason i hadnt adjusted the push rod correctly. have now.

i havnt take it out of second gear yet, just been on my street but man it pulls now.
it feels like it wants to rip away from me, ive not experienced this yet as its been slipping ever since i bought it.
ill see how it goes at higher rpms and higher gears but looks like taht damn push rod screw might have been out the whole time.