clutch pack bolts hitting inner primary housing

battman

New Member
hi there i have a 2005 big dog chopper when i give it too much gas in the lower 3 gears it makes like a clunking noise under load. I thort it might of been primary chain skipping but have had it apart 2 times and you can see were the bolts on the back of the clutch pack have been hitting the inner primary wall, everything seems to be tight the shop guys rekon they couldnt get no movement outa the main shaft anybody out there know what could be causeing this to hit under load, apart from that she goes fine cant really notice it in 4,5,6 gear would love to get it sorted tho cheers.:2thumbs:
 

FrankBDPS

Well-Known Member
I am by no means an ace motorcycle mechanic but something is not being put together correctly there.
 

BigDogBro1

Made in the USA
The clutch nut may be getting loose and the clutch assembly could be racking on the trans main shaft splines to the inner clutch hub. Normally a loose clutch nut can be felt by a slackening clutch cable.

The clutch basket flange bolts have been known to back out and rub the inner primary cover. Use a bit of red Loctite on them.

The trans mainshaft bearings are worn and the endplay under load is allowing the mainshaft to move left to right.
 

battman

New Member
thanks for your replys the shop has had the primary cover off a few times now just to recheck things and he said none of those bolts have backed out, every thing is spinning fine no binding, no noise in the bearings cant get any play out of them everything looks fine but yea still hitting. could you put spacer in behind clutch assembly to bring it away from primary wall a little bit or no that wouldnt work.
 

Sven

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking broken shaft? Shaft 456 has no noise. Shaft 123 does? Dogs kick out of the slots? Is it that shaft that is broken? And when the dogs are under load, they are trying to pop out of those slots. That leads me to think a clutch basket has to walk into the primary cover once the dog is rat-tat-tatting out of the slots and back in again?
 

battman

New Member
you would think it would do it in every gear if was broken but only in the bottom 3 gears you feel & hear it clunking but thanks anyway.
 

Sven

Well-Known Member
batt, there is a main shaft and a primary. Main is 1-2-3 gears is the main shaft. The 4-5-6 is off to the side so they mesh one gear onto the other. So as top gear rides on the main's inner shaft of the main shaft, 456 are pushing dogs in the unbroken shaft and 6th is always moving in gear sans N and it still moves or is locked to the crank via the primary chain to outer basket.

Show me how the shaft floats if it's not the basket off of top gear. Sounds like the main shaft walks and hits the primary.

Signed,

I could be wrong but I need a better explanation if it's not a cracked outer basket webbing; if it's not a backed out main shaft nut; if it's not the shaft and the outer basket never walks that far out unless the web is cracked all the ways around to float go bang; the nut walks the whole basket out go bang; the shaft is in question as far as a walk to the primary goes bang.

Show me the 4th variable.
 

BigDogBro1

Made in the USA
you would think it would do it in every gear if was broken but only in the bottom 3 gears you feel & hear it clunking but thanks anyway.
If all the components are good the design works as is.

You may need to remove the entire clutch assy and front gear to do a proper inspection.
 

Nwhicks21

Member
I’ve got a similar problem with my 05 bulldog. Thought the starter was bad so replaced it and still wouldn’t crank. I removed primary cover to find the outer was chewed up from flange bolts (tight), and the front inner primary (engine side) was chewed up also from clutch basket rubbing. So idk if it’s my primary bearings, mainshaft bearings, or problems even deeper. But I also broke one of the flanges or dowels off trying to get the input shaft nut off, I didn’t realize it was aluminum and had a pry bar to hold it while using an impact and snapped one. A whole clutch is 1500 which I cannot afford. But there are 4 Alan bolts holding it on to clutch assembly it’s the hub that clutched ride on. Can anyone give me advice where to find a cheaper replacement part and possible advice on what my other problem may be that caused all this? I’m praying just primary bearings
 

Jersey Big Mike

100K mile club
I’ve got a similar problem with my 05 bulldog. Thought the starter was bad so replaced it and still wouldn’t crank. I removed primary cover to find the outer was chewed up from flange bolts (tight), and the front inner primary (engine side) was chewed up also from clutch basket rubbing. So idk if it’s my primary bearings, mainshaft bearings, or problems even deeper. But I also broke one of the flanges or dowels off trying to get the input shaft nut off, I didn’t realize it was aluminum and had a pry bar to hold it while using an impact and snapped one. A whole clutch is 1500 which I cannot afford. But there are 4 Alan bolts holding it on to clutch assembly it’s the hub that clutched ride on. Can anyone give me advice where to find a cheaper replacement part and possible advice on what my other problem may be that caused all this? I’m praying just primary bearings
Send pictures of what you broke.
You do realize the clutch hub nut is LEFT HAND THREAD and not normal ( loosen and tighten are opposite of normal bolt)
Bandit Machine Works in Langhorne PA makes a bunch of parts for the BGM clutch assembly including an entire clutch.
 

Nwhicks21

Member
Yea I realized that after I broke it. It’s the center spline that the clutch pack rides on. This isn’t the exact photo I’m not home, but under this cover there are 4 dowel type flanges that connect to the center clutch hub and They extend out about an inch, I broke one off
 

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Jersey Big Mike

100K mile club
Yea I realized that after I broke it. It’s the center spline that the clutch pack rides on. This isn’t the exact photo I’m not home, but under this cover there are 4 dowel type flanges that connect to the center clutch hub and They extend out about an inch, I broke one off
Let me check my supplies in the next day or so. I might have an old clutch setup laying around I could sell cheap.
 
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