Transmission noise.

[Guitarman]

Ok. I have read post after post trying to figure out if there is anything wrong with my tranny. When I downshift I can actually hear the tranny ( the noise kinda just sounds like gears turning). I can only hear it in the low gears once I've slowed down. The bike also wants to walk forward with the clutch pulled in. I am no mechanic at all and the guy I bought the bike from said it has always sounded like that. It is an 05 ridgeback with 5500 miles on it. He had it serviced at gateway big dog and I have all the records. Last service was 300 miles ago. I know my next step is clutch adjustment. I was going to check the clutch hub nut but I haven't found a step by step post yet and I'm not confident enough to try it without one. If anyone knows where I can find that post or if you have any info for me I would appreciate it very much. Thank you

 

[Sven]

The bike also wants to walk forward with the clutch pulled in.

If say the center bolt was loose, you'd have a lot of slop at the clutch lever. The basket would walk out and grind on the primary case. So, is there slop at the lever?

Clutch drag is when the bike creeps in gear or you ground so much off the dog ends when you are about to shift from N to 1st. So first things first, pull the clutch plates and replace all, and then you can check for the nut backing out.

 

[Mr. Wright]

Sounds like you have a loose nut. If it backs off, the clutch basket will rattle, and the clutch will be out of adjustment. Pull the side cover and check it.

 

[Mr. Wright]

This came out of the manual.


Things to remember on the primary side of the BIG DOG drive unit:
The clutch hub nut, on the main shaft of the transmission, torques to 80 ft/lbs. with Red Loctite.
This is the only fastener on this side of the motorcycle that has left-handed threads. It requires a
1-3/16” size socket and a “flyswatter” to immobilize the clutch hub, when removing or
tightening this nut. The engine compensating nut is torqued to 150-165 ft/lbs with a drop of red
Loctite and requires a metal bar or lock placed between the compensating sprocket and the
primary chain to immobilize the drive while this 1-1/2” nut is torqued or loosened. Place the jam
bar or lock between the compensating sprocket and the clutch sprocket. Make certain it is in the
low area of the teeth on both sprockets.

 

[Guitarman]

The clutch lever does not have any slop as far as I can tell. It is fairly hard to pull in. The clutch also has less than 1000 miles on it. Are the baker transmissions normally noisy and maybe I'm just not used to the noise. I have a 2011 wide glide also and it doesn't sound anything like this. Just trying to make sure I'm not over reacting

 

[Guitarman]

Do u have to pull the whole primary cover or just the inspection cover. Does it have a gasket on the cover that will need to be replaced? Once I get in there do I have to pull the clutch basket to get to the nut or is it right there once I get the cover off? Sorry for so many question. I'm going to get a manual soon

 

[Diesel Dan]

Sounds like you have a loose nut. If it backs off, the clutch basket will rattle, and the clutch will be out of adjustment. Pull the side cover and check it.

X2.......I would do this first thing,and check the condition of your oil in transmission,should still be nice and clean,no metal in it? Then AFTER you check the clutch hub nut,adjust your clutch up properly like Sven had mentioned........... Use the search bar and you can look up the Clutch adjustment procedure........Good Luck man:2thumbs:.......

 

[francoblay1]

X2.......I would do this first thing,and check the condition of your oil in transmission,should still be nice and clean,no metal in it? Then AFTER you check the clutch hub nut,adjust your clutch up properly like Sven had mentioned........... Use the search bar and you can look up the Clutch adjustment procedure........Good Luck man:2thumbs:.......

Rgr That! X3.

LINK: http://www.bigdogbiker.com/forums/how/2025-how-adjust-your-clutch-05-newer.html

 

[woodbutcher]

as far as the torque value of the hub nut, that was revised by the factory back in the day. after cleaning up all parts and before applying the loc-tite, run the hub nut in to 150 lbft, then back it off without loosening anything else, and then apply the red loc-tite and torque to 120 lbft. there is also a spacer/washer that goes behind the pressure plate(?) that is hardened.

 

[Sven]

The clutch also has less than 1000 miles on it.

Not good!

Do we have a steel plate or an aluminum plate?

Steel Wave Plate: The pressure plate has memory and when relaxed it forms a cone shape. Cone will not release plates and will make N hard to find and grind in gear going from N to 1st. Cone says the setup was not right back 1000 miles ago. I don't care how much you beat that clutch up, it should not creep after 1000 miles? No
Adjustment won't help. Why? Because the cone is played and is not flat to break plates apart so why bother. This is a visual inspection if steel pressure plate is the design.

Flat Aluminum Plate: Since there is no wave to occur, this is now pointing at the steels and how warped they are and cannot not release off of each others plate; causes drag; and there is your hard to find N scenario. Still, both frictions and steels are to be inspected over again [whoever did the work] consider it a comeback. This shit is out of their pocket. Make them learn how to adjust and inspect clutch pack.

Adjust Screw: I should slip if my adjustment was out of spec. Therefore I want to see how warped my clutch plates are, or I am taking a guess behind the inspection cover it's the wave plate.

Without the bike running, I stab the bike into 1st gear:
a. Pull from perch ~ means I should begin rolling as soon as I see gap at the perch and lever.
b. Release at the grip ~ means I should be freerolling at this point and cannot roll anymore when lever is in between grip and perch.

Where are we in grip position with the static walk?

 

[Mickeetwo]

The 05's had a problem with the clutch carrier breaking.....a indicator of a broken carrier was the bike creeping with the clutch pulled in.

 

[FrankBDPS]

I would take it back to Gateway. According to other post on here guys who use them have had good results with their work.

 

[Guitarman]

Ok. I pulled the clutch pack out. Hub nut was fine, chain tension was good. I put the bike in gear with the clutch pack out and just pushed it back and forth in my garage and u could hear the gears in the tranny turning. It didn't sound like growling or anything, just like gears turning. Is it possible my clutch just needs readjusted and I'm just over reacting about the noise because I'm used to my harley?

 

[Guitarman]

Sorry. I forgot to mention that he said the gears were back cut. Not sure what that means but could that make it noisier

 

[woodbutcher]

should be aware that 1-2-3 are straight cut, whereas 4-5-6 are helical, so there will be a different sound to the low gears as compared to the upper gears.

besides, if you can hear the sound of the transmission over the exhaust, you need to pull your baffles. :roll::roll:

 

[Mr. Wright]

I'm less than 2 hours from you, if you want me to look at it for you.
I'll send you a PM with my contact info.

 

[Sven]

The 05's had a problem with the clutch carrier breaking... was the bike creeping with the clutch pulled in.

1. I want all the clutches out of the basket.
2. I grab the big-outer basket and it should be solid. If I can move it, Mikey found it.
3. I stack all my steel plates on my palm. All my plates face the same direction so I look for the cut or stamped out side that is sharper than the other side of the steel plate.
4. I should see no air gap or a plate off the surface of the other play it lays on.
5. I now shuffle the steels so the top and bottom plate are somewhere inside so I see how those 2 stack up to the rest (pun intended)?
6. I palm the same hand/eye with the frictions.
7. I now tell turtle if I see a cone design or an aluminum plate used for a pressure plate.
8. I want to see the wave plate bolted down flat as a pancake or we've got problems finding N.
9. I have a series of low gear straight cut [can take] the pull power from a dead stop.
10. I then change into the more quiet radial cut gear for cruising and sound deadening characteristics.
11. I have a trans cover that has 2 types of leveling off of the trans oil with bike sitting upright to fill and top off. The one is a low oil cap that tops the oil off at the bottom of the first thread of the cap hole. The other style is the allen bolt that is in the middle of the trans cover somewhere and the oil begins to pour out and stop is when the level has corrected itself.

All that's left is the clutch pushrod gap and the cable adjust.

A. Hide the threads in the cable is the same as saying to shorten the outer cable all the way.
B. Run the center clutch bolt [in the middle of the pressure plate] into the pushrod as you lightly pull on the clutch lever and see that all the slack has been taken up.
C. Back the bolt out 1/4 turn and lock the nut down. Take the slack up on the outer clutch cable so there is zero gap to 1/16th of an inch gap at the lever to perch.

That's: no broken basket; no warped clutch plates; no worn down plates to cause the cone to relax back to memory; no shit you'll find N like butter.

 

[Guitarman]

Ok. I think I fixed my problem. You guys ever seen sling blade where he says "scooter has been workin on that lawn mower all day and still hasn't fixed it". Then Karl looks at it and says "it ain't got no gas in it. Well that's what kind of day I had today. I pulled the primary and checked everything out. Everything looked good. I was ASSUMING since the guy I bought the bike from had it serviced last year and it only had 300 miles on the service that the fluids were good. Wrong. After doing all that, I drained the tranny and only got 8 oz. of fluid. It was all clean so I just put 20 oz. of new fluid in, adjusted the clutch as the post explained (I could wiggle the nut up and down where u adjust the clutch). After getting all that done I hated to take it for a spin because it is pouring here but I couldn't help it. I rode it about a mile or so and it is much quieter. Thank for all the help, it saved me a lot of money. It is much appreciated.

 

[woodbutcher]

now i gotta call bullshit on that right there!!!!!!!!!!!! got all kinds o' technical advice on what to do and it comes down to nothin' but low fluid level. how was the drained fluid for metal particles? did you check the drain-plug for shavings stuck to the magnet? glad it was something simple and hope there was no damage done. :2thumbs::2thumbs:

 

[francoblay1]

Ok. I think I fixed my problem. You guys ever seen sling blade where he says "scooter has been workin on that lawn mower all day and still hasn't fixed it". Then Karl looks at it and says "it ain't got no gas in it. Well that's what kind of day I had today. I pulled the primary and checked everything out. Everything looked good. I was ASSUMING since the guy I bought the bike from had it serviced last year and it only had 300 miles on the service that the fluids were good. Wrong. After doing all that, I drained the tranny and only got 8 oz. of fluid. It was all clean so I just put 20 oz. of new fluid in, adjusted the clutch as the post explained (I could wiggle the nut up and down where u adjust the clutch). After getting all that done I hated to take it for a spin because it is pouring here but I couldn't help it. I rode it about a mile or so and it is much quieter. Thank for all the help, it saved me a lot of money. It is much appreciated.

Assuming is the mother of all fuck ups!!! :up: