83 KZ1100 Shaft Clutch slipping

I buy it at Walmart for $13 for one gallon jug. At that price you can afford to change oil often

Perhaps all that's needed is a simple routine clutch push-rod adjustment.

Good Fortune!

I've used Rotella T 15W40 in some of my car and truck engines as a summer oil before, knowing it was highly favored by owners of large trucks with Cat Diesels in them. It worked very well despite many other mechanics assuring me that it would ruin my engines. In fact, it cleaned out those engines better than anything I've ever seen, having so much detergent, and reduced oil consumption drastically. My one pick up with 400 000 miles on it used a quart of regular 10W30 every 2000 miles, while the Rotella only needed a half a quart over 8000 miles (the entire season). When I would drain the Rotella out in the fall, it would look nearly new - still gold in color. When I pulled the cam covers off, the area was so clean it looked like a fresh rebuilt engine.

I'll try it (I still have some gallon jugs of it on my shelf) next time I change the oil in one of the KZ's.

Thanks!

Patton wrote: Perhaps all that's needed is a simple routine clutch push-rod adjustment.

Good Fortune!

Why didn't I think of that? I'll give it a try. Thank you!

I paid $10 for heavy duty springs from ebay. Disks are most likely OK.

swest wrote: Mine aren't replaceable.
Steve

The shaft drive bikes have a different setup with more springs, 18 instead of 5 as I recall. Twelve of the 92081B and six of the 92018A.

Shaftie-




Chain drive-

TexasKZ wrote:

swest wrote: Mine aren't replaceable.
Steve

The shaft drive bikes have a different setup with more springs, 18 instead of 5 as I recall. Twelve of the 92081B and six of the 92018A.

Shaftie-

Chain drive-

I think the shaft drive clutch has additional damping built in to lessen the shock loads on the transmission and driveshaft, something a chain does inherently...

Clutch basket damper springs are not replaceable by the home mechanic; the basket is held to the clutch primary driven gear with rivets....it takes special equipment to do that. Not that it has anything to do with clutch slippage problems, anyway. If those springs get weak, it causes noise and excessive backlash in the drive train, not clutch slippage.

With modern chain drives, the sprocket holder fits into rubber dampeners which provides a cush-drive effect to an unyielding chain.

As I recall, early Harleys -- maybe Sportsters -- used a direct final chain drive without any form of cushioning, which caused rapid wear and rough-snatchy power transmission to the rear wheel.

Not seeing any cushioning in the shaft drive (other than provided in the clutch design).




Good Fortune!

So I can't change those dampener springs without special tools and they wouldn't make the clutch slip anyway. I did the push rod adjustment a few minutes ago but I don't ride in the dark anymore so I'll get my son to tell me if it helped. Otherwise I'll order new springs. The push rod was a little on the tight side. Per the FSM tighten then back off 1/4 turn which is what I did. Ended up with more free play in the cable so maybe it was just on the edge of being too tight.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. One more reason to like this forum.

As for dampening you are correct. The rear sprocket, on UJM and Harley belt drives, have the sprocket fit into large rubber pie shaped dampeners.

A side thought is what I used to perform the push rod adjustment. I have some HF go through sockets that I don't use often but they do come in handy when nothing else will fit. I bought these when working on leaf springs on trucks where the U-bolts are so long:

www.harborfreight.com/21-pc-sae-metric-g...ocket-set-62305.html

Patton wrote: Perhaps all that's needed is a simple routine clutch push-rod adjustment.

Good Fortune!

We have a winner.Thanks Patton. A simple push rod adjustment did away with the slipping. Thank you sir!