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Curious what you experts think

spongelander

Guest
Guest
My beautiful Red 2014 has 19K miles on it (every one put on by me). Recently replaced hydraulic fluids - cheated on clutch by using turkey baster. Possibly unrelated, I started having a soft clutch lever ONLY on upshifts from 4th to 5th. Otherwise all normal. Replaced fluid and bled clutch to no avail, but discovered that softness existed in 5th gear, and that it was responsive to throttle input. Then, a rattle developed. I immediately went home (1/2 mile) and tore clutch down to the point of removing the basket, looking for trouble and finding none (hoping for broken anti-backlash springs). The rattle went away with no clutch parts present, and came back when re-assembled. After about eight hours trying to diagnose, I trailered to the dealer (mechanic there has very good reputation). They thought a circlip might have popped off the transmission shaft, but when they tore it down, they said the five screws securing the transmission shaft plate and shift drum plate were loose - held on by only three or so threads. As a result, lots of things clashed. They would like to replace quite a few parts. Their thought was that I tore into the bike deeper than I did, and left those screws loose. I believe perhaps threadlocker was missing on assembly, and over time, the screws backed out, and that might be responsible for the clutch softness (though why only in one gear isn't clear to me).
They want more than the bike is worth to fix it, leaving me in a quandry - the bike has lots of good miles left, and I really like it - probably the last big road bike I'll ever own. I wrote a note to Kawasaki politely asking for help with this, but since I did not buy the extended warranty, I'm not holding out hope.

Any insight or advice you guys have would be welcome. Thanks. Mac
 
Hi Mac, I am sorry that you are going through this. Is there a way you can tell us what parts are they replacing and how much labor they expect to get the job done? When you said they want to charge you more than the bike is worth that means a lot of parts and labor time. I think you need to pull that bike outta there and get another opinion. Unless you really trust this mechanic. My bike an '08 needed a new part that cost close to $2,000 dollars and another 6 hours of labor. I decided to go with the same part from a used Concours on Ebay for $125.00 and it worked out fine. I have 137K on my bike so you can guess how much that's worth even in very good condition. I wish you the best of luck. Others will chime in soon.
 
Me too! It seems amazing to me that enough damage could be done in such a short time that they would want to replace the transmission shaft and several gears. It didn't feel as though things were loose or making noise inside. I will be asking that all the replaced parts be returned to me so that I can see. My bike was torn down to arrive at the diagnosis, so I'm sort of stuck in a way - pay a chunk of money to get my bike back in pieces. It may just be an (expensive) lesson learned. It's the first time I've had something like that happen to a bike of mine in about 40 years. Thanks for your sympathy, I really appreciate it. I will be asking for the replaced parts.
 
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I had to replace my Bevel Transmission and like I said to buy new was very expensive so I know the parts for what they want to do on your bike are very expensive and it takes labor too to get to it and put it back together. Maybe Mama Kawasaki will help out. It just plain sucks! :(
 
My beautiful Red 2014 has 19K miles on it (every one put on by me). Recently replaced hydraulic fluids - cheated on clutch by using turkey baster. Possibly unrelated, I started having a soft clutch lever ONLY on upshifts from 4th to 5th. Otherwise all normal. Replaced fluid and bled clutch to no avail, but discovered that softness existed in 5th gear, and that it was responsive to throttle input. Then, a rattle developed. I immediately went home (1/2 mile) and tore clutch down to the point of removing the basket, looking for trouble and finding none (hoping for broken anti-backlash springs). The rattle went away with no clutch parts present, and came back when re-assembled. After about eight hours trying to diagnose, I trailered to the dealer (mechanic there has very good reputation). They thought a circlip might have popped off the transmission shaft, but when they tore it down, they said the five screws securing the transmission shaft plate and shift drum plate were loose - held on by only three or so threads. As a result, lots of things clashed. They would like to replace quite a few parts. Their thought was that I tore into the bike deeper than I did, and left those screws loose. I believe perhaps threadlocker was missing on assembly, and over time, the screws backed out, and that might be responsible for the clutch softness (though why only in one gear isn't clear to me).
They want more than the bike is worth to fix it, leaving me in a quandry - the bike has lots of good miles left, and I really like it - probably the last big road bike I'll ever own. I wrote a note to Kawasaki politely asking for help with this, but since I did not buy the extended warranty, I'm not holding out hope.

Any insight or advice you guys have would be welcome. Thanks. Mac
So the Screws are behind the clutch basket? That you are speaking of?
 
Also where are you located? And can you get pics from them of the damage, if Kawi does not help out
 
I had to replace my Bevel Transmission and like I said to buy new was very expensive so I know the parts for what they want to do on your bike are very expensive and it takes labor too to get to it and put it back together. Maybe Mama Kawasaki will help out. It just plain sucks! :(
Wow Russ, I too had the bevel drive go out in mine!! But it cost me $45 for the ebay part!!
 
Norm ...What are the chances of that! Wow.. Glad you got yours repaired too. Took awhile to diagnose that it was the Bevel transmission but so far the repair has been great.. Even took the bike afterward on a 7,000 mile cross country ride with no issues. Let's hope Spongelander gets his bike repaired at a reasonable cost.
 
I have a 2009 C14 with 127K Km. on it, I watch these posts in amazement and touch wood every time mine starts and runs properly. Good luck in getting a solution to your issue that you're happy with.
 
Also where are you located? And can you get pics from them of the damage, if Kawi does not help out
From his/her signature, somewhere out in the Pac NW! Curious if they're from the Seattle or Portland area and which shop. And seems to be a dealer from the post.
 
From his/her signature, somewhere out in the Pac NW! Curious if they're from the Seattle or Portland area and which shop. And seems to be a dealer from the post.
I've asked for all the returned parts back. I doubt they have a pile of C14 parts around somewhere, so I should be able to see first hand what they all look like. I'm still perusing the shop manual for the reassembly step for those bearing plates. Yes it's a local dealer in the Portland area - other riders advised me that the mechanic there is really good (and also that it will cost me). One last big expenditure. If anything like that happened again, it would be tempting to bring it out to the local field with a few gallons of fuel, and put it out of its misery. Hoping for the best... thanks
 
I had to replace my Bevel Transmission and like I said to buy new was very expensive so I know the parts for what they want to do on your bike are very expensive and it takes labor too to get to it and put it back together. Maybe Mama Kawasaki will help out. It just plain sucks! :(
I had never heard of a bevel drive going out until recently, may have been when Russ first posted about his earlier this year. Then I talked to a member at RWTW this year that had just replaced his. Same thing, he used a ebay replacement part.
 
I had never heard of a bevel drive going out until recently, may have been when Russ first posted about his earlier this year. Then I talked to a member at RWTW this year that had just replaced his. Same thing, he used a ebay replacement part.
yeah, I think they had a run of bad bevel drive bearings. I know two people who lost the bearings. One got rid of the bike, an 08. The other replaced both the outer and inner bearings. Not sure of the year. The inner bearing requires special tools to remove and replace.

I thought my bevel drive bearings were going bad. Turns out it was the front tire I was hearing. PR3. Anyways the guy who replaced both bearings lifted my bike rear tire off the ground. The black cover on the bevel drive is rubber and can be removed with a small screw driver if one is careful.

Once the cover was off the bike was started with me immanently shouting to turn it off. The bevel dive bearings bearings are very well oiled under pressure and it comes out with that cover off. So it is my opinion there were some bad bearings. The problem seems to have been corrected because I have not read of any new bikes having the problem. As for the bevel gear rubber cover, (the black thing in the middle of the bevel drive housing) was reinstalled again using a thin screw driver to push the lip back in. There have been no leaks of any kind. If I were to remove this cover again, I think I would have a spare on hand. This way it won't leak. (same theory if you have a ratty fan belt, buy a new one as a replacement and throw it in the trunk. The ratty fan belt will run until you get rid of the car 50K or more later.)
 
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