clutch work

[hootmon]

FireDriver -
You have to forgive all these old men   -
They are a little forgetful ,
even of their social graces..  

Welcome... From Safety Harbor, Floriduh...
Glad you posted.. Although some of the people are OLD here, they have some pretty good knowledge, and have helped me out on more than one occasion..

BTW - where are you located??

I am a little above average mechanically, and I'd be a little scared to start a transmission job on my own without someone with at least a little experience close by to help me out/look over my shoulder..
But that's just me.. I've never worked on a Motorcycle Tranny before.. I think it's doable with some pictures or a good memory and a good shop manual.. I just love my bike a little too much to rip her apart, without knowing I can get her back together again... But since you have a 2nd bike, maybe that's not as big of an issue for you..

Anywayz... Great group of guys here, and Welcome..

[MagnaDaddy]

Did he say klutz???  the hearing ain't what it used to be 

BTW Lawrence,
If you REALLY want to dig into a 1st Gen tranny, I got one with a nice whine going on...

[lragan]

Did he say klutz???  the hearing ain't what it used to be 

BTW Lawrence,
If you REALLY want to dig into a 1st Gen tranny, I got one with a nice whine going on...

Gee, I am a little busy right now, Ken...

(The weather is too pretty not to ride with the little free time I have.)

Maybe when I run out of work and weather, we could think about it.

[swampbilly]

Does anyone remember the poor guy that started this thread looking for help with his "clutch'"?
Even though it sounds like a transmission problem to me, otherwise it would probably affect more than just 6th gear.

I think maybe he's saying his clutch mostly tends to slip when applying power in that tall, overdrive top gear, but not so much when operating in the mechanically advantaged lower gears.

I've only ever worked on one motorcycle clutch, myself. It was in a '70 CB450 I bought in well-worn condition, when I was 19 or 20 years old. With the guidance of a Clymer Manual I ordered through the local NAPA store, I replaced the clutch on that bike with no outside help. The Honda dealer sold me the parts, but gave me the run-around about ordering the special wrench needed to remove the lock-nut, so I went home and took a hacksaw and a file to a piece of pipe and improvised one. The only other "special" tool I acquired for the job was a strike-with-a-hammer type impact wrench (as advised by the manual) for removing the Philip's-screws holding the cover on.

Based on that experience, I recommend you first acquire a manual, go over what's involved in a clutch replacement, and make your decision based on your own judgement of your ability to perform the series of tasks described, in words and pictures, therein.

You can down-load a manual, free, from links posted elsewhere in this website, but I personally prefer the real printed and bound version, as it's much easier to use. The Clymer Manuals of yesteryear were excellent, but I don't know if they're still availible.
I recently ordered a genuine Honda shop manual, and an owners manual, for my 3rd-gen Magna from this site: http://www.repairmanual.com/, and was well-pleased with their service and product. Just the shop manual, plus shipping, is about $66; not all that cheap, but it makes working on a motorcycle a much more enjoyable, and much less scary, undertaking.

[swampbilly]

OK, i'm a rube. I visited the Honda dealership this afternoon and spied, off to the side, an entire rack of Clymer Manuals.

[a65bug]

I just rebuilt my gearbox on my V65 this past winter.  I spend about a month on and off working on it - it was my first time rebuilding a gearbox, but I'm a pretty good wrench.  If you decide to do it, take a ton of pics, get several manuals including download the honda manual.  You're going to need some specialty tools like torque wrench, clutch tool (you can make one if you're handy), and a puller for the magneto.  You can do it without pulling the heads, but I hear that procedure is tricky. Since you're in there, you might as well get a full gasket set and replace all of the troublesome gaskets and seals.  I rebuilt the heads and did a valve job as well, so I had to find a valve spring compressor that would work on those heads.  I also had a head bolt break, one pull the threads out, so I had to helicoil them to get it to go back together.  Get a clutch slave cyl rebuild kit and a new clutch while you're at it, I didn't replace the clutch and now I have to tear it apart to replace the slipping clutch.

I'm not trying to scare you off of the job, but it is a big one.  If you decide to do it, let me know, I'll be happy to share some of the "watchouts" I discovered.  The nice thing is now it runs like a raped ape, and I rebuilt it myself...