Is this Free Play in the drive train normal??

I noticed on my 2021 Spyder F3 Limited, that I have what seems to be a fair amount of free play in the drive train. Like when I am going down the street in 1st gear and let up on the throttle then back on the throttle slowly I feel this free play. I tried this in my garage with the bike in 1st gear and engine off then rock the bike back and forth by hand an inch or two, I feel and hear the free play. It seems to be inside the transmission. Has anyone else noticed this? The bike only has 500 miles on it. Just wondering if this is normal.

normal

For most 'rotating together' type mechanical things to work, there has to be some degree of clearance between the various parts or they bind & lock solid (sooner or later! :p ). The more complex things become & the more components there are between the input & the output, the more each of the relatively small amounts of movement between each of those components adds up, so much so that when you've got a LOT of components like in our Spyder's, the end result is felt as 'freeplay' - is that what you're feeling..... bearing in mind that there MUST be SOME!! :lecturef_smilie: So it all comes back to the question of 'how much is alright, & how much is too much & exactly how much freeplay do you actually have?? :dontknow: At the most basic level, if you're only moving your Spyder an inch or maybe 2", then it's almost certainly normal & allowable! :thumbup:

But then you could delving a little deeper, initially by asking "is that with the Park Brake ON or OFF??" :rolleyes: Why that question you might ask?? Well, if your Spyder is a Limited, then it's probably going to have the SE6 transmission...(can you still even get a manual gear select Spyder??) and the SE's (Semi Automatics that are actually manual trans with a trick clutch and Electric/hydraulic gear Shifting ;) ) come with an electric/solenoid over hydraulic clutch that disengages when it's triggered by the solenoids activated by the selector, then uses engine oil based hydraulics, ie oil pressure to hold it engaged; so the moment you shut down the engine & you lose oil pressure, if you haven't set the Park Brake to ON then you should be able to roll the Spyder freely even if it is still in gear!?!? :lecturef_smilie: . Sure, there may be a little initial resistance to rolling it far, due to oil adhesion & stiction et al, but you should be able to fairly easily push past that & roll your Spyder anywhere once the engine & Park Brake are OFF, cos even though it might still be in gear, the clutch is disengaged - so it's just like leaving your manual bike in gear & pulling the clutch lever in to move it - it rolls! :thumbup:

Another thing is that this electro/hydraulic clutch arrangement can also see the clutch releasing (only partially maybe?!? ) at slow speeds/revs when you back off the throttle due to the subsequent drop in oil pressure, giving you a sense of 'free rolling' for a moment or two, then when you wind in more throttle & increase the engine revs & therefore the oil pressure too, that momentary feeling of 'rolling freely' is replaced by a feeling of it all 'taking up & accelerating again' - all of which is also normal..... So I come back to the question, what exactly is it that's happening in your circumstances to make you think this is freeplay?? :dontknow:

So far, from your description, everything sounds normal, even if it does seem that there might be some room for discussion/confusion about the cause of what's actually happening.... :p Can you provide us with any more detail/a more complete description?? ;)

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Originally Posted by BigDH

I noticed on my 2021 Spyder F3 Limited, that I have what seems to be a fair amount of free play in the drive train. Like when I am going down the street in 1st gear and let up on the throttle then back on the throttle slowly I feel this free play. I tried this in my garage with the bike in 1st gear and engine off then rock the bike back and forth by hand an inch or two, I feel and hear the free play. It seems to be inside the transmission. Has anyone else noticed this? The bike only has 500 miles on it. Just wondering if this is normal.

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I think what you are feeling is normal, and is more of a throttle delay than free play that you feel. There is a bit of a throttle delay. There are products like throttle commander ect. or other things that can take that out if you want to have a quicker no lag throttle response. I'm sure some of the other members can tell you about that.

Thank you, for the lengthy description of what is all going on here. I think what I am feeling and hearing is what you are explaining. When I was doing this in my garage. I started the bike to get it in first gear then made sure the park brake was off, and shut the bike off leaving it in first gear. Then when rocking the bike back and forth the inch or two I could feel the free play. It did as you said, I could move it further past this free play easily even thought it was in first gear. but feel this free play before the point where I was pushing it against the drag of the clutch. I do believe this a normal thing with this transmission. The next time i get to a dealer I will ask to do this with a like model on the showroom floor to compare.

Testing signature

^^^^ I like the signature!!

Below 1500 rpm or so, the SE6 disengages from the engine power. You can feel this when you come to a stop. The last few feet before the stop are in a disengaged or "freewheeling" mode.

If I'm not mistaken, the SE6 transmission shifts to neutral when the engine is shut off.

I'm not sure if it should be characterized as free play, or just an acknowledgement that the different parts of the drivetrain disengage from each other under certain speed and load conditions. Either way I consider it Spyder-normal.

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Originally Posted by RideOn

Below 1500 rpm or so, the SE6 disengages from the engine power. You can feel this when you come to a stop. The last few feet before the stop are in a disengaged or "freewheeling" mode.

If I'm not mistaken, the SE6 transmission shifts to neutral when the engine is shut off.

I'm not sure if it should be characterized as free play, or just an acknowledgement that the different parts of the drivetrain disengage from each other under certain speed and load conditions. Either way I consider it Spyder-normal.

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Sorry RideOn, but the SE6 (& the SE5 for that matter ;) ) only shifts to Neutral on START UP, not when the engine shuts down. :thumbup: . The SE6 clutch disengages when the engine/trans oil pressure drops, while the SE5 clutch disengages when the revs drop below about 2-3000 rpm, altho that one might not completely release until the revs are a bit lower. ;)

But that's not critical here, the important thing is that for any SE, the trans is STILL in gear UNTIL YOU START UP AGAIN, altho that's no issue tho, cos the clutch is disengaged until the engine/trans has oil pressure or revs as applicable to the SE6/5, & it's that initial Start-Up process that triggers the solenoids to initiate the change to Neutral. :ohyea: