Question on clunk of transmission

[seaweed]

I understand that there is a clunk when first shifting into reverse or 1[SUP]st[/SUP]. This much I have gleaned from this Spyderlovers:spyder2: forums. But my question (okay 2 questions) are how loud should it be before I get worried. Second question is what is the cause, it is a sensor or misalignment of gears or what?:helpsmilie:
I have a 2015 RT SE6, the rpm is around 900 when I am shifting. Does not seem to make a difference if cold or warm. It may be my imagination but the clunking seems to be getting louder.

 

[mschlaikjer]

My 2014 does the same thing.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[4 MARIE]

Going from N into 1st, or N into Rev. Is a pretty noisy event alright. Doesn't seem to hurt anything. People
that come from a HD background (not me) are less bothered by it than most.
Strangely, the shift from Rev to !st has always been pretty slick for me.

 

[GeorgiaBill]

I read each of these posts about the clunk in the transmission. The consensus appears to be 'normal' which I interpret to be normal for a Spyder. Compared to the 6 motorcycles I have enjoyed this century the Spyder is very noisy. I did have a new 1982 GL1100 that was pretty noisy until I changed to synthetic oil, and I hope this happens with my SM6.

I read lots of comments about the shift to reverse being noisy but mine is very smooth here, plus if I downshift from 2nd to first at about 6 miles per hour it is also very smooth. Neutral to first is very noisy and the front wheels vibrate and lurch momentarily but the RPM remains steady.

'Normal' it may be, but it bothers me.

-Bill

 

[Chupaca]

Here's the thing..!!

Not familiar with the 6 speed but thought it was better than the 5 speed. The reason is the gear meshing. When in neutral the gears are not moving so when you engage the drive it slams into the gear box causing the clunk. Once the gears are moving they mesh or merge with no clunking cause they are all moving. So first and reverse will clunk the rest not so much...:thumbup:

 

[Luvs2Ride]

Read this tip on the board a while back and use it all the time to shift my 2012 RTS-SE5 from R to 1st... very smooth transition... Don't know if it applies to the SE6 or not but thought I'd post it in case:

I didn't know until just a couple of weeks ago or so, when someone here said it works, that you can shift from reverse to first by just holding down the shift paddle. I thought it didn't work because I hadn't been holding the paddle down long enough. But, I can push the paddle down twice and shift from reverse to first faster than by holding the paddle.

But, here's what I found works neat. If you push down the shift paddle as you are backing up, when you apply the brake and come to stop the bike will shift into first very quickly. This maneuver saves a couple of seconds and saves pushing the paddle twice. It won't attempt to shift until you are stopped.

Not an earth shattering trick by any means, but one of those things that alleviates a smattering of frustration and enhances the enjoyment of ryding a Spyder.

 

[Bob Denman]

It's about as normal as can be... :thumbup:

 

[Devious56]

I don't know how relevant this is, but I recently had a belt tensioner install on my RTL, and it seemed to do a good job of reducing the vibration caused by the belt resonating at certain frequencies. Yesterday, while talking to Spyder Comfort, and looking at my trike, we decided that my belt was a little tighter than necessary and loosened it by 1/2 turn of the adjusters, and then reset the belt tensioner. The thought being that by having the belt looser, the belt tensioner would be better able to control the belt tension and therefore the vibration. One my 100 mile plus ride home, this proved out to be true, or at least it had a positive effect on my Spyder, giving a smoother ride a slow speeds, smoother/quitter shifting, and no vibration up to 6,000 rpm and speeds up to 85 mph.

I know Can Am just raised the tension the belt can be adjusted too, but I'm always leary of putting too much of a load on bearings. I'm really not an expert, but have been riding belt driven Harley's since they first came out, and cautious of having the belt (or chain) too tight.

David

 

[seaweed]

Thanks Chupaca

Well at least the reason given by Chupaca makes some sense. But I am still a bit confused. I thought that the clutch was not engaged until the RPM reached a higher RPM than the idle speed that I shift from N to 1st or from N to R. When I shift up/down on the rest of the gears it is smooth shifting.

GeorgiaBill, Neutral to first is very noisy and the front wheels vibrate and lurch momentarily but the RPM remains steady.
Okay I will monitor if my spyder lurches when shifting from N to 1st or form N to R. Thanks.

 

[trikermutha]

Clutch plates sticking,belt tensions etc all affect the clunk and temperature. I found going to Amsoil cuts the clunk way down. JMT

 

[ingramwc]

:hun: Seaweed, did you really mean you shift at 900 RPM??? Or is 900 RPM your idle speed? The N to 1st or N to R shift, a clunk is normal.
Ride safe!:thumbup:

 

[seaweed]

The idle RPM is around 900 when I first shift from N to R or N to 1st. Sorry if there was a bit of confusion:bowdown:

 

[ARtraveler]

Like most others. That first clunk in the morning when the engine is still cold is usually the loudest. It has happened on all five of my :spyder2:s' and I have not had a tranny blow up yet.

If you focus on it, the clunk will seem to get louder and more ominous as time goes on. Like going down the road on your last gas and looking for a station, or thinking that a tire may be going low as you are out in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Elembytes]

I too have worried about this on my new 2015 RT-Limited

I just wonder if it (The clunk) does any damage to the transmission or hydraulic clutch etc, Surely the engineers took this all into consideration....right? That was one reason we upgraded to a 2015 and the 1330 ACE was there were so many improvements over the 2012 RTS-SE5-998 Rotax.

I was surprised by the clunk still being there---with the new system. SO like many, I do hope there is nothing going on that will damage or weaken or cut the reliability of this new bike.

ray:

 

[BajaRon]

The multi-plate motorcycle clutch never disengages completely. It is running in oil and when the oil is cold it provides more friction between the clutch plates meaning that it takes more force to get them to quit spinning. It all has to do with the constant mesh motorcycle gears. It's all been covered in other treads. The explanation is long and tedious. But if you ever saw a working transmission/clutch assembly it would all become much more clear.

Suffice to say. If your transmission stops clunking between neutral/1st, neutral/reverse, you may have a problem.

Temperature, the type of oil you use and the amount of slack in the drive belt will all affect how much clunk you get.

Some claim that holding your mouth just right helps!

 

[Koop]

The multi-plate motorcycle clutch never disengages completely. It is running in oil and when the oil is cold it provides more friction between the clutch plates meaning that it takes more force to get them to quit spinning. It all has to do with the constant mesh motorcycle gears. It's all been covered in other treads. The explanation is long and tedious. But if you ever saw a working transmission/clutch assembly it would all become much more clear.

Suffice to say. If your transmission stops clunking between neutral/1st, neutral/reverse, you may have a problem.

Temperature, the type of oil you use and the amount of slack in the drive belt will all affect how much clunk you get.

Some claim that holding your mouth just right helps!

:agree: If you understand how a motorcycle transmission with sliding gears and dog/slot engagement works, the clunk makes sense. There's no load on the dogs as they clunk into place in the slots, no damage is happening. The clunk is merely the inertia of the spinning gears being stopped as the dogs engage the slots.

 

[BajaRon]

:agree: If you understand how a motorcycle transmission with sliding gears and dog/slot engagement works, the clunk makes sense. There's no load on the dogs as they clunk into place in the slots, no damage is happening. The clunk is merely the inertia of the spinning gears being stopped as the dogs engage the slots.

What He Said! :thumbup:

 

[Bfromla]

Was worried as well I've had other bikes all have had a clunk but the spyder seems quite strong:dontknow: Checked all my fluids & tried waiting till warm see if that helpedopcorn: First visit to the dealer i made appoint to make tech explain why or what was going on I learned the initial clunk is the solenoid (SE5) locking gear arm followed by the gear getting into place. With the higher 998rpm idol 1300rpm it seems like a lot compared to the 500-700 my other bikes could idol at. But if the engine gets below the idol setting it CAN NOT engage the tranny:lecturef_smilie:
Hope this helps fell free to ask you own techs that you trust:2thumbs:

 

[flaggerphil]

It IS possible to over think some things. This is one of them.

 

[Jenfz09]

I have the same clunk. It seems smoother when rolling on the throttle when shifting and I don't get as much of a clunk. I just got an RT a few days ago, so this is based on 300 miles on a 2012 RT-S SE5. My Harley always clunked. My Yamaha sport bikes don't clunk at all.