jbculbreth149
New member
I have a '95 1100GS, 3rd owner, 54,000 miles. A while back I started noticing some clutch slippage stuff and figured it was time for a new one to be installed. I procrastinated a long time, due to my fears of the unknown clutch magic that happens. Turns out it was not that bad, just took a good while doing it. Used Chris Harris' 1100RT clutch video on Youtube. This was a great help, he takes you through all the tear down and rebuild steps giving great tips as he goes.
I finally got it all put back together and took it out for the first all day ride. It seems that the new clutch pack (clutch disc, pressure plates, and spring plate) from Beemer Boneyard was not the answer to my problems. The same slippage was happening like before, plus it was much worse in 1st gear from a standstill. Here are the slipping characteristics. It takes several seconds for the clutch to completely engage 1st gear once the lever is released when starting from a stop. Another way of looking at it is I cannot pop the clutch in 1st gear and spin the rear wheel. This slow engagement sometimes happens when shifting up to 2nd or 3rd gear. When cruising along in 3rd, 4th, or 5th, if I need to roll on throttle quickly to jump ahead or make a quick pass, it slips when I add throttle. This often leaves me hanging when i need a burst of speed. When I was coming home this afternoon, it was everything I could do to start at a light and get moving. Had to use high revs to get the clutch to finally engage. My driveway is pretty steep, but today was the first time I have not been able to get up the driveway in 1st. It started slipping completely halfway up. I had to stop and roll backwards to the road to try again. Once in the garage I could smell what I think was the clutch, similar to the smell of hot brake pads.
I put about 300 miles on it today, and these were the first real miles on the new clutch. I set the nuts at the shift lever to 12mm distance and the cable free play distance to 7mm, per BMW specs and what Chris Harris indicated in his video. So it should be set to go. There was no oil leakage on the old clutch when I pulled it out and the whole area seemed dry and clean (relatively), so I don't think there are any oil seals leaking. All the splines looked to be in good condition, though dry, so I did the spline lube for the drive shaft joints. Unfortunately I assumed the old clutch was bad, so I did not take a measurement to see if it was worn before tossing in the garbage.
As I thought about it today and this evening, it seems as though the clutch plates are not maintaining pressure on the clutch disc, even when the lever is fully released. I wondered if it might be something in the transmission, but am not sure how that would release pressure between the plates on the clutch disc. I am completely stumped on this one. I did a search on dry clutch issues prior to posting, but could not find anything similar. I have also searched ADVRider and posted a question there. What am I missing?
Thanks
Jack
Confused in Carolina
I finally got it all put back together and took it out for the first all day ride. It seems that the new clutch pack (clutch disc, pressure plates, and spring plate) from Beemer Boneyard was not the answer to my problems. The same slippage was happening like before, plus it was much worse in 1st gear from a standstill. Here are the slipping characteristics. It takes several seconds for the clutch to completely engage 1st gear once the lever is released when starting from a stop. Another way of looking at it is I cannot pop the clutch in 1st gear and spin the rear wheel. This slow engagement sometimes happens when shifting up to 2nd or 3rd gear. When cruising along in 3rd, 4th, or 5th, if I need to roll on throttle quickly to jump ahead or make a quick pass, it slips when I add throttle. This often leaves me hanging when i need a burst of speed. When I was coming home this afternoon, it was everything I could do to start at a light and get moving. Had to use high revs to get the clutch to finally engage. My driveway is pretty steep, but today was the first time I have not been able to get up the driveway in 1st. It started slipping completely halfway up. I had to stop and roll backwards to the road to try again. Once in the garage I could smell what I think was the clutch, similar to the smell of hot brake pads.
I put about 300 miles on it today, and these were the first real miles on the new clutch. I set the nuts at the shift lever to 12mm distance and the cable free play distance to 7mm, per BMW specs and what Chris Harris indicated in his video. So it should be set to go. There was no oil leakage on the old clutch when I pulled it out and the whole area seemed dry and clean (relatively), so I don't think there are any oil seals leaking. All the splines looked to be in good condition, though dry, so I did the spline lube for the drive shaft joints. Unfortunately I assumed the old clutch was bad, so I did not take a measurement to see if it was worn before tossing in the garbage.
As I thought about it today and this evening, it seems as though the clutch plates are not maintaining pressure on the clutch disc, even when the lever is fully released. I wondered if it might be something in the transmission, but am not sure how that would release pressure between the plates on the clutch disc. I am completely stumped on this one. I did a search on dry clutch issues prior to posting, but could not find anything similar. I have also searched ADVRider and posted a question there. What am I missing?
Thanks
Jack
Confused in Carolina
