Sign Up!
Login
Welcome to Motorcycle Thailand
Friday, August 22 2014 @ 08:32 AM ICT
 Forum Index >  Motorcycle Manufacturers >  Kawasaki Motorcycles New Topic Post Reply
 Kawasaki Vulcan 1600 loud transmission clunk
   |  Printable Version
By: Anonymous: Brown ()  Thursday, September 22 2011 @ 05:46 PM ICT (Read 2127 times)  
Anonymous: Brown

I have an Kawasaki Vulcan 1600 Classic with a good amount of kilometers on the clock. I bought it new and love it early but I'm worried that it might have a long-term health problem. The transmission makes a really loud clunk on the 1-2 shift. It has done this from the get-go. I've tried lots of stuff-shift fast shift slow, shift at low rpm, shift at higher rpm, preload the shifter before pulling the clutch – but alas, the same results: a really big clunk. I commute in city traffic, so I spend a lot of time shifting. Is this normal or am I need to start looking for a transmission surgeon?

The Kawasaki Thailand doesn't sell this model and doesn't want to service the bike.


       
  Quote
By: Anonymous: SD ()  Thursday, September 22 2011 @ 08:30 PM ICT  
Anonymous: SD

Quote by: Brown

I have an Kawasaki Vulcan 1600 Classic with a good amount of kilometers on the clock. I bought it new and love it early but I'm worried that it might have a long-term health problem. The transmission makes a really loud clunk on the 1-2 shift. It has done this from the get-go. I've tried lots of stuff-shift fast shift slow, shift at low rpm, shift at higher rpm, preload the shifter before pulling the clutch – but alas, the same results: a really big clunk. I commute in city traffic, so I spend a lot of time shifting. Is this normal or am I need to start looking for a transmission surgeon?

The Kawasaki Thailand doesn't sell this model and doesn't want to service the bike.




I believe you have answer your own question

A lot of city traffic commuting = A lot of gear changing

I believe you basically have used up the life span of the syncro rings and 1st to 2nd are generally the first to go

You don't say how many kms she has done but if more the 60,000 then my bet is on new syncro rings

+ maybe a new 1st and 2nd gear (if the hardfacing edges are worn off already)

The parts are cheap enough but the labour is a killer (full transmission pull down and rebuild

I do not know about the Vulcans models but has the 1600 got a different transmission than the Thai 900 models???

You could try looking for a low km used transmission (dropped bike etc) or post a parts wanted note on the Vulcan Forum

http://www.vulcanforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=15

Cheers

SD


       
  Quote
By: Flying Squirrel (offline)  Friday, September 23 2011 @ 03:14 PM ICT  
Flying Squirrel

It's warm here so go up one viscosity level on the transmission oil and at 1600 it should have lots of torque so avoid the problem by starting in second!

Forum Active Member
Active Member

Group Comfort
Level:
: +5

Registered: 04/23/10
Posts: 241
Location: Bangkok

Profile Email    
  Quote
By: ThaiDesign (offline)  Friday, September 23 2011 @ 03:42 PM ICT  
ThaiDesign

It's hard to say anything without actually hearing the sound, but in all likelihood, there is nothing wrong with your Kawasaki Vulcan 1600's gearbox. All of Kawasaki's big cruisers tend to make a clunking noise during the first-to-second shift, as do the gearboxes on many other large-displacement V-twin cruisers.

These bikes generally have a large ratio gap between first and second, so there is a considerable difference in the speeds of the engaging gears as they come in contact with each other. What's more, big V-twins produce large torque pulses, as Flying Squirrel said, that are delivered only twice every 720 crankshaft degrees and at uneven intervals. So for durability their transmission gears tend to be rather large and heavy – much more so than those in, say, a typical 1000cc sportsbike inline-four, which makes more horsepower but a lot less torque delivered four times ever 720 degrees at even intervals.

When two gears spinning at considerably different speeds engage, one of them has to match the speed of the other almost instantly; if those gears are heavy, as they are in the aforementioned big V-Twins, that engagement result in a distinct 'clunk.' Many of these some motorcycle also emit similar sounds during shifts between other gears; but those gears are smaller, lighter and not subject to such large speed differentials, so the clunks are not as loud.

Forum Active Member
Active Member

Group Comfort
Level:
: +26

Registered: 09/21/07
Posts: 276

Profile Email    
  Quote
New Topic Post Reply


 All times are ICT. The time is now 08:32 am.
Normal Topic Normal Topic
Locked Topic Locked Topic
Sticky Topic Sticky Topic
New Post New Post
Sticky Topic w/ New Post Sticky Topic w/ New Post
Locked Topic w/ New Post Locked Topic w/ New Post
View Anonymous Posts 
Able to Post 
HTML Allowed 
Censored Content 

Advertising


Poll

How many times have you crashed your motorcycle in the last three years?

  •  Never
  •  Once
  •  Twice
  •  Three times
  •  Four times
  •  Five times
  •  More than 6 times
  •  More than 10 times
This poll has 0 more questions.
Results
Other polls | 3,442 votes | 13 comments

TMEA MEMBER

Thai Motorcycle Enterprise Association

Events

There are no upcoming events

Motorcycle Thailand on Facebook

Motorcycle Thailand on Facebook

My Account





Sign up as a New User
Lost your password?