Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C-14, aka Kawasaki Concours-14, the new one :) => The Bike - C14/GTR 1400 => Topic started by: Jeremy Mitchell on April 12, 2012, 06:01:11 PM
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I was on my way to see my daughter's track meet this afternoon and I felt a slight "clunking" through the pegs and handle bars and thought to myself "now what did I screw up since the C14 is so dead nuts reliable?" I turned my music down on my Sena and slowed to pull over, and I started hearing a rhythmic clunking that at first sounded like it was coming from the front end [I guess the C14 is somewhat of a ventriloquist along with it's many other talents].
I put my bike on the side stand and got down on all fours and started peeking around the front wheel and radiator area, nothing out of the norm just lots of brake dust and dead bugs. Then I go around to each side and rear to find nothing. Now I am really scratching my head. Then the light bulb goes off, "put it on the centerstand you big dummy." I put in neutral and start rolling the rear wheel forward and don't hear anything so I start the bike and put it in 1st and the clunk makes itself known close to the output on the transmission.
Not sure if the output can clunk also but that seems to be where the noise is located. Needless to say, I will be visiting the dealer tomorrow. What really sucks is that the weather is so great and I will probably miss out on quite a bit of riding. Maybe I can sweet talk the service manager into letting my take an extended test ride on one of their used bikes. ;D Fat chance.
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Did you ever check it before this, Jeremy? I know I checked mine when this issue first came to light and didn't find any issues. It will be interesting to see what it is....
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It's all that black bed liner, the rear of the bike is having a hard time pushing all that slowness ;D
Best of luck with the dealer and a quick repair Jeremy.
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Did you ever check it before this, Jeremy? I know I checked mine when this issue first came to light and didn't find any issues. It will be interesting to see what it is....
I checked it before I bought it and there was zero clunk. It just popped up out of the blue today.
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Maybe the front splines are just dry?... Did you ever have it out for inspection and a little moly-grease?
If it is the u-joint they will change out the whole drive shaft... Only take. Few minutes to change out once they have the part
JJ
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How many miles on the bike? I moly grease the rear spline whenever the rear wheel is off and of course change the final drive fluid with every oil change. Is there other maintenance I should be doing on the shaft drive? Have about 23,000 miles on the bike. Should I pull the shaft and grease the front spline?
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Ive done the front of mine twice in 75,000 miles.. It was a little dry the first time at around 30K.. I dont even drain the differential, just unbolt it on the upper mount and drop it down out of the way... With the wheel off of course.
Follow the service manual... Easy peasy
JJ
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I have 45,000 miles and have lubed the splines twice. Hopefully tomorrow the service department will be able to answer my questions.
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Geez, now I gots to look at mine again.
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I guess I should check mine, I did paint the shield black. Nah, I trust in the awesome system known simply as "KIPASS".
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I'll be keeping an eye out on this thread, as I have on 08 as well.
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Yeah, 'cause terrorizing a community just doesn't work unless there is a community.
;D
Geez, now I gots to look at mine again.
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Just as an aside, the drivetrain really cannot be tested with the bike on the centerstand because the rear wheel hangs down much further than it does normally. That creates much sharper angles in the drivetrain (driveshaft really) that are just not present when riding the bike.
Best of luck getting to the bottom of the problem.
Brian
I was on my way to see my daughter's track meet this afternoon and I felt a slight "clunking" through the pegs and handle bars and thought to myself "now what did I screw up since the C14 is so dead nuts reliable?" I turned my music down on my Sena and slowed to pull over, and I started hearing a rhythmic clunking that at first sounded like it was coming from the front end [I guess the C14 is somewhat of a ventriloquist along with it's many other talents].
I put my bike on the side stand and got down on all fours and started peeking around the front wheel and radiator area, nothing out of the norm just lots of brake dust and dead bugs. Then I go around to each side and rear to find nothing. Now I am really scratching my head. Then the light bulb goes off, "put it on the centerstand you big dummy." I put in neutral and start rolling the rear wheel forward and don't hear anything so I start the bike and put it in 1st and the clunk makes itself known close to the output on the transmission.
Not sure if the output can clunk also but that seems to be where the noise is located. Needless to say, I will be visiting the dealer tomorrow. What really sucks is that the weather is so great and I will probably miss out on quite a bit of riding. Maybe I can sweet talk the service manager into letting my take an extended test ride on one of their used bikes. ;D Fat chance.
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I don't think it hurts to inspect items when we hear of a potential issue like this, especially when it's so easy to do as part of yearly self maintenance program. When I checked mine the first time, all the clips were in place but the joint caps were somewhat movable.
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Lighten up Jim, I was just pulling your chain a bit. :-) Besides, I got caught up in the driveshaft 'terror' way back on the first go- around. I even took photos and posted them (that post sleeps with the fishes after the great forum purge of 2011). I think I was even the first one to find the trunion caps were a slip fit in the yokes which I still think is a bad idea. But just because something may or may not be real does not mean I cannot have fun with it.... I think Kirby would tell you not to worry about anything and just change your fob batteries regularly for all- powerful protection against everything.
Brian
I don't think it hurts to inspect items when we hear of a potential issue like this, especially when it's so easy to do as part of yearly self maintenance program. When I checked mine the first time, all the clips were in place but the joint caps were somewhat movable.
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I knew you were kidding. No harm taken, Brian. I appreciate all your help, insight, and humor. :thumbs: to you!
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@ B.D.F.: I realize that the suspension is unloaded and doesn't give a completely accurate representation of what is happening while I am riding. But, it is the exact same clunking sound that I am hearing (and feeling) while I ride. The biggest thing may be the location along the driveshaft where the clunk is happening. I will be calling the dealer in an hour or so but until then I will probably pull the cover and do a little investigating before I leave.
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I could actually hear my driveshaft clunk while pushing the bike, forwards or backwards. Lubed 'er up and all was quiet again.
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Yeah, that sounds like a well developed clunking if you can feel it when riding.
There have been a couple of driveshaft failures on these bikes, one was catastrophic and the cause was not determined if I remember right (it spit parts out on the highway so hard to diagnose) and the other caused a ripped bellows due to the C- clip slipping out from the trunion. There has also been at least one bevel drive bearing failure that I know of and it would probably be impossible to find that problem vs. a driveshaft noise until the parts were broken down and inspected. Any significant shock to the driveline will radiate noise and vibration everywhere (in the drive train) so it would be hard to locate the source.
The normal 'tinking' noise in C-14s has been due to the front spline on the driveshaft being dry. Grease in the splines just deadens the impact of the splines as they shift from side to side so the noise disappears but it does not really cure any problem because there was no problem to begin with.
By the way, I am not making fun of your drive train clunk, just the occasional herd reaction to reports of <mostly> phantom problems. You know this or you would not have posted using the title that you did. :-) What is really comical is that some folks pick up on things like reports of driveshafts making a tinking noise and go on to report that they too have the 'common' or 'well known' driveshaft problem.
Brian
@ B.D.F.: I realize that the suspension is unloaded and doesn't give a completely accurate representation of what is happening while I am riding. But, it is the exact same clunking sound that I am hearing (and feeling) while I ride. The biggest thing may be the location along the driveshaft where the clunk is happening. I will be calling the dealer in an hour or so but until then I will probably pull the cover and do a little investigating before I leave.
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Great 'cause I really do like poking fun at most things. OK, everything. :-)
And I really like this new tougher forum. Remember the way it was for a while with all that hand- wringing, usually about things that have not even happened but <may> happen in the future or <might> have occurred in the past? Now it seems that with this new, rough and tough user group people even ride in the rain and then don't change the air filter right away.... livin' right on the edge I tells 'ya.
Brian
I knew you were kidding.
<snip>
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And I really like this new tougher forum..... livin' right on the edge I tells 'ya.
Brian
YEP, and some folks actually venture out with ONLY ONE FOB in thier pocket.....
I heard tales that some crazy folks actually put the FOB-it in Their WIFE's pocket......ohhhhhhhhh the humanity...... :rotflmao: :yikes:
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I always have one FOB since two would just be overkill. I would rather ride than wring my hands and shuffle around the garage like "Mary Jane TinklePants". I wish I didn't have this problem but it is there so I will put it in the dealer's and MamaKaw's hands. I'm sure my bike will be fixed properly and hopefully in a timely manner.
The service manager said he would have my bike back to me ASAP since he knows that I commute on it. He said they have about 20 other jobs in front of mine but he said they would go ahead and tear it apart tomorrow and try to get the work approved and parts ordered by Tuesday.
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Time for a new bike. :)
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Time for a new bike. :)
Only if I can find a new 2008. Any other color or year would feel wrong.
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You got that right! According to Kawasaki the most fun bikes are the 08/09s.
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You got that right! According to Kawasaki the most fun bikes are the 08/09s.
Yep, our speed limiters reside on the other side of the bed ;)
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I heard tales that some crazy folks actually put the FOB-it in Their WIFE's pocket......ohhhhhhhhh the humanity...... :rotflmao: :yikes:
Say it aint so!
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Final verdict................ drumroll please..........
Dry splines. Pretty anticlimatic, huh? They were lubed late last summer, but I guess I ride enough that I should add some grease more than once a year. They also said the rear wheel bearings were on the way to going bad. Hmmm, shoddy All Balls bearings or did I screw them up when I installed them? I do remember that the front bearings were quite a bit easier to install than the rear. All of this was covered by the GTPP. I figured that I would at least be on the hook for the bearings but Stahlman Powersports in Rolla really took care of me and my bike on this one.
Back to your normal oil/tire/KiPass thread. ;D
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Well.... you should NOT be able to feel 'dry splines' clanking through the bike. As I remember, you said you could feel the knock....? But if a finger full of grease 'cured' it I guess that was the root problem.
One thing I am not so sure about is the seemingly relaxed attitude you now have. I think you might be underreacting in the face of good news. Perhaps you should think for a moment that something like greasing the splines too often could result in too much inertia in the driveshaft thereby resulting in too much wear on the bevel gears? Hmmmmm? Just because something horrible is not happening right at the moment, there is no need to stop worrying about what you may be doing to cause something horrible to happen in the future. And then there is the possibility that something you are not doing might cause something horrible to happen in the future. With all these possibilities, is it really reasonable to stop worrying entirely?
;D All in good fun Jeremy. Glad it turned out to be nothing.
Brian
Final verdict................ drumroll please..........
Dry splines. Pretty anticlimatic, huh? They were lubed late last summer, but I guess I ride enough that I should add some grease more than once a year. They also said the rear wheel bearings were on the way to going bad. Hmmm, shoddy All Balls bearings or did I screw them up when I installed them? I do remember that the front bearings were quite a bit easier to install than the rear. All of this was covered by the GTPP. I figured that I would at least be on the hook for the bearings but Stahlman Powersports in Rolla really took care of me and my bike on this one.
Back to your normal oil/tire/KiPass thread. ;D
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I never said this was the "be all, end all." I just posted what the dealer found. But if something else does go wrong, I still have over two years of the GTPP remaining. Possibly some of the "clunk" was due to bad bearings? Either way I am picking my bike up today and plan on riding it like I usually do. Fingers crossed..........
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Final verdict................ drumroll please..........
Dry splines. Pretty anticlimatic, huh? They were lubed late last summer, but I guess I ride enough that I should add some grease more than once a year. They also said the rear wheel bearings were on the way to going bad. Hmmm, shoddy All Balls bearings or did I screw them up when I installed them? I do remember that the front bearings were quite a bit easier to install than the rear. All of this was covered by the GTPP. I figured that I would at least be on the hook for the bearings but Stahlman Powersports in Rolla really took care of me and my bike on this one.
Back to your normal oil/tire/KiPass thread. ;D
Oh, crap. Where's my dang maintenance manual. Guess I'll spend this weekend doing the lubey thing. :o