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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Sprag Clutch

I rented a trailer Saturday, loaded up Lucy and went to Saturday morning coffee to tell my story before going to the Triumph shop.




Of course, nobody wanted to leave the comfort and warmth of the coffee shop to come outside and assess the situation except for Andy. You can always count on Andy and I do value and appreciate his vast knowledge on damn near everything, (remember he discovered and came to my rescue regarding my rear wheel bearings).
We thumbed the starter, confirmed the battery was flat and headed next door to Les Schwab to jump start the bike. Unfortunately the starter just skipped and spun, when it did catch she just wouldn't start and Andy recommended we take it to Rod, so we were off to Eugene.



I received the phone call from the shop today with the diagnosis on Lucy's ailment.

See the white Tiger 1050? Yeah, me too.


These calls always start with good news, Louis said he charged the battery and she was running.

"You did not just say that" I said. "I had it on the charger overnight, tried bump starting it and attempted a jump start with Schwab's service truck".

He fessed up and said he did fiddle with a few things, "adjusted a sensor", unplugged the headlights and the starter kept spinning but when it did eventually catch she started.

Now the bad news.

She needs a new Sprag clutch as these were a defective part on these motors and a new updated part would require a modification to the cover. Since I am not an expert on the fine art of modifying clutch/engine covers I gave him the go ahead to order the part and replace it. I did discuss this possible scenario with my CFO last night and she pre-approved the necessary funds if need be. The battery has a lifetime warranty and I will go back to the shop Saturday to have that replaced and talk to Louis in person to get a better idea of what he found.


Here is a little write up of the work required from Bowl of Mice.

From Clegg of Triumphrat.net










13 comments:

  1. Troubadour - you know your girl! She will be much happier when she is fixed. I am glad Trobairitz approved the financial part. So when do you get her back?

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  2. The starter clutch was an easy call and something told me it was a sensor. It'll be a week for parts and another week for labor to re and re so I hope to have her back the 21st. I'll have more details Saturday.

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  3. The procedure you linked to seemed straightforward enough but I think you made the right call as to having it done by the shop, that was a lot of pieces to remove!

    Seems a bit complicated of a design to me.

    Glad you know now what the fault was...a sensor...motorcycles are just too complicated these days...hard to troubleshoot a dang sensor without a plethora of parts and/or specialzed testing equipment.

    Dom

    Redleg's Rides

    Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner

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  4. I hope they gave you more information than just "adjusted a sensor" as that was the problem that would keep you on the side of the road. The failure of the sprag clutch may have been accelerated by the hard starting. The new part looks expensive let alone the labor...

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  5. Troubadour:

    I don't know much about mechanics so I leave it to the experts. Lucky thing the CFO likes you . . .

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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  6. Dom, I do appreciate EFI over carbed bikes but when they breakdown it is never a simple repair let alone to diagnose.

    Richard, I'm not much for telephone conversations so I'm headed back down there Saturday to talk to him in person and get a better idea of what failed.

    Bob, I am so lucky my CFO let's me have whatever I want. It's a good thing I'm 'frugal' or I'd have a garage full of toys.

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  7. Bikes are getting so complex. Of course, I didn't much understand them before so it hasn't been a big change for me.

    Hopefully this will take care of the problem and not be too painful to the family purse.

    I would hate to be without my bike for so long. I've got to get crackin' on getting a spare.

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  8. Does the white 1050 start easily??? :)

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  9. Keith, it is a hit to the budget but it is still less than a new bike. It is difficult to go without my bike for two weeks but I am fortunate to have a spare.

    Ken, don't think that it hadn't crossed my mind. It is his demo bike but it is still out of my price range and I don't particularly like payment books.

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  10. That sucks! I hate to see Lucy all trailered up with a boo-boo. I hope she's up and running soon. Always helps when the CFO rides too! ;)

    Good that you have a spare. It's not the same, but it helps the time pass a little quicker.

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  11. Maybe the CFO needs a spare as well...

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  12. That white triumph is a beauty. Startling to see the resemblance to my R12R. :)

    I'm sorry she is out of commission for awhile. But will be good as new when she gets home.

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  13. I went down to the shop today and of course she fired right up. Mechanic things it misfired/backfired at startup and threw a code resetting the idle position making it difficult to start. It rarely happens but it does happen and I don't want it happening at a viewpoint stop on a forestry road a hundred miles from the nearest town so I still had him go ahead with the repair. The battery tested good, the clutch was ordered from Georgia so it should be here next week and I hope to have Lucy home next Saturday. If it isn't snowing of course.

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