Gearbox Thrust Bearing (With Pics)

[KLR600]

Well, I say thrust bearing but really I mean lack of! Here's the lowdown. (Bike is a 97 Yamaha XJ600N by the way)

A while ago I started experiencing rapid clutch wear, so much so that I'd adjusted the barrel adjuster on the clutch lever AND the engine barrel adjuster to their maximum within about 2 weeks. Everyone I spoke to was sure that it was just my cable stretching or something simple like that but I knew this wasn't the case. In the end the clutch was rendered useless. Pulling the lever had no effect whatsoever on the operation of the clutch (apart from it stopped the clutch basket rattle). I had to bump start the bike, change up and down the box without the clutch and hope I didn't have to stop on the journey as the bike would stall and I'd have to bump start again as starting the bike in neutral and knocking it into first obviously just stalled it.

Anyway, as it happens I've since bought a new bike but I'd very much like to keep the XJ for a work commuter and to teach the good lady how to ride on.

I finally started to get to work on it the other day with the help of Ghost from this forum and and we drained the oil and took off the clutch cover. Neither us really knew what we were looking at, so much checking against the pictures in my manual ensued. We got as far as taking the clutch plates off when we decided to re check against the illustration only to find that I had no thrust bearing at all and that there was swarf and metal shavings on the inside case of where the clutch plates are (sorry for lack of technical knowledge/terms). I'm pretty sure that while I was adjusting the barrel adjusters and my clutch was deteriorating rapidly it was really the thrust bearing eating itself and then it finally failed making my clutch useless.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/serenaur/IMG_9586.jpg

Cover off, shavings coming out of the hole in the middle.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/serenaur/IMG_9588.jpg

Inside of the cover... Definitley going to need to flush all the gunk out!

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/serenaur/IMG_9592.jpg

Springs, a bit rusty.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/serenaur/IMG_9590.jpg

Lots of shavings and filings here, you can even see whats left of the race of the disintegrated bearing

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/serenaur/IMG_9596.jpg

Plates, do they look ok?

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/serenaur/IMG_9593.jpg

More shavings.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/serenaur/IMG_9594.jpg

I'm worried about a few things. Firstly I'm worried that metal shavings and swarf may have worked it's way into where it doesn't need to be. It still rides fine with no loss of performance but I'm worried nonetheless. Secondly, although there is no thrust bearing I haven't ever ventured into the internals of a bike before so I don't know if there's anything else wrong with it, I'm going to replace the thrust bearing and see what happens after that. I'm not too keen to take it apart much further because it looks like an old clockwork watch in there and it scares the life out of me even contemplating taking it to bits.

I'm just after some feedback really, has anyone else ever experienced similar symptoms? Does it sound like I'm on the right track? What else should I be looking out for? Any feedback is much appreciated

Thanks,

Rob
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[binge]

The only place the shavings would of gone would be the Main crank bearing and any other "Splash fed" parts of the lower engine.
For oil to get to the top of the engine its got to be sucked up through the strainer, Then through an oil filter. So that should be okay.

Id give everything a clean up with some clutch cleaner, Maybe whip the sump off, and just spray everything down, Use a whole can of clutch cleaner and let it all drip dry.

Fit a new Release/thrust bearing, Slap the clutch back together after cleaning all the plates individually.

Put some fresh oil in and replace the filter, And see how you get on.
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[mattsprattuk]

i would be very worried about that swarf getting into the rest of the engine.

HOPEFULLY the filter would have got rid of metal lumps that size, but id really advise an oil and filter change.

i suggest take the sump off, check the oil strainer for metal bits etc.

i personally wouldnt run a bike the way yours is. and THATS saying something.
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Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[tatters]

I,ve had the thrust bearing fail on a CB400N before, found all the ball bearings in the clutch hub and flushed the engine a few times with paraffin for good measure.
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[petemell]

There is a lot of rust inside the bottom of this engine, trying to run it like it is could do it more harm than good. It could be flushed out but there would still be a lot of rust on the parts what would end up in the oil filter.

I would have a look for another engine and just use this one for spares.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Thrust bearing failure on the Divvy is pretty common. One went on mine on its way home from having bought it. Gear change became nasty, and playing at home I found that if you had it on the centre stand with the engine running in gear and the back wheel spinning then pulling the clutch stopped the back wheel almost immediatly (as though the brake was dragging , but the wheel span fine in neutral).

It also did it again to the guy I sold it to after not that many miles (I changed it for him).

The thrust bearings are only about £5.

I am a bit concerned where the remains would have gone in your bike. While the strainer would stop most stuff, anything that gets through it will go through the oil pump before the filter (and not all the oil goes through the filter, some will bypass it). I would take the sump plate off and clean up in there.

By the way the Haynes manual says to use engine oil on the bearing. The Yamaha workshop manual says to use molybdeum disulfide grease on them.

All the best

Keith
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[SoND]

Is it normal for the springs to go like that?

What's all the gunk around the casing?
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[Kickstart]

[KLR600]

Wow, thanks! Great advice as usual

It's been stood since the end of february because that's when I got my ZRX and I've only just got around to trying to sort this out now as I don't have a garage so I have to work on it outside.

Before it broke I used it to go to work on which is an 8 mile ride down the motorway and that was pretty much it as the weather wasn't too great so I wasn't doing much recreational riding. It's been kept outside in all weathers aswell.

Am I going to need to take the engine out of the frame to take the sump off? I've never been inside an engine before this so I'm a total noob to engine work and a bit apprehensive to go nuts and strip everything down to the last nut and bolt! Luckily this isn't my main bike anymore so I can afford to take a bit of time with it and do it right, sort of a mini project as there's a few other things that need doing on it, but every job I do on it has to be finished on the same day as I'm working on it on my drive so I need to have it all back together and rain proof for when I put it away.

Wemoto is coming up with £9 for a set of EBC heavy duty clutch springs so I'll probably get those to replace the rusted ones but no thrust bearing so I'm going to have to go and get ripped off at the local dealers for that. I have a can of brake and clutch cleaner lying around somewhere so I'll empty that into it aswell. absolutely 100% going to replace the filter aswell as it's only on it's second filter having covered over 30k miles...
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[Kickstart]

Hi

This was the thrust bearing from mine:-

https://www.alfa-pages.co.uk/TempPicture/thrustbearing.jpg

Nowhere near as bad as yours, but from first signs of trouble to that stage it had probably done about 50 miles (much of that on dual carraigeways so little use of clutch and gearbox).

Probably worth ordering a new washer at the same time (there is a washer between the pull rod and the bearing). Also check that the pressure plate is not damaged.

All the best

Keith
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[Ghost]

Shouldn't need to remove the engine from the frame but the exhaust downpipes will probably need to come off to remove the sump.

[sickpup]

[loply]

Just a quick point in case you overlooked it, when you replace the thrust bearing you'll also need a new hardened washer to go with it. From the pics it looks like that's gone AWOL?
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[Ghost]

You can't see the hardened washer in the pictures as it was stuck onto the base of the pullrod.

[ZRX61]

I'd be modifying that clutch assembly with a drill so more oil can get in there...

[stinkwheel]

When you've put it all together again. I'd be getting a load of cheap oil and doing several very short interval oil and filter changes.

Probably a good idea to fit a magnetic sump plug. Maybe even a magnetic oil filter cover.
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