Temporary Clutch Slipping Issue

[swilkins65]

2013 which I bought a year ago and just received it's first 20,000 mile service a month ago.  Bike hasn't sat unused but maybe two days at most and was a little over 23,000 miles as Saturday morning this last weekend when wife asked me to make a quick 10 mile round trip for her.  On the return trip while accelerating onto the interstate the bike seemed to loose clutch friction right after I shifted into 3rd.  I immediately backed off the throttle a bit and the bike seemed to accelerate but only when using minimal throttle.  Nursed it home and it was consistent in all gears where anything other than just very light throttle would cause slippage to occur.  Got it home and inspected what I could without breaking out the tools.  Temps were fine, oil level still clear and full, just no visible exterior signs of an issue.  Let the bike cool a bit and take it back out for a short run of just over a mile and same result; back home again.  Now all of this is occurring this last Saturday when I'm scheduled to ride 400ish miles from home to Los Angeles.  So I get the bike loaded up and make a few offerings to the heavens followed by prayers and hopes for a miracle.  Get on the bike and start off and its still doing the same thing; convince myself to turn around and come home and cancel my plans and get stuck at another light.  So by this time the bike has gone maybe 15 miles since the original event and has been through every gear multiple times.  Well light turns green and its all back to normal so after a few minutes I talk myself into being a risk taker and head towards the interstate for the trip to Los Angeles.  Just got back home this afternoon and the issues never showed up again after about 1,000 miles logged and up and down thru every gear dozens of times.  So my guess at the moment is that some piece of debris got caught in-between a couple clutches for a period of time but managed to work itself out again and I'm guessing Ive got a couple damaged plates but that as long as the same thing doesn't happen the bike will continue to perform for me like its done for this last year.

So has anyone else had a similar event?  Should I immediately just throw the funds at it to replace the clutch pack and whatever makes sense to do while I'm in there?  Love to hear what others think.  I'm personally leaning towards just driving it for a while until the fall temps come back and I can spend a weekend working on it without needing EMTs on standby (I live in Phoenix where the summer heat is already starting to settle in and my riding days will be more limited until the fall).

[1098gracy]

I just picked up a2016 , and the clutch stopped working completely, started slipping about 10 miles from the shop, and then clutch would not release. Stopped bike removed lever to allow plunger to fully release. And work fine back to the shop. They changed slave cylinder and rebuild master cylinder with genuine  new triumph parts, all seems fine now.

[digital]

  to the forum.

1098gracy,

Indeed it is what usually fails when the clutch stops working.
When I go on long trips I always take a new slave cylinder with me.

[swilkins65]

Wouldn't the most likely symptom of a bad slave cylinder be that the clutch can't be disengaged from the engine (leak in the slave cylinder causing hydraulic pressure to not be maintained) or possibly a stuck/sticking piston that isn't allowing the hydraulic pressure from being released?  This definitely wasn't the first option; I suppose it could of been the second and the clutch was never getting full spring pressure to the plates.

[Coconut]

It's definitely a good idea to check, clean and grease
the Clutch and Front Brake lever pivot points occasionally.

They can accumulate a fair amount of "gunge" and start to seize up if the grease dries out.

If the Clutch lever was not free to move, it is conceivable that after operating it
( squeezing the lever ) it would not return to its original position and could cause the clutch
to remain fully or partially disengaged.

Mine started to do this, and I asked a Dealer to look at it during a scheduled Service.

I was assured that all Levers, pivots, Footrests etc. would be lubricated during the Service,
and I also paid to have the Brake and Clutch fluid changed, which would have required multiple
operations of the Clutch Lever, not to mention during the Test Ride they carry out after every service.

I no longer use or recommend that Dealer because ( amongst other reasons ) they didn't touch it,
even though the "Check Sheet" had been ticked to say that they had, and returned it to me like this :

eature=share

I took it apart myself when I got home :



It wasn't all bad news though - at least the Check Sheet also showed that
they had lubricated and adjusted the CHAIN for me,
which I must admit I hadn't expected them to do !     

[STJIM]

My bet would also be on a sticky clutch slave cylinder piston.  It looks easy enough to remove and check for the build-up of crud.  You wouldn't believe what my old ST1100 clutch slave cylinder piston looked like when I did a PM check on it.  It wasn't sticking but it seems like this should be a PM check on MC's with a hydraulic clutch.

I would think if the piston is sticking,  then the clutch lever should feel abnormal when "worked".

[sin_tiger]

Take care not to lose the brass ferrule for the push rod pin, if it's as free as it should be, it'll just fall out  It can be another source of resistance that just adds to general tightness of the moving parts.