"Ting" at end of clutch letout

[jforgo]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

My 1982 R100RT emits a high "ting" sound at the very end of clutch letout. Like a very high guitar string. This is in neutral as well as in gear. Of course, cannot hear it when running. Has anyone encountered this?

[20774]

I've not heard a ting, but I've occasionally heard a metallic scraping sound, somewhat like fingernails across a chalkboard. That sound is somewhat normal, as it's the fingers on the clutch spring as they move radially on the pressure disk. This can be muted some during a clutch refurb by putting the appropriate lube on the tips of the spring fingers.

I would try and use some kind of mechanics stethoscope to isolate exactly where the sound is coming from. Use a long screwdriver or even a wrapping paper cardboard tube. It might be something at the very back of the tranny where the clutch lever arm. It's possible it needs some lubing.

[jforgo]

The noise is from the clutch area.
i noticed on the drawing that the diaphragm spring has a little 3 arm affair which appears riveted on. When the spring lets off, if one of the finger has a bit of stiction, perhaps the final release shock is making the arm affair make a noise.
I am wondering if this is a concern?

[20774]

If you've got a good idea that the noise is internal to the clutch, rather than on the outside, then you're probably right that this might be the noise that's going on. BTW...what drawing are you looking at? Hmmm...I just realized you have the '82 model with the updated clutch carrier. I see a drawing in my Haynes which shows some kind of 3-prong spider which might be holding some kind of centering nut. I'm not quite sure what its function is. It's possible that this could be making the noise.

One thing that you might want to consider is lubing the input splines to the transmission. This should be done periodically. Typical symptoms for dry splines are lurching when shifting or the clutch grabs. The input disk with the female splines is supposed to smoothly glide on the male input splines of the tranny. If the disk hangs up for some reason, you'll get uneven engagement.

How many miles on the bike? I'd monitor the noise. If the clutch engagement gets worse and/or the noise changes, it might be time to pull the tranny and the clutch pieces. Not a real difficult job...probably 2-3 wrenches out of 5!!...with a few little tricks along the way.

[James.A]

From the world of un-likely, I had a clutch cable on my first airhead BMW break the the transmission end. Make sure your problem is not that. If it is this, you would find a few of the braided cable strands being drawn into the transmission cable end. Otherwise, I agree with the others and advise to monitor the situation closely. Something worth considering, your clutch cable MIGHT be 26 years old and might want to be changed anyway.

[jforgo]

I actually am pulling this open to do the splines. The bike is new-to-me, and that job is something which i assume is usually neglected. (As is sweetening up the throwout)
I tried levering the arm with the cable removed - sound definitely in clutch area.

Bike has 53K on clock - based on lacks of weepage, charging system behavior, other barely (in)tangibles I believe this might actually be accurate.

Since the clutch is engaging/disengaging well, no undue vibration, etc, it seems this noise is of little concern