clunking shifts aaarrrgg

geraldlanc

geraldlanc

Oct 14, 2011
176
71
Austin.TX
Name
Gerald
I have read all the oil threads I can and tried different shifting techniques to reduce the clunking when I shift the 08 1800, but still need advice. Can someone give me info on how to properly shift the tranny and does oil brand really make a difference? I have tried Mobil1 and Rotella T6.
Gerald
 
meredog said:
are you "pre-loading" --keep upward pressure on shift lever between shifts
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Yep...."and"....there is always some "clunking" associated with the V-Twin Transmissions (Hondas and Harleys), simply by the way the gears are cut. Gold Wings sometimes do it "slightly" too with no pre-loading.....ThumbUp
 
Clunky transmission that is the low side of the GL 1800 . coming off Suzuki sport bikes one gets to know a good transmission and smooth shifts and in my opinion the Goldwing lacks for both !! JMHO
 
Bill Reber said:
Clunky transmission that is the low side of the GL 1800 . coming off Suzuki sport bikes one gets to know a good transmission and smooth shifts and in my opinion the Goldwing lacks for both !! JMHO
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Finer, more tapered cut teeth in the Sport Bike Trannies, and much smaller gears (I've owned lots of em').....They don't have to handle the heavier loads and weights of the Large Touring Bikes..........ThumbUp
 
I have found that using 10w30 honda line oil is the answer,also dont over fill the oil..the clutch is in an oil bath ,too much oil makes the clutch sticky...try warming up the engine in neutral with clutch held in then rev the engine ,after it idles down see if it goes into 1 st gear easier with out clunk....I used to use 10w40 oil and had the same isue,It went away when I started using 10w30 honda oil
 
I've only put about 4000 miles on my Wing/Roadsmith but I've been very very concerned about the clanking between 1st and 2nd. It really sounds awaful!! I Have heard all kinds of solutions.

Someone on GL1800riders board says the solution is to use Honda dino 30W40 NONsynthetic oil.

Another solution is to disengage the clutch as much as possible, that is set the dial on the clutch lever at 1, but have to have big hands to pull the clutch then.

My Bike was in the shop last Thur. and talked to both the shop owner and tech, both whom own wings. They said pre-loading was the trick.

I drove about 150 miles on Friday and on Saturday I drove 300 miles, but all mountain roads so lots and lots of shifting. I had to really think about pre-loading, but it worked!! Sometimes NO NOISE at all. I did get some loud clanks between 1st & 2nd, if I pushed the bike hard, if I was trying to catch up with the group and shifted out of 1st say at 4500 RPM. But if shift out of 1st at 3000 RPM and pre-load with a fairly good force on the shifting lever, there was no noise at all. I'm so pleased, because the tranny rebuild/repair cost that GoldWingrGreg has posted on GL1800rider would mean a second morgage on my home.

You really need to think about the pre-load, but it works!
 
Put a significant amount of up pressure on your shifter BEFORE you shift, then as you throttle down and pull your clutch at the same time, the tranny will go up to the next gear with just a whisper.
 
Over the years I've found the GL1800 likes to shift smoothest at about 2000 rpm. I know it's a temptation to run it up higher but if you shift earlier and let that massive low-end torque do it's job I think you will be happier.

Also, since I started using AMSOIL 10w40 oil (any good 100% synthetic should work) it seems to be smoother.
 
Ya, I found on the VTX 1800, using Amsoil 10-40 helped make a smoother shift and less clunking...slowing down on the shift also helped (something like giving the clutch time to release), and making sure that the clutch lever is all the way depressed, and the engine revs down...preloading may also help.
 
Neutral to first all the bikes i ever had clunked, I had a Honda 929 a few years ago, And when i went into first, It sounded like hitting the cases with a sledgehammer with no damage to the tranny.:Shrug:
 
rhino 2 said:
Neutral to first all the bikes i ever had clunked, I had a Honda 929 a few years ago, And when i went into first, It sounded like hitting the cases with a sledgehammer with no damage to the tranny.:Shrug:
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That is what my victory sounds like-the mfg says it is normal! I still don't like it, it justsounds like sumpins is geting damaged!
 
Mine clunks 1st thing in the morning . After that ther is a slight click. I can shift at 3 grand or less with out using the clutch ( up shifting ) no noise.
 
On my 2012 my 1 - 2 shift sometimes gives a little clunk and the rest are fine, the 2 - 1 shift feels like a crunch. The 05 my friend has felt pretty much the same when I road it.
 
Unfortunately, our bike gearing does not have a feature called "synchromesh" which is used on all automobile transmissions - that is the main reason for the clunk. If Honda (and others) cut/ground their individual gears that way, we would not have the clunk but we would be paying a lot more for our bikes. The best way to eliminate the clunk (except in 1st) would be to "double clutch" the tranny (like we used to do on trucks in the old days). It sounds like the pre-load accomplishes that to a point. One last thought about pre-loading; if you put too much pressure on the shifter prior to clutch/throtle motion, it may cause the shifter "dogs" to bend and now you really have an expensive problem to repair the transmission. By the way, I started using T6 oil after the first two oil changes and noticed a big difference in the sound of the clunking. When the oil is cold, I have no clunk. But once it warms up, the clunk is still there but much more manageable than using the Honda OEM oil.
 
My experience:

Pull in clutch all the way, upshift to second - K-LUNK!
Pull in clutch 1/3 of the way, upshift to second - smoooth!
 
rhino 2 said:
Neutral to first all the bikes i ever had clunked, I had a Honda 929 a few years ago, And when i went into first, It sounded like hitting the cases with a sledgehammer with no damage to the tranny.:Shrug:
Click to expand...

I had a bad problem going into 1st gear from neutral on a Kawasaki 1500 Nomad I had when first started up. I found that if I worked the clutch in and out several times before putting in it into gear it wasn't nearly as bad.
 
Like everyone else has said " Clunk when shifting as you would anyother bike" menas a clunk from the GL. I found that Valvoline Synthetic did help with the occarional clunk as well as not filling all the way to the full mark. Patience when shifting really seems to be the key as much as anything
 
Trying to wrap my mind around why not filling to the full mark with oil will help with the 'clunk' problem. However, way more knowledge folks than me on this forum.
 
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