2013 Voyager ABS Noise Low Speed

[seawolf]

Just asking if anyone has experienced a noise that is apparently noticeable at low speed when coasting to a stop. It also has a clunk/rattle noise when rolling backwards at a stop 🛑. It isn’t all the time. When I roll off from stop and back off the throttle there is a rattle. So, would this be a clutch problem? Or a transmission problem? Or is it something else that someone has identified. And I have 118000 kilometres on this bike.
Tranny has the normal shift sound when shifting up and down. Nothing abnormal there and I’ve changed out front pulley, belt and rubber dampeners on rear pulley at 90000 kms.

I’m leaning to clutch as it isn’t a noise that is always apparent.

[Snake Ranch]

Originally Posted by seawolf

Just asking if anyone has experienced a noise that is apparently noticeable at low speed when coasting to a stop. It also has a clunk/rattle noise when rolling backwards at a stop 🛑. It isn’t all the time. When I roll off from stop and back off the throttle there is a rattle. So, would this be a clutch problem? Or a transmission problem? Or is it something else that someone has identified. And I have 118000 kilometres on this bike.
Tranny has the normal shift sound when shifting up and down. Nothing abnormal there and I’ve changed out front pulley, belt and rubber dampeners on rear pulley at 90000 kms.

I’m leaning to clutch as it isn’t a noise that is always apparent.

If it were me I would jack the rear wheel up off the ground and try the simulate the occurrence. Put the tranny in gear and spin it to see if you can duplicate the situation that generates the noise.

I have a mechanics stethoscope to help locate sound sources.

A wooden broom handle, a piece of pipe can work if the sound is loud enough.

Try to narrow down the source of the sound, where it is coming from.

That will go a long way to figure out the problem.

[seawolf]

Thanks for the answer. I have run it up on a jack. Can’t hear the sound As it was still hot. I will try when cold and I am using stethoscope.

[seawolf]

So I’ve used the stethoscope this morning and there appears to be no noise from the crankcase or any part of engine, frame, axle. When I have it in 1st gear up on the jack and apply the rear brake and almost stall engine there is a noise similar to wha I hear on the road.
I have also us rotated the rear wheel by hand with bike in all gears and there is about 5 degrees of rotation. Is that normal?

[Snake Ranch]

Originally Posted by seawolf

So I’ve used the stethoscope this morning and there appears to be no noise from the crankcase or any part of engine, frame, axle. When I have it in 1st gear up on the jack and apply the rear brake and almost stall engine there is a noise similar to wha I hear on the road.
I have also us rotated the rear wheel by hand with bike in all gears and there is about 5 degrees of rotation. Is that normal?

I never checked it on my skoot, but remember there is backlash in the gear train and such that will allow the wheel to move when the trany is in gear.

I know it is difficult when working by yourself but it might be necessary to get some help so you can pinpoint the source of the noise when dragging the brake.

One thing I would ask is what is the engine RPM when you hear this noise?

You can get an engine pulsation when the ground speed is slow and you are in to high of a gear.

If you are going real slow 1 st gear would be to high and cause an engine pulsation that could show up in another part of the power train

You might try declutching a little sooner so you are not lugging the engine when going so slow.

Just a way of eliminating a process of riding.

This trouble shooting, a lot of times, involves a process of elimination.

[seawolf]

I get the noise when rolling backwards and then when I moving forward the sounds occurr at a stop, so slow rolling and at idle. The clutch is pulled in at these times. I’ve noticed that the brake caliper has movement. A wee bit more than a buddies with 1/2 the kms. I’m going to replace the shoes to see if that fixes it. Long delivery for parts right now ��
Also, took the rotor measurements and they are getting to the minimum thickness. ��

[Snake Ranch]

Originally Posted by seawolf

I get the noise when rolling backwards and then when I moving forward the sounds occurr at a stop, so slow rolling and at idle. The clutch is pulled in at these times. I’ve noticed that the brake caliper has movement. A wee bit more than a buddies with 1/2 the kms. I’m going to replace the shoes to see if that fixes it. Long delivery for parts right now ��
Also, took the rotor measurements and they are getting to the minimum thickness. ��

One thing to keep in mind is the brake pads have a little clearance in the calipers and you will get a small noise when the brake pads grab the rotor and move in one direction or the other. I know my skoot does this on the front.

Part of the brake caliper is supposed to move, that's how it grabs the brake pads and rotor. Another thing to look for is deflection, that's going to be a normal reaction to the pressure applied to the brake lever.

You might be grabbing the brake lever with more pressure than your buddie.
Try sitting on his skoot and you apply the brake a see what you get for movement.

Another thing, some brake rotors are free floating and they have movement. It's a design characteristic, meaning that is normal and OK.

I don't know what your skoot is set up with or if it has been converted to the free floating performance rotors.

Stay with it and you will get it figured out.

[vvbluerider]

My bike has 51,500 miles and a drivetrain noise has suddenly appeared that is really horrible. It happens when the bike decelerates and it also occurs when the clutch is pulled in while coasting. There seems to be a ticking sound and other times it goes into a howling sound that would make people's head turn while going down the road.

I noticed it gets a bit of a sound backing up too. I think that sound could be from the rubber dampers behind the rear sprocket being loose. At this point I believe the output shaft bearing is going into failure mode but at only 51.5K miles I find it hard to believe this bearing could be in failure mode.

Someone suggested washing ever part of the belt with dawn dish liquid and another guy said he took a sander and cleaned off the glaze along the side of the belt and later cleaned it with acetone (that sounds like a very bad thing to do).

So the real question is this....has anyone had an output shaft bearing failure and what were the symptoms that showed up when this happened? Curious at what mileage this bearing starts to fail. Hopefully it is something else because I heard replacing the output shaft bearing is a big job??? > $2k in shop labor and parts?

[Peg]

Have a close look at your belt. If you're lucky, it might be that failing, with teeth cracked mostly right through. If you're not so lucky, the belt will be in good shape your suspicion of the bearings can be elevated.

I was "lucky", and my belt failed in this manner, chewing out the teeth on both sprockets as it did so.

Your comments about "howling, ticking, and backing up noises" make me suspicious of the belt, since those are all symptoms that I experienced as mine failed. Belt, sprocket, or output shaft bearing damage can all be caused by a belt too much at the top end of Kaw spec tightness. They've never acknowledged there's a problem outright with their specs, but we've all had much better results keeping the belt to HD spec instead of Kaw's.

[mbarr10]

Just tossing this out there, but do you have after market brake pads. ?? EBC ? some noise has been reported on occasion.

[vvbluerider]

I did replace my brake pads with EBC semi sintered pads. The sounds I have been experiencing are occurring without any braking applied. Are people getting 'ticking' sounds from their pads? I need to do a test ride and find out if loosening and cleaning the belt made any difference. While rotating the rear wheel on the stand there continues to be thunking sound almost as if an elastomeric component is releasing pressure. It is very difficult to determine where it is coming from. Seems like it could be in the wheel...and transmits to the front pulley. This one really has me stumped. Thinking it is time to let the local shop mechanics give me another opinion.

[Peg]

I saw a post on another forum from someone who found their front pulley had come loose. That's something that should be checked, & re-torqued to spec with a new washer installed, regularly.

[vvbluerider]

It seems this problem is very difficult to diagnose. I had a reputable shop mechanic drive the bike and he said there is a serious problem in the motor and he does not think it has anything to do with the output bearing. His suggestion was to pull the clutch over and start inspecting all the clutch components. I did this today and none of the springs or friction plates are out of spec. Not sure how much deeper I want to go as special tools are required to pull the basket and the clutch damper.

It almost had me thinking the hydraulic tensioner might not be applying enough pressure and the chain starts slapping around making a rather loud ticking along with some pretty bad clunking sounds. All this happened after the bike reached operating temperature. Another mechanic said the seals on the valves can cause loud ticking sounds after the motor heats up, but this problem seems to be present only while in coast or deceleration mode. To have a shop do a complete tear down is 18 hours of labor. Starting to wonder if I just bought a bad bike.

[vvbluerider]

Gentlemen,

After almost 2 months of troubleshooting on my 2011 Voyager 1700 ABS I discovered that the inner machining on the front belt pulley wheel was totally destroyed. Not only that, the failure of this pulley wheel caused SIGNIFICANT damage to the output shaft which requires the entire motor to be torn down in order to replace the output shaft.

What a catastrophic failure! You would think the engineers at Kawasaki would have designed this pulley to withstand the forces this pulley must endure.

My faith in Kawasaki motorcycles has really gone down the tubes. I must now decide if it is worth buying a salvaged motor or find someone to do the engine work. The prices for the tools to do the engine work are also ridiculous. Quite a racket these guys got going.

Sure wish Kawasaki Corporation would get their act together and offer customers a remanufactured motor to cover customers who have suffered significant financial loss from buying their products.

Yes, I am extremely upset this failure happened. If it happened at > 100K miles I would maybe say OK, but I have not even hit 52,000 miles. So much for Japanese quality.

[gv550]

Could you post some photos of this? I had the same failure (failed pulley and shaft) and was the result of a split tab washer. Mine was repaired within the warranty period at something over 150,000 miles but I was still quite disappointed too. I know of this happening to other bikes as well and I know my dealer has repaired a few that were beyond warranty and they were able to get Kawasaki Canada to pay for it.
Kawasaki knows of this issue, and if your belt tension has been maintained (hopefully by the dealer) and you don't have a trailer hitch................. I would pursue it (politely, at first) with them.