I recently bought a "99" vulcan 1500 nomad, It has a little over 16,000 miles on it. It was "Sitting" for over 2 years in storage when i bought it. The clutch was slipping very bad, so i had a shop put new fibers, plates and springs into it. They purged the line as well. After $900 I picked it up and wow what a power house, well for atleast 8 miles if that. The clutch was slipping again. so I purged the line at the slave cyclinder, as well as cleanned the master cylinder of any debris. I to her back out and still have slippage bad not as bad. seems when its cold it rund perfect. but when it get hot and I stop for a break turn it off and when i come back to ride again it wont move. Can some one give me any suggestions? I am at a loss here.
Clutch problem with my 1999 vulcan 1500 nomad
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Sounds like you still have crud clogging the (small) holes in the bottom of the master cylinder reservoir. Sometimes you have to pull the piston to get all the crud out.
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Might try the traditional "pull lever, open bleeder, close bleeder, release lever, repeat as necessary". I don't always get the best results with a vacuum bleeder (Mityvac).
Edit: Sounds like you've done the right things. Also sounds like the the clutch release may be building pressure. It can only do this if it's not bleeding fluid back into the reservoir. Either the bleed port is clogged or the master cylinder piston is not moving back far enough to open the port.
Simple test: Remove the master cylinder cover. Pull the clutch lever GENTLY. During the very first part of the lever movement you should see fluid coming out of the bleed port. It will cause a "bulge" in the surface of the fluid in the reservoir. Pull faster and it will squirt fluid. If you see fluid from the port look elsewhere for your clutch problem.
Edit: Sounds like you've done the right things. Also sounds like the the clutch release may be building pressure. It can only do this if it's not bleeding fluid back into the reservoir. Either the bleed port is clogged or the master cylinder piston is not moving back far enough to open the port.
Simple test: Remove the master cylinder cover. Pull the clutch lever GENTLY. During the very first part of the lever movement you should see fluid coming out of the bleed port. It will cause a "bulge" in the surface of the fluid in the reservoir. Pull faster and it will squirt fluid. If you see fluid from the port look elsewhere for your clutch problem.
Hi, I'm new to the group. I ride a 2004 Nomad and I'm having the exact same clutch issues that are described in this thread, I realize that it's an old thread but hopefully the originator is still around.
What was the final fix for your clutch slip? Did they rebuild the master cylinder?
Cheers.
I had taken it a kawasaki dealer. They replaced the clutch. It's been running awesome. I had a shop who claimed they knew what they were doing. Lol. But they didn't. So long story short. Master cylinder was fine . And Kawasaki dealer is good. So take your bike to an authorized dealer and have it looked at.
Thanks for the reply. Looks like I'm in for a new clutch. Did you go with stock parts or did you have them install a Mean Streak clutch spring? I'm told the MS spring being a bit more robust will give better performance.
I went with all original parts. I had asked the kawasaki dealer about that and he said to keep it all original. So happy I went to dealer. A new new clutch set me back about 700. But money will spent. . Now I have a great bike. Alot of power and good times.
I ended up rebuilding the clutch master cylinder and slave. Wow, it's like a new bike, the clutch grabs no problem and no slipping after it warms up. It appears the seals on the piston assembly in the M/C were failing.
This appears to be a common problem as I've seen it posted on a few different forums.
As posted by BillyBobby; "Simple test: Remove the master cylinder cover. Pull the clutch lever GENTLY. During the very first part of the lever movement you should see fluid coming out of the bleed port. It will cause a "bulge" in the surface of the fluid in the reservoir. Pull faster and it will squirt fluid. If you see fluid from the port look elsewhere for your clutch problem."
When I checked mine it didn't squirt, after the rebuild it shot about 6 feet across the garage. :shock:
This appears to be a common problem as I've seen it posted on a few different forums.
As posted by BillyBobby; "Simple test: Remove the master cylinder cover. Pull the clutch lever GENTLY. During the very first part of the lever movement you should see fluid coming out of the bleed port. It will cause a "bulge" in the surface of the fluid in the reservoir. Pull faster and it will squirt fluid. If you see fluid from the port look elsewhere for your clutch problem."
When I checked mine it didn't squirt, after the rebuild it shot about 6 feet across the garage. :shock:
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A little late to the party but what did the rebuild of the two cylinders cost you?
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We have not seen toogun for many years. I recently rebuilt my clutch master cylinder with new piston and seals. Got the rebuild kit from the dealer for $50 CDN so about $38 USD. It fixed all my problems so I did not have to rebuild the slave cylinder.
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