Ok, the ongoing saga of my clunk which seemed to come from the engine is apparently history. I've written about this extensively under this heading and also under 'Primary Drive Gear Noise'.
I said I ordered a new final drive on ebay (for 110, shipped) and swapped mine out. Yes, I know final drives never go bad. Before the swap, if I slowed for a curve and accelerated (or braked for a curve, or shifted and let the clutch out) I got a loud metallic thunk that seemed to come from the center of the engine (well, I likened it to the center stand swinging up and slapping the bike). Today I took the bike out for a 160 mile ride. Most of it was on straight, two lane state routes w/ a few curvy sections - not at all like the usual rides in rural Ohio with the guys I ride with. I deliberately braked, accelerated, slowed, accelerated, shifted and clutched, and there was NO noise.
Call me a doubting Thomas, but I'll believe it is really gone after a similar ride through twisties with a lot of up and down shifting. This may have to wait for the Mansfield RTE in about 3 weeks, but the next week or so looks like a lot of rain.
Btw, Kevin, the mechanic that I wrote about in my earlier posts pulled the cover off the original final drive and said I had excess lash* and needed to be rebuilt or replaced. He said an ebay swap would be much cheaper, so that's what I did.
*I forget the term he used - too much free play, whatever.
I said I ordered a new final drive on ebay (for 110, shipped) and swapped mine out. Yes, I know final drives never go bad. Before the swap, if I slowed for a curve and accelerated (or braked for a curve, or shifted and let the clutch out) I got a loud metallic thunk that seemed to come from the center of the engine (well, I likened it to the center stand swinging up and slapping the bike). Today I took the bike out for a 160 mile ride. Most of it was on straight, two lane state routes w/ a few curvy sections - not at all like the usual rides in rural Ohio with the guys I ride with. I deliberately braked, accelerated, slowed, accelerated, shifted and clutched, and there was NO noise.
Call me a doubting Thomas, but I'll believe it is really gone after a similar ride through twisties with a lot of up and down shifting. This may have to wait for the Mansfield RTE in about 3 weeks, but the next week or so looks like a lot of rain.
Btw, Kevin, the mechanic that I wrote about in my earlier posts pulled the cover off the original final drive and said I had excess lash* and needed to be rebuilt or replaced. He said an ebay swap would be much cheaper, so that's what I did.
*I forget the term he used - too much free play, whatever.