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Loose clutch nut repair by Listan1

55K views 73 replies 37 participants last post by  Mmm109 
#1 ·
There have be quite a few repairs having to be done because of a loose Tubular Nut on the clutch of the 109. When this nut backs off it can lockup the transmission and bring the bike to an abrupt stop. There really should be a recall notice on this from Suzuki but who knows if that will ever happen. For those of you that don't want to wait for that to happen there has been a great writeup on how to do this repair yourself. Listan1 has a great page built with step by step instructions and photos. You can go directly to it here http://pagreaves.com/109/clutch/clutch.htm

I'm going to re-post this information here just in case it goes away for some reason on his site. Thank Listan1 for the time and effort he took to do this. :doorag:
_________________________________________________

I ride my bike every day and today road to work came home all’s well
Just a few ago I went to up the road and suddenly I had no clutch
No clutch, will not change gear; stop the engine and fight it into neutral, start the engine fine; hold the clutch lever kick it into 1st. gear and the bike takes off with the clutch lever depress fully…
Road it back home 2 miles in 2nd. gear, had to start it in first gear like if you are push starting and keep going, fight it into 2nd. gear
Feel like the pressure plate is stock

Call local dealers and none of them ever came across his issue
Talk to Suzuki and they said that they don't have any reports of this happening at all….
Here is the phone number to Suzuki 1-714-572-1490
Something isn't right about this picture… I forget to tell you all that I was coming to a red light at the time when it first happen, luckily I was making a right turn and there was not that much vehicles on the road at that time… this could have been bad had it been earlier
Remember the gears stayed engaged at all times even with the clutch lever depress all the way and it will not into neutral..
Guys keep the phone number and start reporting these issues directly to Suzuki.

Place bike on jack or side-stand.

You will be mainly working on the right side.

A jack is recommended to be able to spin the back wheel... this will be prove useful later.



Remove the exhaust system
For this you will need a socket drive alien key with 8" or longer 3/8 drive extension to remove the header pipes bolts

12 mm socket and wrench



Remove the side-cover bolts

There is 3 bolts with washers, 2 at the top and 1 at the bottom... be sure to put these back in the right place; if not you will have oil leak.

When retighten, go easy on these bolts you don't want to strip the aluminum treads or break any bolts.



Bottom side-cover bolt with the washer.



Note that there is 2 long bolts in this set that also need to be install in the right place (upper left side cover)
Clean and inspect.



Remove the side-cover... there is 2 dowels on the cover.
Use a rubber mallet to lightly tap the side cover loose.

Try not to rip the gasket by carefully removing the cover.

I was able to re-use my gasket.

If damage replace gasket.

This are must be oil free and clean when reinstalling or you may have an oil leak.

Clean and inspect.



Dowels on the side-cover must be oil free and clean when reinstalling or you may have an oil leak.

Clean and inspect.



PRIMARY DRIVE GEAR
With the transmission in neutral hold the clutch lever and spin the rear wheel... the PRIMARY DRIVE GEAR should spin freely, if not move on to the next step.



CLUTCH PRESSURE DISC

Press clutch lever the disc should move out slightly out and the rear wheel should be able to spin freely if not, remove the 6 bolts (10 mm socket) and springs.

Remove CLUTCH PRESSURE DISC and inspect for damage.

When retighten, go easy on these bolts you don't want to strip the aluminum treads or break any bolts.



Spin rear wheel to see if the PRIMARY DRIVE GEAR spins freely.

Push the CLUTCH PUSH PIECE in and then press the clutch lever.

The piece should move out about 1/4 inch, if so then move on to nest step.



Remove the CLUTCH PUSH PIECE by pulling it out, there is washers and a bearing here.

Clean and inspect.



Remove CLUTCH DRIVE PLATES

Clean and inspect each plates and set them down in the order and position they are remove, will also be a good time to order any damage or worn clutch drive plates.



Spin rear wheel to see if the PRIMARY DRIVE GEAR spins freely.



CLUTCH SLEEVE HUB NUT

Pry or tap the locking bend back to its original shape on the hub nut.

When reinstalling this nut has to be retighten at about 80 ft lbs.... I just use the impact gun and get it nice and tight. EDIT- Clutch sleeve hub nut should be torqued 68.5 lb-ft
You must re-bend the nut to lock the nut back in place.



Remove clean and inspect nut.

Use an impact gun with a 30 mm socket (6 point socket preferable) and remove the hub nut, an electric impact gun works good... as it is not too powerful to cause damage.



Remove clean and inspect washer.



CLUTCH HUB
Remove clean and inspect clutch hub.




Now spin rear wheel to see if the PRIMARY DRIVE GEAR spins freely, if it does spin freely at this point... you are there.

Clean and inspect.



Tubular Nut

There is a nut that look like a gear in the center of the PRIMARY DRIVE GEAR... check to see if it is loose, if you can turn it by hand, you found your problem.

Remove the nut and inspect.





Clean Tubular Nut with electrical contact cleaner or a solvent that those not leave any residue.

Apply lock-tite when installing nut.



Remove washer and PRIMARY DRIVE GEAR clean and inspect.



Clean, inspect and apply lock-tite when installing.

The gear is not listed separately in the parts manual and may be sold as part of the PRIMARY DRIVE GEAR




Clean and inspect gear, washers and bearings.



Clean and inspect PRIMARY DRIVE GEAR SPACER.



Clean and inspect.




Now you have everything clean and inspected, order all necessary parts and reverse the disassemble process to install.

Clean everything before installing...

After a short test drive I will recommend a oil & filter change too... your engine was exposed to dust and lint...

my test drive was done on the jack... be very cautious doing this...

good luck

Listan1



Clutch parts name & part Number

1. 21151-48G00 SPACER, PRIMARY DRIVE GEAR 1

2. 21100-48G00 GEAR ASSY, PRIMARY DRIVE 1

3. 21410-48G00 HUB, CLUTCH 1

4. 21413-48G00 SPRING, CLUTCH 6

5. 21441-48G00 PLATE, CLUTCH DRIVE NO.1

6. 21441-48G10 PLATE, CLUTCH DRIVE NO.2

7. 21441-48G20 PLATE, CLUTCH DRIVE NO.3

8. 21441-48G30 PLATE, CLUTCH DRIVE NO.4

9. 21451-48G00 PLATE, CLUTCH DRIVEN NO.1

10. 21451-48G10 PLATE, CLUTCH DRIVEN NO.2

11. 21462-48G00 DISC, CLUTCH PRESSURE 1

12. 21471-48G00 SEAT, WAVE WASHER 1 109X124X1.6

13. 21472-48G00 WASHER, CLUTCH PLATE 1

14. 21482-41G00 BOLT, CLUTCH SPRING 6

15. 09159-24010 NUT, CLUTCH SLEEVE HUB 1

16. 09160-25056 WASHER, CLUTCH SLEEVE HUB THR 1 25X50X2.50

17. 09160-25056 WASHER, PRIMARY DRIVE 1 25X50X2.50

18. 09164-24006 WASHER, CLUTCH SLEEVE HUB WAV 1

19. 09263-32020 BEARING, PRIMARY DRIVE 1 32X37X38.3

20. 23110-24F00 ROD, CLUTCH 1

21. 23111-48G00 ROD, CLUTCH PUSH, L 1

22. 23121-41G00 PIECE, CLUTCH PUSH 1

23. 23122-02FR0 BALL, CLUTCH PUSH 1

24. 23122-48G00-A05 CAMSHAFT, CLUTCH RELEASE 1

25. 23123-41G00-A05 CAP, CLUTCH PUSH ROD 1

26. 23125-48G00-A05 SPRING, CLUTCH RELEASE RETURN 1

27. 23271-48G00-A05 ARM, CLUTCH RELEASE 1

28. 09134-06015-A05 SCREW, CLUTCH PUSH ROD 1

29. 09160-10020-A05 WASHER, CLUTCH RELEASE 1 10.5X24X1.0

30. 09160-15045 WASHER, CLUTCH PUSH PIECE 1 15.5X28X1.0

31. 09263-10014 BEARING, CL RLSE CAM LOWER 1 10X14X10

32. 09263-12027 BEARING, CL RLSE CAM UPPER 1 12X18X12

33. 09263-15003 BEARING, CLUTCH PUSH PIECE 1 15X28X2.0

34. 09282-10012 SEAL, CL RLSE CAMSHAFT OIL 1

35. 09283-06010 SEAL, CLUTCH PUSH ROD OIL 1

36. 09285-10004 SEAL, CLUTCH PUSH ROD CAP 1

37. 01550-0620A BOLT, CL RELEASE ARM 1

38. 08310-0006A NUT, CLUTCH RELEASE ADJ 1
 
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31
#3 ·
LOOKING said:
is this a totally different problem from the clutch cable nut coming loose?
or is this another probem with the clutch? would like to know because I'm having the dealer change the clutch cable with the one that dlp sells.
would this solve this clutch problem?
Changing your clutch cable will not prevent this problem from occurring. This is a totally different problem.
 
#7 ·
Well I got her back together but I didn't have any of the issues I've read about here. :confused: The symptoms were the clutch would occasionally screech and grab unexpectedly while just starting to let the lever go. Both of the nuts mentioned here were fine. The loose springs I have no beef with, But as near as I can tell the Cone shaped washer #13 or #12 wasn't getting along with clutch plate #6 and had worn a grove into it. When I took the clutch apart I had assumed the groove was machined into Plate #6. But when I couldn't find anything to explain the racket and grabbing I did a closer inspection and the groove was as rough as a course grindstone makes. To check if this was my problem I flipped #13 or #12 whichever one is the cone style washer around backwards. Sure enough the problem is now gone. I wouldn't be saying no to a new clutch if offered by Suzuki though.
Dave
 
#8 ·
BigPapaM109 said:
How do you tighten up the tubular nut to the proper torque specs? Is there a special tool or socket for that?
That's the "catch 22". There is no "proper torque specs" as this is classified as a non-serviceable item. If you take your bike to the dealer, and they find this nut to be the cause of your clutch problems, they are (supposed to be) required to order a whole new clutch basket as a replacement. They can't fix it like this thread shows. Not saying this isn't an adequate fix if you do it as suggested above, but there must be some reason Suzuki doesn't even list this part in the service manual.
 
#9 ·
I have not read this post for some time now
Sorry about the late responds
If I recall tighten this nut to about 75 to 80 foot pounds
This is a special socket for this nut; I could not find the right size at the auto-store
All that I find was the 4 tab and I needed the 6 tab
So I get the 4 tabs that were closes in size and cut 2 tabs off using just the two opposite tabs
Then carefully toque it to 80 lbs
Since I done this fix… I persuaded Riva Motor Sports to read this trend and they talk to Suzuki who also read this post and they agreed to replace it… even though I did not buy the bike here…
Suzuki is now aware of this site (M109Riders.com) if they didn’t know of us before and is also aware of the problem
If the dealer will replace it under warranty then go for it
Should this happen again I will weld the nut to the treads; as I don’t like anyone working on my 9
P.S. I took the parts from Riva and install them myself, which they were very reluctant to hand it over…
 
#10 ·
HI GUYS

we have done this repair at our shop, we made the tool out of
steel pipe, cut the 6 tangs into the pipe, welded a plate and nut to the end,
cleaned up the threads, used the strongest loctite we had, torqued to 65psi.

we proffered not to impact the nut for fear of shaft damage!

the owner had to travel some klms to get back home with no clutch,
best to fix it sooner than later, his bike had 22,000klms at the time.

regards Robert
 
#11 ·
I think he means 65 ft/lb not psi.. I did the math and it came to 75 ft/lb. (every nut and/or bolt has a correct torque value) I would suggest a new nut and loctite and to have a proper socket milled up. I can have a socket and nut made in Melbourne for you if you like and post them up. Think I will have alot of these to repair by the sounds of it. Darn dangerous..should of been recalled.
 
#16 ·
Hello:

I had the Tubular Nut problem at 4100 miles.
It took an Act of Congress to get the information out of Suzuki.

Honda has the special tool available it's the large spanner for the VTX.
The torque is 100 lbs/ft.

It cost $55.00

Ride Safe.
 
#13 ·
Clutch tube nut and hub nut

When I got my nine the clutch was really tight and hard to press down I thought this was correct for this bike, it was brand new. It turn out the the clutch cable was sticking and burned out the clutch with maybe 500 miles on it. I took it back to the sorry ass dealer I bought it from they said it needed a new clutch they put in one with a new hub, had the the bike 45 days. Put a 1000 miles on the bike and it starts the shaking that everyone is having. Suzuki paid for the parts the sorry ass dealer charge me for the labor $275 and 1000 miles later it runs like **** and is worst than it was before. The dealer rerouted the clutch cable too when they put the new clutch in. I don't think I would have had any problems if the dealer had checked the clutch properly like the are suppose to before delivery to the customer. So I knew that taking it back to the dealer was not a option, they left my mirror and turn signal loose on the left side after the rerouted the cable, poor workmanship. I bought cycle house clutch, springs and new clutch hub with a evo shift kit since I was going to be fixing it I wanted to do it all. When I pulled the cover off the clutch assembly I grabbed it with both hands and wiggled it to check for free play, sure enough the was it would give slightly just enough to cause problems. I took it apart and when I went to bend back the tab on the clutch hub nut there was none. The dealer had reused the old nut a the smaller down instead of up not even benting the tab and upon closer inspection I notice that the thread were strip out at the end that was suppose to be bent over. I strongly suggest replacing this nut anytime you remove the clutch, my tube nut was tight. I put it back to together again with a impact wrench and wiggled it again a there was no play in the clutch. The hub must be working lose or not tighten enough on a lot of 9s. I did the bluey fix on the hub but I think the fix is only good to reduce noise. My bike had gotten to be really noisy with a knocking sound. I notice that after fixing the clutch I had more horsepower, I think there is a degree of clutch slip that causes you speedometer to be off and the engine not to burn it fuel off properly being off balance from the vabration the timing could be affected as well, because of the hormonics. After I fixed the clutch I run it a the knock was still there but started going away the longer it ran so it was a carbon knock from the engine not running has well as it should. Going to run some injector/ fuel system cleaner in the tank and it should be back to its old self again. I would say check both nuts but I am leaning to the hub nut in most cases because too many people here have said they replaced the clutch or did something to the hub and it goes away for a while and comes back after so many miles if it's the tube nut you would put it back together and still have the same problem right away. The hub I took out didn't look bad but I changed it away because everyone says that's what goes bad, so to everyone who it having this problem try the simple approach first by replacing and tighting up the hub nut. You have to rule out the simple stuff first and you can tighten the nut without taking clutch completely apart just unbolt the springs and remove the pressure plate and there it is. The nut is only a few bucks and if your clutch feels fine other then the vabration this is the first repair to try. The shift kit does get rid of that annoying missed shift and klucking noise.
 
#14 ·
When I got my nine the clutch was really tight and hard to press down I thought this was correct for this bike, it was brand new. It turn out the the clutch cable was sticking and burned out the clutch with maybe 500 miles on it. I took it back to the sorry ass dealer I bought it from they said it needed a new clutch they put in one with a new hub, had the the bike 45 days. Put a 1000 miles on the bike and it starts the shaking that everyone is having. Suzuki paid for the parts the sorry ass dealer charge me for the labor $275 and 1000 miles later it runs like **** and is worst than it was before. The dealer rerouted the clutch cable too when they put the new clutch in. I don't think I would have had any problems if the dealer had checked the clutch properly like the are suppose to before delivery to the customer. So I knew that taking it back to the dealer was not a option, they left my mirror and turn signal loose on the left side after the rerouted the cable, poor workmanship. I bought cycle house clutch, springs and new clutch hub with a evo shift kit since I was going to be fixing it I wanted to do it all. When I pulled the cover off the clutch assembly I grabbed it with both hands and wiggled it to check for free play, sure enough the was it would give slightly just enough to cause problems. I took it apart and when I went to bend back the tab on the clutch hub nut there was none. The dealer had reused the old nut a the smaller down instead of up not even benting the tab and upon closer inspection I notice that the thread were strip out at the end that was suppose to be bent over. I strongly suggest replacing this nut anytime you remove the clutch, my tube nut was tight. I put it back to together again with a impact wrench and wiggled it again a there was no play in the clutch. The hub must be working lose or not tighten enough on a lot of 9s. I did the bluey fix on the hub but I think the fix is only good to reduce noise. My bike had gotten to be really noisy with a knocking sound. I notice that after fixing the clutch I had more horsepower, I think there is a degree of clutch slip that causes you speedometer to be off and the engine not to burn it fuel off properly being off balance from the vabration the timing could be affected as well, because of the hormonics. After I fixed the clutch I run it a the knock was still there but started going away the longer it ran so it was a carbon knock from the engine not running has well as it should. Going to run some injector/ fuel system cleaner in the tank and it should be back to its old self again. I would say check both nuts but I am leaning to the hub nut in most cases because too many people here have said they replaced the clutch or did something to the hub and it goes away for a while and comes back after so many miles if it's the tube nut you would put it back together and still have the same problem right away. The hub I took out didn't look bad but I changed it away because everyone says that's what goes bad, so to everyone who it having this problem try the simple approach first by replacing and tighting up the hub nut. You have to rule out the simple stuff first and you can tighten the nut without taking clutch completely apart just unbolt the springs and remove the pressure plate and there it is. The nut is only a few bucks and if your clutch feels fine other then the vabration this is the first repair to try. The shift kit does get rid of that annoying missed shift and klucking noise.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Thanks, I was just asking cause I was going to buy a bunch of stuff before I even tore into it cause I had the exhaust off anyway. After seeing the prices on this stuff, I guess I need to invest in some dial calipers first and actually measure to see what needs replacing.

So I got bored and took a look at some of the plates. the ones that are just steel, have a few small scorch marks on them but I'm guessing those hardly ever need replaceing?

Also that nut in the back, the clutch sleeve hub nut #15 in the above diagram, has a tab bent down into a groove in the shaft and I'm finding impossible to bend back up very much. I've got all kinds of little chisels and punches but nothing seems to be the right tool. I got it a little but either the factory or somebody really bent it down good. I'm not talking about the washer in the back, it's the face of the nut. I guess I just have to put an imact on it and then clean the threads of the shaft up afterwards?
 
#28 ·
Has it been that long ago
I remember it like yesterday

Guys, if you does this fix, I recommend buying the replacement unit that already have the nut installed by Suzuki ... this repair only temporary and the problem can repeat itself at anytime.

listan1

(Peter)
 
#29 ·
Have a question, need help please

I have a 2007 M109R I purchased with only 45 miles on the bike, it was drove home from the dealership in 2007 and was never rode anymore. I bought the bike in June, 2010 so it sat for a very long time without it being rode. I had a very serious vibration/shutter as I was down shifting, like it was going to vibrate the bike to pieces. So I read this thread and thought for sure I have the loose tubular nut. I have the everything take apart and the nut appears to be tight only by hand. It was not loose to where I could remove it with my hand. What I did find was my clutch looked as it was very soft and gummy, pieces were all in the clutch basket. Clutch basket very dirty with debree, and in some places the plates are pitted like surface rust was present before, keep in mind I only have 2100 miles on this bike total. I know having a bike sit up and not rode is not a good thing, however should I be seeing this problem so early. Back to the clutch nut, do you think its loose just not enough not to be removed by hand.
 
#38 ·
I've never lost my nut. I epoxied in in place...........:doorag:
 
#53 ·
I don't know about "pro garage and all" but we can do most! BTW, I got my hub chromed; so putting the 10" wheel and 280 on went very smoothly! We are planning a run down to Warner Robins for lunch around the first of April (300 miles total). I'll let you know; hope you can roll with us.
 
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