chattering noise on deceleration

[freedomrunner]

Greetings, Over the Memorial Day weekend, we headed to DC for the activities out there. While in West Virginia, we exited off of the interstate and for a brief moment, we heard a chattering noise coming from under the trike, (Motor Trike conversion kit). We are riding a 2008 GL1800. We hadn't heard the noise before, so while at the red light, I turned off the music to my helmet to see if I could hear it again. I accelerated from the light, no noise, cruised to the next light, no noise. As I released the throttle, for about a second, we heard the noise again. I am now thinking that the noise was only occurring while the engine is neither stressed under acceleration or while the engine is providing some braking power. I started to focus on that brief moment where there is no tension or pressure on the drivetrain. So I tested this as I headed to the next traffic light. No noise during acceleration or while cruising. I then slowly released the throttle and sure enough, with no tension on the drive-train, the chattering was there. By this time, we were at our hotel, so I parked the bike and thought it over the remainder of the night. the next morning, I located the closest Honda dealer. They looked at it and said they believed it to be the rearend of the trike kit, but they didn't work on that. They suggested another dealer about 8 miles away. We nursed the bike there and they said they thought it was the wheel bearings but they had already accepted three other travelers and couldn't get to our bike. They recommended another dealer, about 10 miles away and they thought it was the driveshaft, but they didn't work on trikes. They called an authorized Motor Trike/Honda dealership and they agreed to look at. This all started on the 24th of May. The bike is still at the shop out east as they diagnose the problem. About an hour ago, I received a call that they believe the problem to be a shift plate that could be bent causing the gears inside the transmission to rub against each other. I have to admit that I have never heard of this problem before. I thought I would post here to see if anyone else has experienced or heard of this type of noise and/or a problem with something called a shift plate. The shop has ordered a new shift plate and will install it. But I am curious.

thanks
Freedomrunner

[GoldWingrGreg]

It's likely that you may have a serious transmission problem. If so, that repair is extremely expensive ... as in thousands of $$$. Just so you know, I do more GL1800 transmission repair than probably any shop in the world. When you say shift plate, at first I was confused, but I think I know what they might be replacing. Unfortunately, in doing so, they will have accomplished nothing. For any shift plate to get damaged, a lot of inner damage to your transmission has already occurred ... re-damaging the shift plate will happen again. Unless the inner damage is corrected, replacing an outer plate is a waist of money ... further damage will occur.

The shift plate I'm referring to retains the shift drum and it is part #17 in the fishe below.

https://www.mrcycles.com/oemparts/a/hon ... shift-fork

Below is a picture the damaged shift plate that sits on my desk. Both ends have serious cracks.

If in deed your plate is damaged, dog chatter can occur. Below is a video to hear dog clatter. In that video, you will see that I show the dash and clutch lever. I think the clutch lever is taped in, and the 'N' light is on, and during start up, dog clatter can be heard. If I recall, I might have shifted it into 1st. In either case, here is what is important to remember. Dog clatter can happen in any gear, with the clutch in or out, under acceleration/deceleration. The reason that bike's clatter was posted as a video is only for one reason ... its clatter is reproducible while on a center stand and the clatter was very pronounced and easy to record.

I have one in my shop now that was shipped from Los Angelos, California for repair. It clatters in 1st, 2nd, "N" and 5th. Actually, it has no 5th, just lots of clattering when trying to get it into 5th.



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What causes a shift drum retainer's plate to crack are various forms of Ghost Shifting. For more info on that see my web page.

http://www.justwings.com

If indeed your Wing has a transmission problems, you should start looking for a shop that has experience in, and is willing to, do transmission repair. Also, to be sure your drive shaft is not the issue, it may need removed and inspected. For MotorTrike, the front yoke should be green in color. The front yoke can be seen with the right engine cover off. Black or blue yokes represent an earlier drive shaft generation. Clatter can come if the front u-joint is broke causing the shaft to the frame. One way to eliminate a drive shaft issue is this. For it to be a drive shaft problem, the drive shaft must spin, so if the clatter is there at 0mph (drive shaft not spinning), it is not a drive shaft issue.

[freedomrunner]

Thank you for the very informative response. Can’t say that I am thrilled with the prospect of an expensive repair. I do need to get this resolved though as I am heading to Alaska next year. For now, I am in a holding pattern until I get the bike back. I have already given them the ok to replace this plate, so if the noise goes away, that would rule out a bad u-joint/driveshaft issue or the rearend.

[DaveO430]

Thank you for the very informative response. Can’t say that I am thrilled with the prospect of an expensive repair. I do need to get this resolved though as I am heading to Alaska next year. For now, I am in a holding pattern until I get the bike back. I have already given them the ok to replace this plate, so if the noise goes away, that would rule out a bad u-joint/driveshaft issue or the rearend.

Seems to me you should rule out the driveline before going the expensive route.

[GoldWingrGreg]

Seems to me you should rule out the driveline before going the expensive route.

I agree ... especially since it's a MotorTrike. They've gone through decades of driveline issues ... plus if one of their drivelines goes bad, it can often damage to the frame, as well as the output shaft to the transmission.

[freedomrunner]

Quick update on this problem, after spending 8 weeks at a repair shop, the shift plate was replaced with out positive results. I hauled a trailer to the shop and brought the bike home with the repair shop informing me that a comp,eye transmission rebuild was needed. They had ruled out differential and driveshaft after they inspected both. I called around looking for a close shop that could perform this type of work. I located a repair shop here in Indiana and in six days, had it fixed and back to me. Prior to doing any work, they inspected the bike and the drive shaft (universal joint) was shot. I was able to see the shaft. I believe it was fortunate that we stopped driving the bike as soon after hearing the noise as possible. Now we are back riding and heading to Wing Ding in a few weeks.