Need New Clutch Plates?

Been very happy with my '09 RSV trike. It served me well for 51K miles. Returned from a 12 day trip a couple weeks ago, and problems

surfaced. For one thing, drove in darkness and light rain anticipating heaver rain. It never came. In the darkness, hit a few potholes

with my right rear tire. About a mile from home, noticed loss of power, and kept working throttle to get home. Was able to drive trike

into its shed.

When I tried to move trike a week later, it idled okay but stalled every time I tried to let out the clutch, even if I revved the engine.

Put trike away and looked at it another day. Noticed relay engaged but fuel pump did not click anymore. Changed fuel pump points with

no luck. Ordered new fuel pump and installed it today. Fuel pump clicks again. However, stalling issue is still there.

Trike tries to lunge forward and dies. I have the Barnett clutch spring upgrade. Does this sound like a clutch issue? Trike has climbed

many mountains all over this country, so I would not be surprised. Thanks!

It does not sound like a clutch issue. Clutch issue would be the opposite of what you described.

Does it move freely if you push it? From your description it sounds more like something in the drive train or brakes is binding and not turning freely. Or I am misunderstanding what you are saying.

Interesting! Yes, trike is very difficult to push. Will have to check. Thanks!

My dilemma is that back lawn is plush, so trike (1,200 lbs.) is hard to push, especially on an incline. Put trike rear end up on jack stands.

Brake pads drag evenly on both sides. If I start trike, put it in 1st and let clutch out, both rear wheel turn smoothly. If I hold wheels, they

stop turning, but engine doesn't stall. There is quite a bit of slop from left to right, but wheels sync up and turn together. Just don't know

if play in rear end is normal or not.

Some play is normal.

While you had it up on jack stands, did you try putting it in gear? With it in gear you can use the rear brake to put some load on the engine.

Does the front wheel spin free?

Starting with a cold engine, start it and keep checking the headers to see if the all heat up at the same rate. You may be running on 3 cylinders.

Here's the scoop. Going on vacation soon. So will have to revisit this. Trike is back on floor, washed and covered. Will try things you suggest

when I return:

1) While on jack stands, I did let the trike run in 1st gear. Slowed the wheels down with my hands. Next test will be to increase throttle in gear and

use rear brakes to put load on engine.

2) Need to lift at another point to see if front wheel turns freely.

3) Need to verify that all cylinders are running.

Thanks for this action plan!

Check your oil level, sounds to me like the clutch is sticky and lack of oil on the plates might be the culprit.

Did look at the oil level, and recall it was okay. Will check again when I revisit. Thanks!

Hmm... Thinking I may have gotten some bad gas on my recent trip. Had a standard transmission car that had this symptom years ago.

Car would idle fine, but would starve out when I put it under load. Had to change its fuel filter. Just replaced fuel pump, and filter was changed

~2,000 miles ago. However, bad gas may have fouled up everything. Going to change fuel filter before I go crazy with other things.

Ready to attack what I believe is a bad fuel problem. Recall my last fill-up from my 12-day vacation was at a seedy looking filling station.

Have a new fuel filter and hose to drain fuel tank from petcock. Will also drain new fuel pump. Anxious to get started, but first things first.

Save all your 'bad' fuel in a glass container to see if there is any water in it. Water will reside on the bottom if there is any. Put a bit of methyl hydrate (gasline deicer) in the new fuel to clean out any residue.

Problem solved!

NOT CLUTCH! BAD GAS!

Bad gas killed 51K mile gas pump and clogged 2K mile fuel filter. Drained main tank and filled it with fresh gas conditioned with Seafoam

and Sta-Bil. Drained bad gas from fuel lines and new fuel pump. Replaced fuel filter. Trike still idled fine, but continued to stall on take-off.

Let trike warm up and kept working throttle. Eventually, new gas worked through carbs, and trike performed like normal.

Well bad gas has nothing to do with hard to push or hard to roll. I was about to suggest rear, or front, brake calipers locking up. Had that happen before. Not fun, especially the front at 70 mph.

Trike seems to be back to normal. Raced it around the back yard, and it moves freely. Was concerned because I hit some potholes with the right rear

wheel in the rain, but does not seem to be an issue. I checked the calipers and drive train when I had trike elevated on jack stands. It was hard to judge

the ease of pushing trike when it was dead, because it was uphill in plush grass. Trike weights 1,200 pounds.

Confirmed issue was related to bad fuel/bad fuel pump. Drove 170 miles today, and trike is back to normal.