DR650 clutch & Africa
 

Hi everyone,

It's only four months to go before I go on my Africa trip and it's in the red hot preparation phase right now. In the last couple of months I learned a lot about maintaining / servicing/ repairing the DR650 and which parts would be a good idea to take along on an overland trip. What I'm not sure about is the clutch. When we start the trip my DR650 will have around 12000km on its clock and on the original clutch, 75% of it on tar road (incl. city stop n' go traffic), 25% trailriding.

My question to you more experienced long distance travellers - would you recommend changing the clutch plates before the start of the trip? Or would you take a set along? Or could I expect the orininal plates to last for another 25-30k km in Africa? If I take spare plates with me, are these things easy to replace without special Suzuki-tools? Or might there be Suzuki parts available in Central and Westafrica?

Cheers,
Marco

Hey Marco-

I can't tell you much about clutch repair on the DR, but here's a data point for you:

I probably do about the same as you far as dirt vs asphalt (25/75). I started my trip to Central Asia with 15,000 miles (24,000 km) and now have 35,000 miles (56,000 km) and have had no clutch issues at all.

I did take a spare clutch cable with me, already routed and ziptied to the original.

I recently found that the old cable had two of its wires worn through at the bottom fitting so I took it off and hooked up the spare.


hope this helps.................shu

Hey,

I'd take a spare set of friction plates and springs at least. They weigh next to nothing and slip down the sides in the panniers so you'll hardly notice them.
Clutch plates are one of those things you'll not know until they're on their way out, they could last for years but if it were me, I'd change them personally (ie, not a shop) at home prior to the trip then you'll know a) it's done and they're new and b) how to do it if you need to open them up again in the future.
If you do take a spare set, remember the gasket too!

Hope it helps

Calm down you lot
 

The DR 650 clutch along with the rest of the DR is virtually indestructable...I abused my DR for 37,000km thru the outback of your wonderfull continent and then all the way back to the UK, where i had a look at the clutch plates and they were still good enough to carry on down to Africa for some more abuse.....the bikes got 140,000km on it and it NEVER broken down...sure things wear out and the odd seal fails... You have the daddy of all overland motorcycles so have some faith and travel light....coz if you take all these just in case parts the trip wont be as much fun and youll be making the bike work harder than it needs....what ever parts you take it will be the part you left at home that youll need.

Make sure your local bike shop can get bits out to you if you need them which you wont...i meet many DR riders all over the world and we always asked each other if we had any problems...eventually you didnt bother asking coz you knew the answer.

Carry front and real wheel bearings as they 'only' last about 50-60,000kms and maybe a fork oil seal....but really thats your lot, even the standard tool kit is about all you need. Oh yea if youve got a safari tank the aluminium tank strap is pants so make a steel one up.....

if you want to see a great setup go to Short Way Round and have a look at Adam Lewis's bike

Have fun travel light

I can add another vote of confidence for the DR clutch. Mine has done 60,000km of overlanding trips including Africa with plenty of challenging offroad use. It's still going strong. In my opinion, it is not worth taking a spare or replacing. If you want some piece of mind, measure the thickness and compare it to the service manual specs.

To add to the bearing comment, definitely also take 1 or 2 spare rear sprocket bearings, a steering bearing, and possibly a drive shaft seal. In our experience these will be far more useful than a clutch.

Thanks guys, your info is heaps helpful. That's some amazing numbers you got out of your DRs, very impressed! And also thanks for your advise about the other seals to consider taking along!

It will be my first ever overland trip on a motorcycle and info like this helps a lot. There is so much information out there and advise of whats a 'must' to take along that I thought I need to hire a truck to get it all transported :)

For now I narrowed the list down to what I picked up as 'essential' spare parts: 15teeth front sprocket, 14teeth front sprocket, spare clutch lever, spare front brake lever, spare clutch cable, spare gear shift lever, light bulbs, fuses, spark plug, seals for the shocks, spare cross brace for Safari Tank (I heard that before, that they're designed to break to protect the tank in a fall).

I guess it shouldn't be a problem to replace a worn out 525-chain in Africa!?

Not sure about wheel bearings yet, they usually give you some warning and you still have a couple of km before you NEED to replace them, right? So I could wait for the next major city?

Hi Marco,

wouldnt bother with a clutch personally, just back from a 22,000 km trip around SAmerica 2up on on our DR650.

total kms are now 31,000 on bike. No problems apart from crap gas with water in it making the bike run rough and I opened the airbox on the Altiplano in Bolivia as it wasnt getting enough air.

Ive been going over the bike and replacing worn components, the rear cush drive bearing is on the way out, but would have got me another few thousand kms. chain is worn out totally. I did not replace it before our trip. Wheel bearings are all good currently.

before your trip, Id replace the chain set and your cush drive bearing(use a moose racing one - much better quality), put in new brake pads fr and rr, new spark plugs and take 2 new sets of plugs with you, a set of front pads, levers and mount a spare clutch cable. Carry a set of moose wheel/cush drive bearings and thats about it. Also take a spare oiled air filter, ready to go in a ziploc, easier to swop it out when you need it and clean the other when its convenient.

Start with new consumables and you dont have to carry so many spares.

I also used a reusable Scotts stainless oil filter (with a magnetic sump plug), just wash and dry out, saved carrying spares.

My Tale
 

Again you lucky people...the HUBB is the mutts nuts......

This is my tale of what failed in 140,000kms....Firstly you WILL fall off more than twicw so you may need to take about 50 aluminium straps. I replaced mine with a steel one at about 10,000kms, then proceeded to fall off about one hundred times and het presto the super tough safari tank survived....over to you brother...

I replaced the clutch cable at 92,000km just coz i could, the throttle cable is still working thou its a bit stiff now. I also did the headstock bearings at this mileage coz i woz off to Africa. The gearbox output shaft oil seal failed once i carried a spare after that. Front bearings once rear wheel bearings twice. remember to replace all 3 rear bearings not just one as the old one load the new one and your back to square one very quickly.2 Headlamp bulbs. left and right fork oil seals at about 95,000kms and 110,000km, these can be easily replaced without striped the forks, just remove the dust seal and carefully winkle the seal oout with your leatherman.

A new chain and sprocket set will last the length of africa and some if you regularly clean the chain. I also used and swear by Scott oilers..you can use any oil in it my favourite was EP 90 gearoil, its cheap available and set it on high flow in sandy conditioned to 'wash' the chain as you ride.

I must agree, by a stainless oil filter they save alot of grief even if they are a bit pricey. Use a washable filter with filter socks that you can change regularly...DR dont like to much oil in their filters, youll soon know if youve over oiled it as it will run like a bag of shite.

Buy an extra timing inspection nut and fit it as a sump plug then you dont need to care a great big spanner or socket. This one is up to you, i drilled out the real tank mounts as eventually you will cross thread the original bolts and its a ball ache in the first place. Then fit nuts and bolts that once youve sussed out how to hold the nuts makes taking the tank off easy. i carry a combination 10mm spanner for this purpose

I checked the valve clearances every 10,000kms and only adjusted them twice and even then they with tolerance. The exhaust tappets are a little tricky and require you to bend your guages to get a good feel, take care take your time.

Remove the side stand switch...find details here on the hubb or over at ADV riders.

I fitted bark busters and renthal and never broke a clutch nor a brake lever nor did the bars ever bend.....i think my bike had its own God watching over it, i only had 3 punctures in 3 and a half years...amazing. Not sure id take a gear lever, yes they bend, but theyre steel so just bend them back.

Carry spare front sprockets 14t and 15t and put a 45t on the rear as the gear ratios as you are are pants.

When you get down to your last five litres of fuel you will have to blow down the breather to pressurise the tank as the fuel level is too low to gravity feed into the tank.....

The kill swich will eventually give you problems, its a tricky little sod, so take care if you dismantle it, i found if i sprayed it with WD 40 regularly it meant it didnt play up to much. saying that it started playing up after 90,000km or so.

Cush drive rubbers go hard after ...er 20 or 30k can anyone else shed more light on this???? basically the gearbox gets more clunky after they go hard but nowt to worry about, replace them if youve the money.

Again, whats other folks experience of this??....After say 30k or 40k sometimes when you turn the motor off you will hear a loud clunk that dosent sound good, basically the starter clutch (sprag clutch) wears and makes this nasty noise. The starter never failed on me it just doesnt sound healthy.

Anyway my Aussie brother with the DR you are in good hands...just change her blood regularly and shell love you back.......

Tim

Thanks again guys and thanks Tim for your great post! 140000km on a DR!?!?! I start seeing my humble bike in a completely different light now!!! That's HEAPS impressive.
And you guys can't believe how helpful it is to see your numbers and get a rough idea about how long stuff is expected to hold based on REAL experience!
Got a few mods already on the bike (see pic) and love the DR. About the Safari-Tank: without any modifications to the carb inlet or building up pressure in the tank I was able to ride the tank completely empty (628km, filled 31 litres into the 30l tank after), so that seems to work painlessly. Problem was that the tank was running dry in normal mode and the 'reserve' setting is pretty much useless. Which isn't a big problem once you know. Also dropped the bike 4 times already (oops) without breaking or bending the aluminium cross brace. But I heard stories about how easy that one breaks so a steel one seems to be the way to go.

Cheers from Sydney,
Marco

I'd at least inspect the disks. A service manual should have a spec to measure and check for wear. By pulling them out, you know how to do it.

Not to start an oil debate here, but have you been using oil rated for wet clutch use?

There's no unwritten rule that says you couldn't replace the disks and carry the used set as spares. Replacing parts with new ones, you can carry the used parts as your spares. You'll know how to replace them, you'll know they fit, and you'll be less upset if they disappear or you have to abandon them somewhere or give them to a fellow rider.

daryl

I think I am repeating much of the above, but my experience has been:
- Both my and my girlfriend's DRs were bought at about 15,000km (unknown history). Both clutches are still fine and untouched at over 70,000km on each bike (Vladivostok - Europe - South Africa, offroad where possible).
- It doesn't take any special tools to change the clutch.

If you're worried inspect/change it before leaving, otherwise forget about it.

Sorry to keep banging on; The suzuki factory aint that hot on grease!!!!

Both myself and a friend striped the swingarm and suspension linkage out to find it had very little grease.. oh yea and the headstock bearings....and you wont find half of these bearings in a local Congolese motor factors....

I guess youve put a heavy spring on the shock, so think about getting it revalved, i had mine done by..err cant remember the shop name, but it was a chap Nr Penrith Sydney who advertises alot in the bike mags...About $200 money well spent, and yes im still on my original shock...unbeilevable.

Bike looks good, has the track out to Mungo NP, got any better?? Andy straps bags are great, just dont over load them, if you get the weigh right youll be able to pick the bike up without unloading it.....

Thats my final rant sorry if ive gone on a bit...good luck

Cheers for the heads up again, it is actually a good idea to take the old things as spares! I like the point about not caring all too much about leaving them behind or helping out a fellow rider.
I also got the shop manual for the DR650 but am a bit reluctant to take bits of the engine block apart to check the clutch. But it probably sounds more complicated than it actually is. I will have a closer look into it next time I do an oil change.

I haven't done it yet but do plan to replace the rear spring by a heavier one. That's the only mod I plan to do on the suspension of the bike. And yeah, there is a place in Wallacia (near Penrith) which I have in mind to get it done.

My panniers are actually Steelpony panniers which are very similar to AndyStrapz, just a bit bigger. Never had problems to pick up the bike without getting the panniers off so far. The road to Mungo NP was not too bad, a some sandy patches on it (hence having to pick up the bike with panniers...) but overall in good condition.

Thanks for pointing out the grease bit, I'm gonna check that one too (another item on the list...)

I'd replace the friction discs and springs before you go. If nothing else, you'll know what it entails and what tools you need. I'd replace ANY of the wear items before you go, and keep still-serviceable items as spares that will buy you some time to source new parts.

Have you done all the "fixes" on the DR yet? Swapped upper chain roller with a loctited setscrew, loctited the primary nut, loctited the NSU screws, replaced the carb screws with stainless SHCS, checked the wiring harness for chafing by the steering stem, and checked the bearings for grease?