Anybody Change a Clutch Hose?

[Phishhead61]

I have a leak in my clutch hose (shown in the picture below).

 

(this is looking forward on the bike - that's the front tire you see)

 

There is a spot about halfway up/down the hose that looks like it has a fitting that can be unconnected/reconnected. It's behind the left front exhaust pipe.

 

Has anybody just replaced the hose from this fitting back? It seems it might be easier to just replace the back half of the hose (the part with the actual leak) rather than trying to snake the hose up through all the stuff behind the radiator.

 

Any input would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Rich

PhishHead61

[Marcarl]

That don't look very familiar to me. It seems that the pipe\hose you are showing is not from the clutch assembly. What year and make are we looking at?

[Du-Rron]

I have a leak in my clutch hose (shown in the picture below).

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=110963

(this is looking forward on the bike - that's the front tire you see)

 

There is a spot about halfway up/down the hose that looks like it has a fitting that can be unconnected/reconnected. It's behind the left front exhaust pipe.

 

Has anybody just replaced the hose from this fitting back? It seems it might be easier to just replace the back half of the hose (the part with the actual leak) rather than trying to snake the hose up through all the stuff behind the radiator.

 

Any input would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Rich

PhishHead61

 

The hose comes in two sections. The answer to your question is yes. However, if it is old enough to be leaking, or just old... replace the whole thing.

 

[Condor]

Umm?? I don't think the part you have pictured is the clutch line. The clutch line is much small in diameter... But just in case I'm wrong...again... what year and model bike are we looking at?? Plus by you bike info I need to know what a '98 Boulevard is??

[Phishhead61]

I'm still trying to figure out what a Royal Star Boulevard is myself...lol. You can see pictures of mine if you click on my User Gallery link. Apparently it is a stripped down version of the Royal Star line. It's a '98 so it has the 28mm carbs, 4x4 exhaust, but came with no bags or fairing. I don't believe it came with a windshield either. It's normally listed as a Royal Star XVZ13AK (sometimes with the K on the end, sometimes not). I was told by the PO the bags, fairing, and mufflers, etc. that are on it were added by the owner before him.

 

What I'm showing in the picture is where the clutch hose is attached to the engine by the support bracket (and where it is leaking). It has a cushion (for lack of better term) around the hose where it is going through that mounting bracket. That may be why it looks so big. The parts sheet from Bike Bandit is attached below (it's part #32 ).

 

You can see the cushion thing comes as part of the hose. I'm curious as to what year/bike the parts sheet Du-Ron is showing is for. It looks quite different from mine and the one shown at Bike Bandit for a '98 RSB.

 

I'm leaning towards replacing the whole thing, as Du-Ron suggested. The rubber is almost 20 years old and if it's leaking in one spot it's only a matter of time before it leaks somewhere else. I've been looking at it some more and it may not be as difficult a task as I initially thought to weave it up through all the stuff behind the radiator. I just wanted to know if just changing the back half of this lower hose was an option. It looks like it is, but not the best option.

 

Thanks,

Rich

PhishHead

Edited November 25, 2017 by Phishhead61

[Condor]

That is one nice looking bike, and gotta be rarer than chicken lips... I wonder if it had ever been imported into the US?? In all the years I've been on this board I've never heard of one mentioned. If the bags were added by a P.O. I wonder where they came from. I think I've seen something similar on a Susuki C50 or C80?? But not sure if they even existed in '98??? THE MISSING LINK!! I can tell you everything you want to know about a Gen1 clutch, but haven't dug into a Gen2 other than maintenence. So I hope you can find another oem line.. Good luck...

[Du-Rron]

I'm still trying to figure out what a Royal Star Boulevard is myself...lol. You can see pictures of mine if you click on my User Gallery link. Apparently it is a stripped down version of the Royal Star line. It's a '98 so it has the 28mm carbs, 4x4 exhaust, but came with no bags or fairing. I don't believe it came with a windshield either. It's normally listed as a Royal Star XVZ13AK (sometimes with the K on the end, sometimes not). I was told by the PO the bags, fairing, and mufflers, etc. that are on it were added by the owner before him.

 

What I'm showing in the picture is where the clutch hose is attached to the engine by the support bracket (and where it is leaking). It has a cushion (for lack of better term) around the hose where it is going through that mounting bracket. That may be why it looks so big. The parts sheet from Bike Bandit is attached below (it's part #32 ).

 

You can see the cushion thing comes as part of the hose. I'm curious as to what year/bike the parts sheet Du-Ron is showing is for. It looks quite different from mine and the one shown at Bike Bandit for a '98 RSB.

 

I'm leaning towards replacing the whole thing, as Du-Ron suggested. The rubber is almost 20 years old and if it's leaking in one spot it's only a matter of time before it leaks somewhere else. I've been looking at it some more and it may not be as difficult a task as I initially thought to weave it up through all the stuff behind the radiator. I just wanted to know if just changing the back half of this lower hose was an option. It looks like it is, but not the best option.

 

Thanks,

Rich

PhishHead

 

The best I can find is for a 99 Boulevard XVZ13AL. The hoses shown in 2 fisches and are different part number. The top hose screws into the bottom hose.

 

 

[Phishhead61]

Condor,

Thank you! I think it's beautiful! The hard bags are Mutazu. I don't think they were added in '98...I'm thinking probably in the last 3 to 5 years.

 

Du-Ron,

I see where I was confused. Your parts sheet was for the upper part of the (lower) hose, and I was looking at the (lower part of the) lower hose. Part #17 on your part sheet is the part that has to get snaked up behind the radiator. I'm still undecided as to if that part needs to be replaced. Once I get into it I'll have to decide. I had thought there was another connection spot on part #32 on my parts sheet (across from bolt #30 ), but I looked at the bike (and the parts sheet) again and it appears to be another spot that is "cushioned" to go through another mounting bracket on the bottom of the engine.

 

So that was my original question...could I disconnect it there (across from bolt #30 ), but now that I've looked closer at the bottom of the bike, I see it can't be disconnected. My secondary question was do I need to remove/replace part #17 , and I'm still not sure on that. There's not a whole lot of space where the 2 hoses come together, so it may be easier to replace all of it rather than trying to take it apart at that connector. It's behind the front left exhaust and it's a really tight squeeze.

 

Thanks for all the info. I kind of feel bad about wasting your time, but I do appreciate the help.

 

Thank You!

Rich

PhishHead

[Du-Rron]

 

So that was my original question...could I disconnect it there...

 

I think you have it figured out.

 

Side Note:

Have you ever tried to replace that $6.00 ceramic cartridge in the leaking bathroom faucet only to find yourself knee deep into next week re-plumbing the entire house back to the mains? That is just part of home ownership.

 

Have you just meant to put a little air in front tire of your motorcycle only to discover 2 days later that you now have the engine out of the frame laying on the floor in several large chunks? That is just part of motorcycle ownership.

 

Once you open pandora's box you might as well step on in. (I refer to one of my tool boxes as Pandora's Box because once I open that tool box I know I am in for a long haul on whatever I am working on.)

 

If it were my 20 year old motorcycle I would do the following:

Yank the seat, tank, left exhaust and engine fins to get some elbow room. Rebuild the master, replace both hoses and rebuild or replace the slave. If you don't do the hydraulics all at once you will be poking on parts of it from handlebar to clutch, forever. Once you get the hydraulics back together bleeding the thing can test some folk's religion. While the left exhaust was on the floor getting lonely, I would yank the right exhaust also so the left exhaust could have some company. Since everything was out of the way, I would yank the rear wheel & swingarm. Grease the swingarm pivots & shafts, grease the swingarm bearings or replace them, and grease the driveshaft and hub splines.

 

It is amazing how "just replacing a hose" can make your motorcycle ride like new.

[Phishhead61]

Much of that is on the list for this winter, including removing, cleaning and probably rejetting the carbs. I figure since I'm already going to have the carbs off, I might as well check the valves too.

 

BUT...I'm trying to get this hose changed in time to make it to a charity ride this Saturday, so everything else is going to have to wait. After that, I don't care if the bike is down for the winter.

[Phishhead61]

Just a follow up on this thread.

 

I made the ride Saturday! Here are some things I wanted to post here so if anybody in the future finds this thread they will be forwarned.

 

There's 3 parts to the clutch hose; the upper hose that goes from the clutch lever to the right side of the bike just above the rear brake fluid reservoir (I won't be referring to this hose at all as I didn't replace it), and the lower hose that is split into an upper half (that connects from the upper hose to a connector behind the #2 cylinder exhaust pipe), and the lower half that connects from there to the clutch slave cylinder.

 

The part number for the lower half of the clutch hose is the same part number for the '98 Royal Stars and the '07 (and probably all years, but I didn't check others), so I bought a used '07 rather than a used '99 I had found. I figured I should replace it with the newest part I could find. Even though it was the same part number, the '07 was shaped a little bit different. It fit, but did not run through brackets that secured it to the bottom of the engine correctly. For the rear most connection point the hose was running a little too high, so I secured it with a zip cord to the bracket. For the forward bracket, I probably could have connected it properly, but there was a plastic connector that crumbled to pieces when I removed it, so it got zip corded in place too.

 

I found the upper half of the lower hose was a completely different shape, so I kept the one that was on the bike, since it wasn't leaking.

 

I disconnected the upper and lower hoses at the connection point above the brake reservoir, disconnected the 2 clips holding the upper half of the lower hose. I did all this to give myself some slack in the hose because I ended up disconnecting the upper and lower halves of the lower hose in place on the bike. I wanted to pull the whole lower hose off and change out the lower half of the hose on the work bench, but I couldn't find a way to get the whole hose out in one piece. There was very limited space to work (behind the front left exhaust pipe), and it took many, many small incremental turns of the wrench to get them apart (and even more to get it back together again). Just go slow and easy...I also put shop towels over all the chrome in the area to limit the amount of damage a slipped wrench could do.

 

Make sure when you start the job to order/get everything you need. I didn't think about the gasket and copper washer that needed to be replaced when removing the alternator/generator cover. I almost didn't get them in time since they are OEM parts (at least the gasket is). I did order banjo washers (after market) and brake fluid ahead of time.

 

I got everything back together late Friday afternoon, took it for a test ride for an hour or so Friday evening, and made it to the ride Saturday morning and had no mishaps.

 

Thanks for everyone's input and advice!

 

Rich

PhishHead

Edited December 4, 2017 by Phishhead61