1500/1600 Vulcan Clutch Push Rod Seal

Here it is. The oil running down the sidestand and off the frame. Looks like my shovelhead.


Take the left cover off to get down to business. Remove heel shifter bolt.




Remove the rear floorboard bolt and loosen the front bolt.


If you have modd'ed the cover, then you don't have to pull both shifter to get the cover off.


These bolts need to come out.


With cover off you can really see how much oil is still in the cover.


I'm going to slide the heel shifter back up tight so I don't have to figure out which spline I had it on.


At this point I wasn't positive that the pushrod seal was my problem everything seemed to wet with oil and there is about 10 places that could potentially leak.




Here's a telling sign a big drip spot on the clutch slave cylinder.


Some books and write-ups show strapping the clutch lever all the way to the grip, but I figured that just keeping the lever were it couldn't actually be pushed once the slave cylinder was off the bike would be fine.


Three bolts.


Oh yeah more proof that the push rod was leaking.


Yes the seal not leaking around the shaft and seal lip, but the whole seal is completely out of the its bore.The seal is part number 92049-1017.


Zip-tie the spacer and slave cylinder so that it's not hanging by the hose and banjo fitting.


Pull the rod and seal.


Okay this is where I really need to bad mouth MaKaw.  There are no good instructions in any manual(1500/1600) for replacing the pushrod or seal.


Furthermore the design is crappy. The seal sits in a open hole with only the slight interference fit holding it in place while the pushrod goes back and forth through it. Here' the best part information I could get from a manual about the seal. It's from the front bevel gear section. This is the top view cross section of the front bevel gear. A better design would have been a counterbore so the seal would to sit against something on the inside and snap ring and groove on the outside to hold the seal in place.



This is where the things got worse. Those two lines on the shaft were low spots. Barely low enough to feel with a thumbnail, but very easy to feel when I slip the lip seal over them. If I used this again, the new seal would most likely pop right back out. A new pushrod is PN 13116-1132. It's cheap and mostly easy to come by, but not likely in stock and no one was open at 7:00 PM anyway. (I was kind of shocked my dealer at the seal in stock when I needed it.)


So I loaded up and headed across town to Columbus' house. Chuck it up in the lathe.


He gently worked his way up from 220 to 1000 paper.



Then we checked with the old seal. No more pronounced low spot.(The visible lines are the oil from where we changed directions sliding the seal around.)


Final finish was with a whetstone and oil.


This should work. As Bierkan says, "it's only temporary, unless it works." So may be ordering a new rod and seal in the near future.


Brake cleaner on a q-tip to clean all the oil from the housing and bore.


Brake cleaner on a q-tip to clean all the oil piston face of the slave cylinder. Note the spherical shape in the center of the piston face.


It mates ups to this end of the push rod. Yes, the factory trained tech that put it together last did it wrong, but the piston actually wore a dimple into the flat end of my push rod. So guess either way will work.


Another reason to bad mouth MaKaw manuals. The Clymer manual(s) show the difference very specifically and clearly. I looked in all my genuine Kawasaki manuals and the only reference to the difference is in the 1500 Classic FI manual.


So this washer will keep me from driving the seal too far all the way through the hole and into the engine,


I'm going put a little moto-seal on the bore and seal. This might be a good idea or bad idea.






You can use your fingers to get it most of the way. A little deep well socket and hammer can finish the job. Again be careful not loose it, but washer should help prevent that.


Ready to go.


Cut the tie.


Bolt it up.


Cut this tie.


I rolled the bike into driveway and sprayed it down oily side of the engine with simple green. Then I hosed it all down and blew it dry.

Cover it all up.


Bolt it all back together and go.