Clutch Question

[Greville Bowles]

The release bearing on my '95 90Q is whining and will need replacement. My
first thought was to do a complete clutch job, but that changed when I
priced the parts. Now I'm thinking I'll just do the problem bearing. I've
never worked on a clutch before so I have some questions.

How urgent is this job? Can I leave it for a while or should I get right on
it? I can live with the noise for a while, but it's been a few months
already and I'm concerned that leaving it will compound the problem and/or
make the fix more expensive/difficult.

How important is it that I do the complete job vs. just the bearing?
Obviously, nobody wants to do that job twice, but I sure would like to save
the $500 + for the other parts if I can. (There's no point in having the
clutch fixed if I can't afford the gas to drive it.)

Once we get into it, what do we look for to ascertain the overall condition
of the clutch? If the other parts are obviously worn I'll bite the bullet
and do the complete repair.

What else (seals, gaskets, etc.) are we likely to need to do the job? Any
special tools required? Any BTDT's?

The only symptom that I've noticed with the clutch is that the transition
from 2nd to 3rd is not as smooth as it used to be. Other than that the
clutch appears to work fine.  I just went over 170,000 km (105,000 miles) on
the original clutch.

TIA for any feedback.

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Mr. Greville H. Bowles
RR 5, Rockwood, Ontario N0B 2K0
E-mail:   zaphod at cansafe.com
'95 90Q
'85 245
'83 GS650GL
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