Too Much Gearbox Oil?

[JonM]

Silly question but humour me;

The 2013 Sherco ST I bought earlier this year has always suffered from clutch drag-terrible when cold, just annoying when warm. 

Last weekend I bled the clutch and changed the gearbox oil- 450ml Putoline light gear oil. 

Just started the bike and wobbled around the garden, and it's worse than before. I'm thinking maybe it wasn't absolutely empty and so now it's slightly overfilled? 

[Nishijin]

Or maybe you wanted a heavier oil, not lighter?

[JonM]

1 minute ago, Nishijin said:

Or maybe you wanted a heavier oil, not lighter?

I didn't consider changing the viscosity, I thought this was a suitable replacement?i

Besides, I might have this backwards but I thought a lighter oil would be less draggy but less progressive? 

[Nishijin]

3 minutes ago, JonM said:

I didn't consider changing the viscosity, I thought this was a suitable replacement?i

Besides, I might have this backwards but I thought a lighter oil would be less draggy but less progressive? 

Hmm. Well you’d have thought so, but just searching ‘clutch drag’ on-here and you get a dozen issues across all the brands. Alongside that comes the varying suggestions in oil and weight.

 

When you bled it, are you sure you bled it well enough? No leaks either? Is the lever action more positive? It only takes a small bubble to kill a hydraulic system’s efficiency.

 

I’m quite sure my ‘16 ST300 has some clutch drag, so minimal, but the idle drops fractionally once put from neutral into gear. Haven’t had the courage or patience to strip the clutch and try sort it.   

 

 

[JonM]

Clutch lever action feels very positive, better than before. I'm not saying it's a perfect bleed, but it's certainly up to the task and the piston moves well. 

I'm confident it's not an actuation issue. 

This is sufficient drag for the bike to always be pulling, and now neutral can't be found. 

[Nishijin]

Very odd. The only time on three different 4T road/offroad bikes that I cannot hit neutral is poor oil, and incorrectly adjusted lever. 

[stpauls]

In my 2014 Sherco ST, after experimenting with several different oils, I used 450mm of ATF Dextron 3. 

 

[cascao]

The oil my ST had less drag was with motul transoil.

 

[Glayne]

On 8/15/2021 at 4:11 PM, cascao said:

The oil my ST had less drag was with motul transoil.

 

I also prefer Motul transoil in my GasGas.

[JonM]

On 8/16/2021 at 12:11 AM, cascao said:

The oil my ST had less drag was with motul transoil.

 

 

7 hours ago, Glayne said:

I also prefer Motul transoil in my GasGas.

 

On 8/14/2021 at 8:31 PM, stpauls said:

In my 2014 Sherco ST, after experimenting with several different oils, I used 450mm of ATF Dextron 3. 

 

Thanks, guys. (I actually used Motul in my GasGas and Motul 300V in my R1. I rate them very highly). 

I'd decided to go with Elf HTX740 as that sounds like one of the most slippery, lowest viscosity gearbox oils. 

Phoned Splatshop to order and it was confirmed that whilst it probably would solve the drag, it's also a very 'quick' clutch. As a novice progressive is better for me. 

So Putoline Nano Trans is going in.