Replacing clutch cover question

So, I got a small crack in my clutch cover (the metal one underneath the plastic). I've already ordered a new cover, but was curious if I will need to drain my oil before actually replacing the cover? Is there so much oil in there that if I don't it will spill everywhere? Any other tips would be appreciated.

I'd drain the oil myself, but if that's a huge issue you could probably lay bike down on it's side and replace cover quickly without losing much oil. 

Bike holds less than 2 quarts of oil. 

How'd you crack clutch cover? 

Got pics?

motokid wrote:

I'd drain the oil myself, but if that's a huge issue you could probably lay bike down on it's side and replace cover quickly without losing much oil. 

Bike holds less than 2 quarts of oil. 

How'd you crack clutch cover? 

Got pics?

OK thanks, I may try to lay it on its side then. I want to avoid draining the oil if possible.

I dropped the bike a few times on its side while doing some trails and I guess maybe a hard rock or something must have caused a small crack in it. I had noticed my bike was slowly leaking oil from somewhere last week but it didn't seem severe, so I felt it was OK to wait until the weekend to dig in and see what was causing it (it seemed to only be an issue after the bike was used and I wasn't sure if the issue would just go away on its own). 

After taking off the skid plate and running the engine, I was able to locate where the oil was dripping from -- the crank case. I could see the foam that's underneath the plastic cover was soaked in oil and when I pushed it in, oil would squeeze out. I took the plastic cover off and saw the small crack in the metal cover. There wasn't any oil coming from it and it was all relatively clean. I put a temporary paper towel and tape band-aid on it and put the plastic back on while I wait for the replacement.

When I get the cover, I'll try to post some pics of what it all looks like.

i've removed the clutch cover without draining any oil just on the kickstand...doing clutch plates is pretty quick that way...

Here is what the crack on the case looks like:

I have removed the cover without losing oil by laying the bike on its side. When I replaced my clutch apparently I had a bad torque wrench and the clutch wouldn't disengage. Since I had just installed the clutch and fresh oil I didn't want to waste it, so I laid the bike on its side to properly torque the clutch bolts, no issue.

Cool, thanks for the reassurance then. My cover is slated to arrive tomorrow (Friday). In the meantime, I've put some good tape over the crack and a small paper towel patch over that. It's done a good job of stopping the leakage.

Update: I ended up putting the bike on its side and replaced the crank case cover. Was real simple and easy. Took it on a nice 6 hour ride the next day and all was good.

Glad that worked out for ya!