First off, I want to give a huge THANK YOU to this forum. Around six weeks ago I decided to dig into my engine without having ever tried anything like that before, last Friday I hit the go button and it started up. Without all the knowledgable and helpful folks here there's no way I could have done that. So, thanks!
Unfortunately I'm dealing with some clutch issues. I've played around with all the adjustments and can't get it to disengage. I even tried shiming (with a small cut off portion of a screw) the pushrod to get a little more push through the block but nothing changed. There's feedback, and I've had the lever bottomed out, but there's not even a little bit of clutch when I shift through the gears. At this point the only thing I can think of is popping open the right side and seeing what's going on, but before I do that I'd love to hear any ideas on what might be going on.
Thanks again, this place is great!
Quite likely the pates are stuck together. That can happen after sitting a long time or even a short time if the oil is dirty.
Are you saying the clutch never engages? Meaning you can never go.
Or is the clutch stuck, meaning that when the clutch is pulled in, the bike still wants to go? (and the only place it will not want to go is when in neutral).
Sorry, a little confusing wording. The clutch is always engaged, so I can only run the engine when it's in neutral. I can shift when it's up on the center stand so the rear wheel can spin, but as soon as I try to put the wheel down the engine will stall out. It's probably been about two months since the bike was on the road, but I had the clutch apart as recently as last week and the oil is all new. I'll probably pop the right hand case off today and take a look.
My first guess is the clutch was not reassembled correctly.
With the side cover off, you can see the top of the clutch basket move out when you pull the clutch lever.
Thanks for the help. I got the side cover off and can see the clutch move. The range of motion seems correct, but only the outer plate is moving. My gut says that all the other parts were just sticky, but I'm not 100% sure. Before I just clean it up and put it back together are there any thoughts as to if there's a bigger issue? The motion seems fine to me but I am a relative novice. Thanks!
I had same issue and cleaned all the plates with kerosene, dry, then dipped in fresh oil before putting back in.
That made the clutch operate very smooth.
When sticky, I found that I could force the rear wheel to turn (motor was off) and saw that with force, the plates would free up for a while (I tied the clutch lever in).
After cleaning, the wheel could be turned with ease when the clutch was pulled in.
Try that first before doing more serious work. Cleaning may be all you need.
Adidasguy, you're the man! Got the clutch together, with the rear wheel, shifting into first got the wheel spinning, a major bummer, but then as soon as I put the wheel down with some weight on it, the wheel stopped and the engine kept going! Great stuff, I got to go riding today! Can't believe it, this has been a real journey, I wasn't sure if it was ever going to end.
AWESOME!!!!!
Since new I have had a similar but lesser problem with the clutch. It has always "dragged" when cold resulting is a loud clunk and jerk when engaging first gear for the first time after a cold start, sometimes it would even stall the engine. The plates would stick together overnight. Using different oils made little difference. To solve the problem I just use a cable tie to hold the clutch lever in when the bike is parked overnight. This stops the plates from sticking together and allows a normal engagement of 1st gear. It is not needed during the day's ride, only when parked overnight. :thumb:
I hope this helps,
Macka