Clutch wont fully disengage

[eltoroloco]

I had some troubles with the clutch sticking so i dissasembled the whole unit and cleaned out 24 years of gunk from the pressure plates and friction disks. (forgive me if the terminology is wrong) Now i get to the point where i have it all back together and I just cant seem to adjust the cable for the life of me. The clutch just wont fully disengage. (one fix means i find two things broke.)

1) Is the bike with fullly disengaged clutch supposed to roll as freely as if it was in nuetral?

2) Could this have somthing to do with the torque setting of the springs? could it have accidently been to much torque. (cylmer says 7.5 ft lbs. my wrench's dial only reads down to 10. it felt like less pressure than ten, or maybe it wasnt enough.)

3) Or maybe it is a clutch cable that is streched out too much? agian the manual says that the cable will stretch to the point that it will not be of any use.

4) And in case of the very probable event that i just dont know the proper way to adjust the clutch could somone go over it with me if they think that is the problem. thanks.

[Ken Talbot]

Check out the clutch adjusting procedure in the tech section. Look for the Engine section under Maintanance - there's a number of clutch articles there.

[skids]

Re: Clutch wont fully disengage

The clutch plates are supposed to be coated with engine oil. If you made them squeeky clean, they are probably going to be sticky until they get a good oil bath! That adjuster screw under the plate should be turned clockwise until you feel some resistance, and the backed off just a little. (you might not want to back it off much at all in your case because you want the maximum separation of the plates to prevent creeping until the plates are oil coated). You have to make sure there is a little slack in the cable for that. Then adjust the cable slack so that there is a little bit of free movement before you feel force in the lever. The bolts in the star plate only hold the plate in place, they do nothing to adjust spring tension...so the good news is that you do not have to take off the big clutch cover again (hopefully). If you can run the engine in gear and hold in the clutch lever, it will help coat the plates and re-break them in. I hope this makes sense...

Originally posted by eltoroloco
(snip)

3) Or maybe it is a clutch cable that is streched out too much? agian the manual says that the cable will stretch to the point that it will not be of any use.

4) And in case of the very probable event that i just dont know the proper way to adjust the clutch could somone go over it with me if they think that is the problem. thanks.

[eltoroloco]

The plates were soaked in oil for a generous amount of time, (3days) and when everything went back together i was coating everything thoughly with oil. I'll try running the bike in gear like you said to lube everything up. First i need to get some bugs out of the fuel system.

Thank you.

[eltoroloco]

It worked great. I ran the bike in gear with the lever in to allow the plates to get lubed up. It rolls in gear with the lever in as smooth as if it were in nuetral. the clutch fully disengages.

Thanks guys.

[MartyA]

Is that a record for a repair? Less than 12 hours from question to thank you?
Good for you eltoroloco!