Clutch problems

[Jeppo]

Right so was out for a good thrash a couple weeks back and the bike got pretty warm, the clutch cable appeared to stretch about an inch and i could'nt disengage the clutch, pretty embarassin at lights, had to nurse it home, clutchless gear changes and fumblin for neutral or pullin the cable outta the housing at the lever to make it that bit longer !! :wanker

So seemed simple, change the cable... So i did that, and I have already got it at full extent of adjustment at both ends
Yet today i was having the same problems, At the lights i had to hold the break on to stop the bike rolling off, and it did die occasionally and i had to shove it to side of the road, which is bloody hard work when the clutch won't disengage!!!!

So basically what do you think i could do?? I was thinking of re-routing the clutch cable, so it was effectively shorter and so would disengage the clutch.
The friction plates were changed about 2 months ago, at which time i checked the steels and they were fine.

Another thought....any chance it could be the oil? Its semi synth castrol designed for bikes......




Cheers for responses people

[RedexRobB]

Thats quite odd, the oil sounds like its the right stuff, im assuming its castrol GPS ?

You can adjust the slack down by the clutch too if you hadnt thought of that, just dont undo any of the bolts that hold the bracket on as they are for the cam chain tensioner.

Failing that, might be time to get the clutch apart and check the lot.

[lewisdale]

personally id strip the clutch down and see whats going on,its not a hard job to do

[zxrjohn14]

hmmm, tricky one this. if the steels were worn it'd slip rather than not disengage.
the oil you mention is fine, again if it was the oil, it'd slip.
also if you've changed the cable, that eliminates that.
so, if it was mine, i'd look at the mounting of the lower adjuster (under cam chain tensioner) and the actual arm. if these seems ok, have a look inside at the arm were it attatches to the clutch pin, if that seems ok, change the whole clutch again (plates, steels and springs).
good luck

[Jeppo]

It's already fully adjusted at the clutch side, i'l have a look at the mounting point, see what i can do. Do you think re-routing the cable a lil bit is a valid fix?? lol

[CarneyUK]

Just a thought,

Could it be part 1 has spun or part 2 has bent? I know someone who had the arm (part 2) on thier bike bend.

Image2.jpg

[Jeppo]

If part 1 had spun wouldn't the clutch not work at all??
The problem is only really evident when the bikes nice and toasty.....Though I could have a looksee if part 2 has bent.
Im thinking that the cable or some part of the clutch is getting too hot and stretching out therefore not fully disengaging when it gets hot....

[cargo]

You say new friction plates were fitted two months ago...............a more important bit of information would be how many miles ago

Did you fit the new friction plates properly.....................the last one in fits into the short slot in the basket

And the first one in is a friction



And did you refit the pressure plate correctly it only goes in one way and the marks have to line up ?

I do hope you remembered the little bearing that goes in the pressure plate ?

Daft one now........................it is a ZXR400 clutch cable isn't it ? and not a bodge off something else.

Spring bolts correctly torqued ?

Springs in good condition ?

Basket worn ?

Washers the right way round ?

Centre nut tight ?

Worn needle bearing ?

[Jeppo]

What is the basket exactly, i've heard the term but dno what it is lol.
Dno what the needle bearing is either.
It was about 2000 miles ago, and they were fitted properly. And they worked absolutely fine until couple weeks back.

[RedexRobB]

Fitted properly by who?

The basket is the outer part of the clutch where everything slots into. The needle roller is a bearing that sits in the middle of the clutch. check out the manuals theres an exploded diagram of the clutch

[Jeppo]

Fitted properly by who?

by me Followed the manual exactly, pretty confident i dint mess it up. lol

[RedexRobB]

hehehe, well its done 2k miles since, so cant be all bad Did you soak the plates before installing them? And what plates did you use? EBC's?

[Jeppo]

soaked in oil for a good few hours. And yea EBC.

[RedexRobB]

Good good, get it out and see what the deal is.

[MillaMeter]

Hi,

Change your oil. I had this problem like a week back, it's in the forum somewere, "12000rpm scare" or something. my clutch was slipping very very badly and when I took it to the Dyno last Sat the guy couldn't get a proper reading from her. I went home, bought some castrol 10w 40 (not semi or fully synthetic) just the normal toad. and is now running perfect! Get hold of some engine flush and some oil and see where it goes from there.

Regards

Rich