I am cornfused and going insane due to this clutch

[Guest]

This Fkajsding Clutch is driving me bonkers.

-The Cable is frayed, but still functional. New cable is in the mail.
-The adjusters can adjust. Have been tried from full tight to full loose and everywhere in between.
-The friction plates and the plain plates look ok, don't have a burnt odor, and actually look like something that might have been replaced at one point in time. They do not stick much, they are easily pulled apart.

I took it apart because well, the clutch just stopped working. I drove it home from a friend's house one day, everything seemed dandy. I tried to take it to school the next day, pull in the clutch to roll it backwards out of the garage, and nothing. It won't disengage the drive. Threw it up on the center stand, wheel spins even if clutch is in. Could be shifted to neutral, but now does not want to be shifted back to first.

Major question:

Why the heck does my pushrod assembly look like this:



It's in.. two pieces? None of the parts breakdowns i've looked at have two pieces, yet it doesn't look broken. The bolt like doodad appears to be ok, and the clutch is generally clean. Im just currently at a loss of what to do other than try to find a new pushrod. I dont want to buy new plates for it to not be the issue.

[tkent02]

Sometimes clutch plates sick together. No big deal. Get the engine running, ride it around in first gear with the clutch lever pulled in, start cracking the throttle on and off. Try to get the chain snatch snatching. The clutch will free up soon enough.

[JEEPRUSTY]

I recall brake cables on dirt bikes that gave the appearance of being OK but they were popping strands. The cable can slightly elongate with each pull not entirely breaking but putting things out of adjustment.

Not sure why the pushrod is shown as two pieces. I think mine is like this it is probably to allow for fixing a bent rod without opening the transmission.


The movement of the pushrod is really very small a few MMs full travel.

I would wait for the new cable and adjust per the manual.

[Chrkut]

I was confused because I dont see anywhere its shown as two pieces, yet mine is. The pushrod(s) seem to be a pain to get a hold of, so I suppose if the cable doesn't do the trick, the next thing would be to replace the mechanism that pushes the pushrod after being actuated by the cable?

I dont think the plates sticking is the problem, but since the clutch is apart, we were thinking about cleaning them, putting oil on them, and sticking them back on. Nothing better to do while waiting for the cable.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Wait for the cable and follow the manual's clutch adjustment procedure.
It will seem to be miraculous.

Adjustment of the rod actuator would yield fast results in troubleshooting.
Their is a threaded rod with a slotted head that is fastened in place with a locking nut.

I had a similar problem when I swapped engines. My clutch and adjsuter in the new wngine did not like the old cable or the free play in the lever.

[apopleptic]

It's in.. two pieces? None of the parts breakdowns i've looked at have two pieces, yet it doesn't look broken. The bolt like doodad appears to be ok, and the clutch is generally clean. Im just currently at a loss of what to do other than try to find a new pushrod. I dont want to buy new plates for it to not be the issue.

for the 1980 GS450 the clutch pushrod came in two assemblies.
a single piece and a two piece.
Check out #20/21 vs #19 I experienced a bit of confusion with this last year.

[TheCafeKid]

Just a bit of advice...if you're planning on riding a fair distance from, well, anywhere, always carry a spare clutch cable. Once one wire pops, it's like a Wyle E Coyote cartoon where he's hanging on by a thread and after one frays they all go real fast. Once a wire in the cable snaps, it's anyone's guess as to how many pulls you'll get out of it before it all goes. I learned this the hard way during a leg of a 2600 mile trip. Fortunately for me, I was able to meet up with one of the many outstanding members on this board who had a spare for me. From then on, whenever I go on a trip, I carry spare cables.

[Mekanix]

Early model twins have a one piece pushrod. later models have a two piece as an upgrade.

Download a manual from Bassclif and look at the back of the book. It says why they changed it.

I thought it was to avoid wearing out the oil seal.

If you max out both adjustments then it has to be the cable.