stuck clutch '80 gs 850 gl

[Anonymous]

I recently aquired a 1980 gs850gl that was sitting with no oil in it for months. I have it running again now but it appears that the clutch is sticking. How do I unstick it? thanks.

[Poot]

DONT USE ANY OIL ADDITIVES WHATEVER YOU DO!!!!

no slick 50, no teflon crap, no nothing! I'm not sure exactly how you can solve this problem, but I just wanted to get in here before you try anything.

all i can think of , that if it was sittin without oil, it might need a good oilchange or two more to get things back to normal.

[bwringer]

The easiest thing would probably be to take the clutch cover off, remove the clutch hub and clutch plates, dip everything in oil, and put it all back together. An easy 1/2 hour if you're slow.

When a clutch sticks after sitting, it's because the oil has gotten squeezed out from between the clutch plates. In your case, the bike was stored without oil, so there definitely wouldn't be any way for oil to work its way in there.

If you're feeling lazy, you might try pulling the clutch lever in and securing it that way overnight. I have no idea if it would work, but removing the tension might allow some oil to work its way in so it'll start working normally. It's possibly worth a try, though.

[pidgey]

This may not be your problem, but the clutch on my 850 has a tendency to get sticky when the bike has been sitting in a cold garage, so I gotta warm her up good before taking off. Pulling her out of the garage and letting her sit in the sun for an hour or so helps.

[mcycle-nut]

I sometimes have that problem with my dirt bike. What I do is start it, run along beside and then jump on it and put it into gear. I keep the clutch in and keep riding it until the clutch frees up. Hopefully with enough riding you won't have to do this too often.

Then again, doing this with an 850 four banger is a little different than with a 250 two-stroke single dirt bike!