Need help with starter clutch please

[Anonymous]

Hello

First off, I have already searched for past posts relating to my starter clutch problem but I did not find anything helpfull, so I was hoping one of you could help me.

I have a '79 GS1000E with 16k miles on it. I bought the bike from the original owner, and have had it for about a year. As long as the battery was charged up, it always started fine. I parked it about 2 or maybe 3 months ago. A couple days ago I decided to start it up, and I could not get it to start. After a bunch of troubleshooting, I figured out the crank was not turning (!) even though the starter was turning over.

Forgive me if some of my terms are incorrect, I am more used to cars...

I took the starter-side engine cover off, and saw that the starter was turning, and so was the flywheel (?), yet the crank wasn't. So I figured out there is a "starter clutch", and figured that might be the problem. I took out the large bolt holding the balancer/flywheel to the crank. I thought I would need a puller, but I decided to try to pull it off by hand, so I grabbed on and pulled hard... And it came right off, and proceeded to land in my oil-drain pan. Doh! So I took it out and fished all the small parts out. I cleaned up all the parts and printed out a diagram so I had an idea what I was looking at...

All the starter clutch parts looked fine.. the rollers that ride on the center of the large gear looked fine with no obvious flat spots, and the pins and springs looked good too. The bike had had a rattling sound at low rpm's especially when cold, so I thought maybe some of the starter clutch parts had somehow fallen out. I cleaned everything up, put it back in, and tried the starter... I got pretty much the same as before. I had the points cover off so I could see the end of the crank. When I tried to start it, the crank would sometimes turn a quarter turn or so, but would not turn after that.

I am hoping one of you has experience with this. Maybe I could use an explanation of how the starter clutch works. Are there any specifics I should be looking for? Is this a common problem for a bike with 16k miles? I cant figure out why it worked fine when I parked the bike, and after it sat for a couple months, I have this problem... I dunno.

Anyways, I would appreciate any help you guys could give me.

Thanks

Jeff

[Hap Call]

Jeff,

It sounds like all the rollers are not contacting the clutch surface. I would pull the clutch assembly and insure that all three rollers, springs and push pieces are moving freely.

Hap

[Anonymous]

Hap,

I am planning on pulling it back apart today, so I will take a look at that. I am prety sure I assembled everything correctly, and I am sure none of the rollers fell out before I had it put together. Is it possible for the springs to loose tension, or the pins the springs push to wear down over the years?

After reading other peoples discriptions of similar problems, I expected my bolts to be sheared off, but everything looked in great shape. I was a little concerned that the bolt on the end of the crank wasn't very tight, and I pulled the balancer/flywheel off the crank with almost no effort. I was pretty sure I was going to need a puller for that.

Ill let you know what I find.

Thanks

Jeff

[gtsg01]

If I read your post correctly, the rotor (flywheel) is turning when you hit the starter.

If this is the case, you just need to reinstall the Rotor (flywheel) and re-torque the nut that holds it on. Check the manual for torque.

You should not have been able to remove the rotor without a puller and many expletives.

[Joe Nardy]

Jeff,
I had a similar experience years ago on my '83 1100E. What happened was the rotor/starter clutch would come loose and spin on the shaft. The fact that you were able to pull the assembly off by hand should concern you. You should not be able to pull it without the proper puller. If your bike is the same as mine, the assembly is just a press fit on to a taper on the shaft. inspect the shaft for any wear marks. In my case the shaft had worn down enough that the assembly would not tighten sufficiently.

I took it to a dealer who put a glob of Locktite on the shaft (even though the shop manual explicitly says to make sure the shaft is asbolutely clean and to use nothing on it). This worked for a while until the globs of Locktite caused the clutch to lock up and spin my starter at some ungodly rpm until it melted. So now I'm out the money I paid the dealer to screw it up AND the price of a starter.

So I took it upon myself to see what I could do. I measured the shaft and the rotor diameters with a micrometer. I then bought a 12 inch long piece of feeler gauge stock of the appropriate thickness and cut it to a length that would be one wrap on the shaft. I fit the feeler gauge around the shaft, re-installed the rotor/starter clutch assembly, and tightened it to the correct torque. I haven't had a another problem with it in at least ten years.

P.S. There is a washer behind the assembly that the manual says must be installed properly. One side is flat and the other is 'chamfered'. It has four grooves in it. The chamfered side goes in toward the cases.

Good luck,
Joe

[Anonymous]

gtsg - yeah, thats exactly what is happening. I didn't think there was any way in hell I would pull the flywheel off by hand, but I thout i would try it for kicks, and it pulled right off, and I landed on my ass, and it laned in my full oil-drain pan. It was probably pretty comical if you saw it happen.

Joe - It souds like I have the same problem. Hopefully I can just tighten it more. If not, I might be asking you about your feeler-gauge fix.

Now off to the cold garage *brrrr*

Thanks

Jeff

[Joe Nardy]

Jeff,

Most likely tightening more will not help. In my case I remember the nut feeling like it was getting tighter then losing that feeling as the assembly pushed past the thickest part of the shaft. I suspect you have the same problem.

Thanks,
Joe

P.S. You don't have a heated garage? :P

[Hap Call]

Jeff,

After re-reading your original post, I agree with Jack and Joe...if you have the starter clutch off you should be able to spin the gear on the back in one direction but not the other. If that is the case, then the entire assembly is loose on the crank and needs to be torqued down. Use some Loc-Tite on the three bolts of the clutch assembly and some on the crank nut threads to insure that everything stays together.

Hap

[Anonymous]

I torqued the nut down all the way, and now it works great.

Thanks a lot for the help.

Jeff