Clutch problemo

[Tenacious K]

My clutch on my kx125 is real rough. Its either fully on or fully off pretty much. It makes it impossible to effectively clutch out of corners or out of the gates. It wasn't always like this since i got it. I had a casing replaced a while ago so when the guy at the workshop put it back together the clutch was horrible(along with other things) so I figure somethings real wrong and take out the clutch plates, which were assembled wrong by this guy. I put them back in, in the right order and things a heck better but it's still really screwy and seems to be getting worse. Checked the plates and on the steel plates apart from a little light(very light) scratching on the steel plates its fine. Fiber plates well within limits too. Anyone have any idea whats wrong with my clutch?:-/

[Rob503]

it may just be the adjustment of it, if you adjust it out too far it can be all the sudden clutch then no clutch, if you adjust it in it can become a gradual clutch feel im sure u mite have tried that or maybe even replace your clutch cable, it may have been placed under too much pressure when the plates where assembled the wrong way.

[O'Brien#12]

Any scoring on the basket??
Is your clutch "notchy"??

[mxdad172]

I would check the adjustment first have you got play in the lever. Next look at the basket is the basket notched

[jnickell]

I would check the routing of the clutch cable. If it is misrouted, it could be getting kinked. Since the guy totally effed up on the clutch plate order, I would imagine he has no clue how to route the cables either. It reallllllly matters.

[Falcon991]

Check the basket for notches. If your plates cannot slide in and out of the basket, they will get hung up and stay engaged/disengaged, hence the "on or off" you describe. I am 75% sure that's your problem. The cable routing JNickell describes could also be a problem, especially if your clutch issues occur when the bars are turned one way or the other.

[757]

also check your inner hub on your clutch for notching. that has lead to every clutch problem i have had with my pingers.

[Tenacious K]

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/glenfiddich/pictars002.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/glenfiddich/pictars001.jpg
No scoring on the basket, the cover in the pic has a little scratching as you can see and thats all I could find. I did notice when i was open that sometimes when pulling the clutch it would separate half of the plates when other times it would just move all of them at once. Is that normal?

[motodrew295]

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/glenfiddich/pictars002.jpg




http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/glenfiddich/pictars001.jpg


No scoring on the basket, the cover in the pic has a little scratching as you can see and thats all I could find. I did notice when i was open that sometimes when pulling the clutch it would separate half of the plates when other times it would just move all of them at once. Is that normal?

Check the basket for notches. If your plates cannot slide in and out of the basket, they will get hung up and stay engaged/disengaged, hence the "on or off" you describe. I am 75% sure that's your problem.

Signed,
Falcon

Same thing is going on with my CRF250, the basket is wasted. Moose has a fairly cheap billet kit that I think is manufactured by Hinson. I had to put one in my 450.

[Tenacious K]

But I can't see any damage at all????

[Falcon991]

But I can't see any damage at all????

In your second pic, the closeup of the basket shows lines along the engagement teeth. This happens because the tabs on the ends of your fiber plates are slamming into the basket under load. That is the notching I'm describing... the damage doesn't have to be very deep to affect your clutch performance. Yours is mild enough that you might be able to sand it out with sandpaper or a file, but I've never done that and I don't know how it would work.

Has anybody ever done that???

[Tenacious K]

I saw that but I figured it was too minor to have any affect...I might try sanding it out with some fine sand paper. Will that just carry on happening as a maintenance thing or is there something wrong causing this?

[Falcon991]

I saw that but I figured it was too minor to have any affect...I might try sanding it out with some fine sand paper. Will that just carry on happening as a maintenance thing or is there something wrong causing this?

Make sure you are running a motorcycle oil in the transmission and replacing it often. That's about all you can do. If you have a lot of hours on the clutch that might be part of the problem too.

[Crash11]

In your second pic, the closeup of the basket shows lines along the engagement teeth. This happens because the tabs on the ends of your fiber plates are slamming into the basket under load. That is the notching I'm describing... the damage doesn't have to be very deep to affect your clutch performance. Yours is mild enough that you might be able to sand it out with sandpaper or a file, but I've never done that and I don't know how it would work.

Has anybody ever done that???
I've heard it can be done, but only once. If you file down the notches more than once you run the risk of weakening the basket to point that it breaks. With the minors notches he has, I'd definitely file them down.

[Daniel]

In your second pic, the closeup of the basket shows lines along the engagement teeth. This happens because the tabs on the ends of your fiber plates are slamming into the basket under load. That is the notching I'm describing... the damage doesn't have to be very deep to affect your clutch performance. Yours is mild enough that you might be able to sand it out with sandpaper or a file, but I've never done that and I don't know how it would work.

Has anybody ever done that???We've done it before on one of my old 450's. We had to take out the basket to get to some seal in the cases so we could replace it. While the basket was out I just took a file to the tabs and smoothed it out. I only did it once to that clutch, but I don't recall ever having a problem with it afterwards. In fact, i've never put a new basket in any of my bikes. That's just what we've always done to them. Call me cheap, but it works.