clutch will not move at all

grinster · 11-10-2008, 9:09 PM

okay here is my first post to this site. My bike is a 85 VF5OOF. hydraulic clutch. for whatever reason one day the clutch lever would not pull in. And when I pull on the lever real hard while the motor is running with trans in Neutral, the motor gradually dies. First, I pulled the slave cylinder off and checked for piston movement-yes it moves by actuating the lever and the lever feels fine. I bled the clutch too; did not make any difference. put the slave cylinder back on, then next I pull the clutch side cover and inspect the basket. all the plates are in good condition and not stuck together. I loosen the 4 bolts and remove the pressure plate, inspect the basket, gears and bearing, looks fine and i put it all back. By the way, while I had both the slave off or the clutch backet, the long clutch lifter rod moves freely back and forth--no problem there. Hmmmm. what is it? With the motor off, I am able to shift through all the gears, sometime i need to roll the bike forwards to back to allow the shift up or down. I give up.

denzee · 11-10-2008, 10:25 PM

I'm stumped. Any history you can give us. Was the bike used daily until this happened? When slave was off, did the clutch lever work fine. Sounds like the clutch somehow binding right at the clutch plate. The gear shifting thing you mentioned is normal.

grinster · 11-10-2008, 10:44 PM

it was not ridden in a while, but before that there was nothing wrong. The problem has to be in the pressure plate, or the basket. The lifter rod pushes on the pressure plate which releases the friction from the discs. This might sound dumb, but are the 4 bolts which secure the pressure plate via the springs, do they only srew in a few turns--like is there some kind of adjustment in there? I guess I'll disassemble it again and recheck my assembly procedure. I read all the time about so many issues people have after a bike has not been ridden in a while.

grinster · 11-16-2008, 11:04 PM

finally figured it out-the locknut which holds down the clutch center
came loose, so the whole basket was pushing against the side cover. put it all back together and it now works!