Hi Folks, I've got a weird thing going on here. I have a 900 Trident, it's been stood for ages, just rebuilding it. Got to the clutch today, it was an absolute pig to bleed it but now it feels right and when I pull the clutch in I hear a noise from the clutch side of the engine as if the clutch is being operated. However it does not disengage. Now I remember this used to happen on old Fords - the plte would just stick and it required acts of significant violence to free it off. Anybody seen this before or got any ideas? Thanks in advance,
It was left full of oil so I don't think it will have rusted but something weird is going on. I have not really had much experience of bike wet multiplate clutches, one has never gone wrong on me before.
Yeah, funnily enough I just fitted a new stand to it as the old one had rusted through. I have to do the oil and filter change tomorrow so once that's done I will give that a go. I will probably try and sort the rear brake as well and see if I can make it free itself. Just wondered if anyone else had experienced this, it seems to be a weird problem to have and I don't want to go taking the clutch apart if I don't have to.
If it was left standing on the center stand the oil doesn't cover the clutch and as @Rocker said it will be rusted together, I would care fully remove the clutch cover and strip and clean other wise you could end up with problems later. If it was left on the side stand most of the oil drains to the LHS side of the engine away from the clutch. To carry out DD's idea you will need to be sat on the bike holding on the back brake to try and break it free, not a good idea in my opinion on a bike you dont really know and take the risk of damage.
Thanks guys, I just had a few minutes spare so I whipped off the clutch cover. The hydraulic bit is definitely working fine, the plates were all stuck together. I think Oldyam may have a point, I suspect it could have been on the side stand for many years as the center stand was broken. I will do the job properly in the morning and take the thing to bits as I can only get to about 2/3 of the plates to free them off. I see how it hangs together now I have had a look in there. I don't think I need to go any further than taking the plates out, seperating them, oiling them good and proper and bunging them back in in the same order they came out. Thanks for the info, I will report back.
LOL, well I went with Oldyam, he was spot on, the metal plates were all rusty on the surface and the friction plates or whatever they are called were well stuck to them. Took them all out, cleaned them, put them back in the same order and I now have a working clutch. The only fly in the ointment is that I only have 5 bolts out of 6 as one broke upon removal. I think it was probably at the top and hadn't had any oil round it for an eon, maybe someone had over torqued it to start with. I will put a small drill in it tomorrow and use an easy out on it, if that doesn't work I will have to get in to further disassembly and maybe replacement. At least I know what was wrong now and also I now know how a bike clutch works
So I now have a fully working clutch. I cleaned it all really well after getting the busted bolt out. It seemed to be made of quite soft steel. I took it right the way off to make sure there was no swarf in there, put it all back together, it now works as it should. Really quite chuffed as it's the first time of getting in to a bike clutch. Next job - brakes.
Oh bugger, you are absolutely correct, you were the first to say it and you were spot on. Sorry about that old chap, I was so wrapped up in the problem that I got all confused and that. I will go and punish myself with a knotted bootlace this instant
