clutch assembly woes

well, i tried to put the clutch together today as the next step on getting my ltd h3 on the road. what a bust. after getting all the pieces on the way they should according to the factory manual, we hit a snag when i tried to put on nut that holds the clutch assembly on. the nut wont go all the way on the shaft that the clutch assembly slides over, making me think theres something wrong here. either the spacers are too big? or perhaps the 550 six speed tranny and the 750 five speed arent interchangeable after all? i just got down looking at the spacers for both the 550 clutch assembly and the 750 clutch assembly and the spacers are the same. someone help! im off to bed. hopefully some answer will be here when i wake up. later, all.

Odd that nobody has chimed in on this. Maybe send a PM to Mark Wing or one of the other members who've done this operation before...

when i put the 6 speed in my GPz there were not enough threads on the clutch basket shaft compared to the GPZ basket shaft.

The alternative is to use the (smaller) 550 basket. I went ahead and used my 750 basket, the nut does not go on all the way but atleast half the threads catch, and i got alot of locktite on it. has been working like a champ!

happy to get a response on this matter. arent you worried of the nut coming off? im saddened to find out my clutch plates and pads are useless on a 550 tranny though.

one other thing. does anyone happen to have the clutch assembly we're speaking of. checked ebay to no avail. dont anyone dare say z1. they dont specialize in keeping old pieces like the clutch assembly around.

I did this conversion successfully a few years back. And yes the nut does not go all the way on.
As eel did. I put a load of thread lock on and tightened it up good. Had no problems at all.

Are you using the 550 transmission cover on the other side. I did and so retained the neutral light. The covers not an exact fit but mine never leaked thanks to kawasakis gaskets having lots of overlap. Alternatively you can reposition the neutral switch on the 750 cover to suit by welding a tapped boss in the right place.

i think im just using the 750 cover and will just wing it trying to find neutral. shouldnt be too hard.

According to kawasaki.com, the 750 twin has the same trans cover as the 550, so it should be easy to obtain one.

Again, according to kawasaki.com, the only 750 that needs the cover changed is the GPz750

Interchange list for KZ550 trans cover.

KZ550-A1 (1980)
KZ550-A2 (1981)
KZ550-A3 (1982)
KZ550-A4 (1983)
KZ550-C1 (LTD) (1980)
KZ550-C2 (LTD) (1981)
KZ550-C3 (LTD) (1982)
KZ550-C4 (LTD) (1983)
KZ550-D1 (GPz) (1981)
KZ650-B1 (1977)
KZ650-B2 (1978)
KZ650-B2A (1978)
KZ650-B3 (1979)
KZ650-C1 (Custom) (1977)
KZ650-C2 (Custom) (1978)
KZ650-C3 (Custom) (1979)
KZ650-D1 (SR) (1978)
KZ650-D1A (SR) (1978)
KZ650-D2 (SR) (1979)
KZ650-E1 (LTD) (1980)
KZ650-F1 (1980)
KZ650-H1 (CSR) (1981)
KZ650-H2 (CSR) (1982)
KZ650-H3 (CSR) (1983)
KZ750-B1 (1976)
KZ750-B2 (1977)
KZ750-B3 (1978)
KZ750-B4 (1979)
KZ750-E1 (1980)
KZ750-E2 (1981)
KZ750-E3 (1982)
KZ750-G1 (LTD II) (1980)
KZ750-H1 (LTD) (1980)
KZ750-H2 (LTD) (1981)
KZ750-H3 (LTD) (1982)
KZ750-H4 (LTD) (1983)
KZ750-M1 (CSR Twin) (1982)

cottoncandyninja wrote:

happy to get a response on this matter. arent you worried of the nut coming off? im saddened to find out my clutch plates and pads are useless on a 550 tranny though.

Not worried at all.