76 KZ750 hard to/can't start

yeah I pushed the rollers up and down with my fingers and they seem to roll ok.

The gasket looked ok, but there was a lot of old oil buildup all over the underside of the cover so if I can find a new gasket I'll throw it in while I have this apart.

As for putting it back together whats the proper way to slide this clutch back on? I used the rear axle like suggested to pull it off. Do I need to beat it back on or will screwing the bolt on be enough to get it back and seated tight?


Hopefully after work I can go get what I need to put this back together with this evening. The weather here's been so nice lately I been itching to get back on this thing and go for a ride.

Just clean the mating surface with brake clean/carb clean, put it on, and tighten the bolt. It's a taper fit as used in many metal working machines to hold drill bits, end mills, etc, it won't slip as long as it's assembled clean and dry and the taper is not worn or damaged.

Ashbane wrote:

While the cover was removed ...
I watched a plug as I turned it over
and saw no spark ....

May rest assured that spark
will not magically reappear
when plugs are screwed back
into place.

Good Luck!

Ok well, I'm a bit puzzled. I put the clutch and dynamo back on and tried the starter. It's been a few days since the engine ran so the battery only had enough juice to turn it over a few times, but it DID turn it over. With the plugs out, btw.

So I put the plugs in to see how it did with pressure and, again, with low battery it only turned it over about 2 revolutions, BUT it DID turn it over.

So I pull out the plugs and check the spark as it turns. No spark that I can see. Nada.

Hrmmm... So, I decide to put the covers back on and parts and pieces back together because, well, I tend to lose things and I wanted to make sure I didn't lose any little pieces. Plus by now I'm thinking it's not the starter clutch anymore.

So I put the battery on a charger, get the covers on, loose pieces picked up, new oil filter/oil filled, tools wiped off from all the old oil everywhere, etc.. I finally decide to start her up. Hit the button while the charger's on it and it fires RIGHT up, then dies right away since I got the tank laying a few feet away while checking the wiring under it. I throw the tank on, take it off the jack stands (no center kick stand) and try again, and it almost starts up again. I kick start it and after a couple kicks it roars up, sputtering and coughing real bad. I gotta rev it over and over to keep it from dieing. After a couple minutes I turn the choke off and eventually it simmers down and idles.

I hit the street and it runs REAL rough for a while and dies as I pull into a gas station. I fill up with some premium 91 octane and it didn't have a real problem after that. Electric start didn't have enough juice to start it for a while, but the kick seems to work fine for the most part.


Not sure what the problem was, but I do think I'll try the wiring mod I found on www.wgcarbs.com/index.php?option=com_con...view&id=12&Itemid=26 and see if that helps matters.

Oh, and btw as for the clutch not fully letting go. No problems at all once the engine fired up.

Battery might be failing.
Would charge overnight.
Then check specific gravity
and have it load tested.

Would also measure charging
voltage across battery terminals.
Look for 12+ volts at idle
and 14+ volts at 4000 rpm.

Would also measure positive voltage
at coil (ign turned on) and compare it
with battery voltage to determine extent
of lost voltage between battery and coil.
If same or very little drop in voltage
between battery and coil, the wiring mod
probably won't help much, as the mod is
designed to eliminate any voltage drop
due to deterioration in wiring and connectors
between battery and coil.

Good Luck!

91 octane?!?

Do you know that is bad for your engine? You don't have a high enough compression ratio for it. You need to run 87 only. 91 will just make it hard to start and run poorly and get bad mpg. Oh, and it will build up carbon deposits since it cannot burn all the fuel at that octane...

My advice would be to drain that out, or at least half of it, and start cutting in some 87 asap...

Glad to hear everything else has come around though!

Gah, now he tells me...

And the battery is brand new, a week old today actually. The guy put a meter on it at the shop I bought it from and checked the old one against the new one.

I did want to check the voltage at the coils I think next.

I have a 750 myself, having the same prob. Played with it and it appears my starter clutch is going bad also. So what kind of puller do I need to hold the flywheel so I can remove it to rebuild my clutch?
Not sure what type of tool I need. Please help.
Sam

Like it says earlier in this thread:

I used the rear axle like suggested to pull it off.

Unscrew the bolt that holds the rotor (flywheel) on, thread the rear axle into the rotor as tight as you can get it, smack the end of the axle with a big hammer. If the rotor don't pop off, tighten the bolt again, then smack the end of the bolt again.

Do not under any circumstances, smack the rotor with a hammer.

Like I said, it's a taper fit, break the taper and it slides right off.

And Ashbane, it will start a lot easier, and run a lot better, if you do a complete tuneup.

well, maybe this is more the question I had. What tool do you use to hold the flywheel so you can get the bolt off. Also is it a left hand bolt or right hand?
Thanks
Sam

I wrestled with the bolt for a bit before I realized it threads in backwards. Came right off then with a ratchet. I used a sliding screw clamp I had in the garage on the rotor after wrapping a rag around it so I didn't mar it up. Then I took the axle out very carefully. I don't have a center stand so I had my bike up on jack stands holding up the rear footpegs. I slid a couple pieces of 2x4's under the rear wheel to hold it in place, then took off the cotter pin and nut on the rear axle and gently slid the axle out of the rear wheel without disassembling it.

I then screwed it into the hole left by the bolt taken out of the rotor (it's actually I different thread on the outer wall of the hole than the bolt you took out used), put a pair of channel locks or something on the inside of the head of the axle, and whacked on it until it popped off. Took a bit since you don't have much room to swing and I didn't wanna hit the bike, but it worked. Might wanna put something under it to catch it besides the pan of dirty oil mine dropped into once it came off.

Then I carefully slid the axle back into place and took care of the starter, although as you can see from the pics seems to be fine.


Just to note on mine, after doing everything I talked about here I still had problems getting it to start, by any means at all. I've been checking out the wiring and installed the wiredgorge coil mod. It didn't help much at first, but I think my main problem is elsewhere. Possibly the coil or the points. I did the ohm test shown in the manual but it reads fairly close to specs. Not perfect though, and I might tinker with the points a bit to see if there's a problem there. I really wanna save up for a modern coil and ignition, but can't just yet.

I also got rid of my old half melted away fuse box and redid some of the wiring. I'm an electrician, conveniently, so it wasn't too hard for me. And it seems to have helped more than anything else has so far. Once I got some new connections in between the coil, starter relay, battery, and the starter switch, it's finally starting up ok for me.I think I still have a weak spark though.

I also got it to start up after fighting it for a while today by opening the throttle up all the way. I never pull on the handle while starting it before so I never considered it might be flooded, but today I figured I need to try something and it roared right up. So maybe I have something somewhere clogging up the air intake. The air filter looked ok, haven't looked elsewhere yet. But for now it's starting up with a little less sweat and running decent once it's warmed up.

I still have that grinding noise if it doesn't start right away with the electric though. But once the engine is warm the electric seems to work ok.

I bought a hydrometer and tried to check the specific gravity on the battery, but it seems the meter has a bigger capacity than I have fluid in the cells to fill it enough to measure anything. When I stick the tube in the suck up the water it barely fills halfway, and the fluid level is above the plates in each cells. But I don't suspect the battery at this time just yet until I tinker with the points and coil yet.