clutch problems

Hey all, have a few problems with my bike, it is a 1982 kz440 LTD Belt D4

Page 174 of the manual I have tells me that the friction plate and housing service limit is at .7 mm clearance and I have .7 mm only on three "teeth" and .6 and .65 on the others. I have less than the 30 mm slack in the chain and the chain guide thickness is greater then 2 mm so all should be good but I can not go into gear without grinding bad.

I do not have what it takes to test the springs tension.

From what I see the clutch looks good, but I do not know what I see many times. what can/should I do?

Well in looking at this again I see I am not giving good details so I will make an effort to do better.

here is the deal as far as I can tell.
When the bike is off I can go into first gear. No problems. However when it is running I can only get a grinding noise and it is loud at that. I will not jamb it into gear for fear of breaking something I cant replace. So I took off the cover and investigated only to find that all seems fine from the way I see it.
I went by the manual for the thing and read what I could on the overall and on the service updates for the year.
I now have the cover off and do not want to put it on until I figure out why it was making the noises it was. Problem, I dont really know what I am looking at and outside of measuring whatever the manual tells me to measure to see if it is in limit or not I can do nothing.

Naturally there are other problems that go with the bike such as an extremely high idle but I am working on that too. I have to wait a bit until I can get the clutch fixed so I can continue with the rest since I can not drive it to warm it up, and I do not want to just sit and let it run for fear of gas and oil going where it does not need to go.

Any Advice? Thanks in advance.

First things first. Have you check the adjustment of the clutch cable? Improper disengagement can cause a grinding. First gear is usually the hardest to get anyway, be it a car or bike, due to it putting more torque to the wheel when engaged. The high idle may cause some issues with this also, due to too much difference in input and output shaft speeds.

Yes I have checked it. I had the handle set just to spec with 2 mm play and 5/6 mm between the nut lock and nut on handle. I also checked to make sure I was at 50 degrees down on the cover.

My cable from insert point on the handle to the point that connects to the clutch rod in the cover on the right side is 55 inches if I am not mistaken. I DO NOT know if this is a propper length or if it is stretched out.

If you adjust a little bit of the free play out of the handle, that is to say, make the clutch pull more. Does it get better?

no it does not. I have tried it as far in both directions as I could and it did not seem to help.

the clutch release assembly does show some wear on it where it connects to the pressure spring inside but that seems to be only a mm or 2

At what point did you start having this problem? In otherwords, let's try to figure out what changed to make the clutch go from working properly to not working. Was the clutch operating properly when you first got the bike? Did you have the right engine cover (clutch cover) off and was the clutch spring plate removed OR was the clutch push rod ever removed from the left side on the bike? I ask because is almost sounds like you're missing the little ball bearing that sits between the pushrod and spring plate. Is this a possibiity? Ed

bearing? sounds like something I need to look into. I got the bike and never tried to get it in gear. Went into gear for the guy who owned it and he drove it for me but that was putting it in 1st gear then letting the clutch out to "jump start it"

I have removed the alternator cover and the cover beside it to get to the wires and that was all. I have removed the right side only to check out the clutch and all looks fine.

So no I have never had it going and running for any gears at all.

i want it rain men

Here is an image of the interior. if more is needed let me know. This is from the right side and it does not appear as if anyone has gone deeper then this.

650ed wrote:

Did you have the right engine cover (clutch cover) off and was the clutch spring plate removed OR was the clutch push rod ever removed from the left side on the bike? I ask because is almost sounds like you're missing the little ball bearing that sits between the pushrod and spring plate. Is this a possibiity? Ed

Ok so I took a small screwdriver and put it in the center "shaft to see if there was a bearing in it since I could not see one and the screwdriver went in all the way.

I have an 80 ltd so I pulled it open and saw the bearing inside it so I robbed it and put it in.

behind the bearing I can see what I believe you are calling the "CLUTCH PUSH ROD" and I am at this point leaving it alone.

please keep in mind I am working on an 82 D4 belt and the update I have does not show the bearing, but I am assuming that it should be there.

I am also aware that many of the parts on the 80 ltd chain will not crossover.