TOPIC:

Hi all! I restored a '77 Z200 after a seized piston from the ground up. A valve in the carb broke loose and wrecked havoc in the cylinder. So I took everything apart, removed all the metal splinters, put it back together. 

Now the clutch won't disengage. I performed all checks, such as adjustment of the cable, lubrication of the friction plates, even put in new clutch springs. By now I've narrowed down the problem to the push rod. The push rod seems to be too short. Looking into the cover on the left side where the release rack sits, the push rod seems to sit flush with the engine casing, meaning the rack doesn't even reach the push rod when fully pushed in. 


I did not replace any parts on the clutch besides the spring plates. Do you have any idea what I could do next? 

Not sure if its the same on your bike but on 650's there is a ball barring that fits between the push rod and thrust plate. Can get easily overlooked when disassembling only to fall out and get lost when moving the engine about. Just a thought.

I see what you mean, but the 200 doesn't have this. Here's a diagram of the clutch, quite simple and not that much room for mistakes actually. However I still managed  

Are you sure that #6 and #20 are installed?

Is the toothed shaft (6) seated fully against the pushrod before installing the pinion shaft? 

Too many clutch plates?

Yes, these seem obvious, but as you say, it is a simple device, so the problem is likely simple, too.

The parts are all in there and #6 gently touches the pushrod, and is installed according to manual. My guess is that #20, the spring plate pusher, doesn't touch the spring plate even though #6 is already all the way in (that's what keeps the clutch lever from moving once assembled). 

I'll try to get some pictures of the whole assembly, maybe that makes it easier. 

Edit: there are 6 steel plates and 7 friction plates specified for my model. Previous versions actually had 5 and 6, with a different push rod and different cage. 



So I measured the push rod, which should be around 21cm. Since it seems to be a little short, I put in a 0.5cm piece of steel in-between the push rod and spring plate pusher. Now the clutch does work, although I can still feel drag. This at least narrows it down to the clutch being 0.5-1cm too big. 

However, it sounds highly unlikely to me that someone would change a push rod and accidentally use the short version (since again, there is a short and a long one for the KZ200). 

Did it work before the rebuild?

Did you take out 11 or 13 clutch plates?

Earlier versions? That is interesting. I think the 1978 a1 and a1a were the first KZ 200s in North America.

I can‘t actually remember. I got in in February, before that it sat around for maybe 8 years.

This bike is from Austria and a '77 A1, engines up until 005063 had the six plates, mine is 017*** so it has seven, in total 13 that I took out. I couldn‘t have put in more or mixed them up as it‘s the only clutch I own. 

I was just scanning the parts diagrams at Kawasaki and Partzilla, and it looks like all the North American KZ200 and 250s used the 5 steel / 6 friction clutch.

Tomorrow (it's night in Austria) I'll check wether the clutch still looks alright with only 6 and 5 plates, but I reckon the spring plate will sit too far up so that the clutch is disengaged without pulling the lever. Anyway this would narrow it down one more step. 

Maybe I am confused, but if you take two plates out of the clutch, the clutch pack will be thinner, causing the pressure plate to be closer to the clutch basket, not farther away, thereby pushing the pushrod farther out, so the clutch release mechanism will work. 
Perhaps, contrary to the numbers, your bike had an 11 plate clutch assembly put in it by some previous owner, hence the presence of the shorter pushrod. That is why I asked if you are certain about how many plates came out.
Either way, it seems the solution is fewer plates or a longer rod.

The clutch pack will be thinner, correct, but the push plate will not sit lower. Like a lid on a pot, with less water it still sits on top. And with 11 plates my clutch is slightly slipping.