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Finally, after two months of wrenching, the bike has once again seen the glory that is sustained internal combustion. (Two months ago I bought the bike and it was in bad shape, started it, fried the wiring, been working on it all ever since).

Well I dragged it out into the street to give it a shot at actually taking me for a ride, but found out that the clutch is stuck (It's always something, isn't it). With the clutch lever pulled in I tried to put it in first, which jumped the bike forward and killed the engine. The cable seemed pretty tight, but I just couldn't get it to disengage the clutch. The bike has been sitting for a while (two months plus God only knows how long it sat outside in the yard of the guy I bought it from) so I'm going to try the rocking in gear trick I've read about in the forums.

Also, I did put drag bars on it, and I think I might need a shorter clutch cable anyways, but I can't tell if that's the clutch problem as I never had the bike running when I had the stock bars on.

Well here's a pic of my beauty nearing completion (need a seat and to fix that stinkin clutch)



Post edited by: 77Davo650, at: 2006/07/26 10:06

I should have put the side covers on for the pic, oh well.

Clutch plates sometimes stick together after a long period of sitting around, you might try putting it in gear (without the motor running) and pulling in the clutch then rocking it back and forth to see if they break free.

Edit:

so I'm going to try the rocking in gear trick I've read about in the forums.

Maybe I should read the whole thing before I post?

Post edited by: steell, at: 2006/07/26 13:47

Lookin good, man!!

just pull the clutch out.. take it apart and re-oil each fiber plate before puttin back in.. its pretty easy... this way u know u dont have a fryed plate or sumthing else..

its only takes like 10mins to do. but make sure u oil the fiber plates down

Thanks for the info, I'll take the clutch apart and re-oil the plates and hopefully it all turns out ok.

Good to hear another KZ will be back on the road, and a 650 to boot, my favorite.

Looks good.

"just pull the clutch out.. take it apart and re-oil each fiber plate before puttin back in.. its pretty easy... this way u know u dont have a fryed plate or sumthing else..
its only takes like 10mins to do. but make sure u oil the fiber plates down"

Is it really that easy RollingStock?

"If" you have all the tools at hand, and "if" everything goes perfectly, and "if" you have done it a couple of dozen times before, then you can maybe do it in ten minutes (on a four).

Takes longer on a 750 twin because you have to remove more stuff.

10 minutes for the clutch itself, 10-15 minutes to remove the cover, 45 minutes to get all the old gasket off, 10-15 minutes to reassemble cover and hope no leaks.

Yep these answers make a lot more sense. To take the cover off I have to remove ignition pickup and rotor...and buy another gasket!!! If you are just replacing the fiber disks, do you need any special compression gear?

You're right, 10 minutes for the clutch itself, but 2 hours and a ton of cursing at trying to get the kickstart lever off since it was rusted on there pretty good.

Almost all of the plates came out in a solid sandwich, so I spent about 10 min. prying them apart and cleaning and re-oiling them, put it all back together, and just like that, she was good to go.

I took the bike for her first ride (with me as the driver) halfway around the block (at 11pm in a quiet suburban neighborhood), and that half a block sure felt good after the two months of sitting in a hot garage working on the dang thing.

Anyways, the thrill was short lived, as the bike sputtered out and died after a little bit, and the plugs were carbon fouled pretty bad. 2 and 3 pipes were burning hot while 1 and 4 were just pretty hot. Now it's time to move on to the rest of the problems I need to deal with, but it's good to know she still goes.