Odd problem.

Jashdown · Post by **Jashdown** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 6:39 am

So the problem is for my RVF, but I'm pretty sure could be related to any bike.

When the bike is running and in gear with the clutch in, sometimes when I'm pushing the bike around, the rear wheel will randomly lock. The clutch operates perfectly, but this is an intermittent problem and occurs on random occasions, nothing in particular will make it happen, except for pushing the bike around.

The same sort of problem will also happen when I'm in first and I try to move away. I will release the clutch slowly and the bike will roll forward and then the wheel locks all of a sudden (the same sort of thing as what happens when you try push a bike while it's in gear without the clutch in). Even if I give it more throttle and let the clutch out slowly, the engine still stalls. It's as if the output shaft is not rotating correctly, or something within the clutch is not operating correctly.

These issues are completely intermittent, the bike operates perfectly for 80% of the time, and then randomly the wheel will lock and won't budge until I rock it backwards and forwards a little bit, and then it will be fine again.

I originally thought it could be the shift forks wrong or the shafts assembled incorrectly, but all gears can be selected easily, neutral is also easy to select and the bike can move under it's own power in all gears. So the problem must be the clutch, but I have no idea what would cause this problem only to happen sometimes, and not all the time..

Any ideas would be hugely appreciated..

Post by **racingt** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:49 am

Jashdown, have you checked there are no stiff links in the chain?

Post by **iDemonix** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 8:59 am

Not that I'm saying it's your fault, but didn't you recently do something to the clutch like change the plates (I forget)?

Jashdown · Post by **Jashdown** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:19 am

No, haven't checked the chain thoroughly, but we suspected that, but it's weird because when I wheel it and it stops, sometimes I can wheel it back half a meter and it stops again. So I sort of discounted the chain.

iDemonix - yeah, but all I did was replace the input shaft and put a new clutch not on (to the correct torque, unlike the retard last time). Everything else in the clutch was set up as per the Haynes manual, but it's behaving funny.

What's got me stumped, is the fact that it doesn't happen 100% of the time, only about 10-20% of the time, and then when it does happen, I just rock the bike back and forth a little bit and it's working fine again. If it happened all the time, I would be able to sort it, but because it's intermittent, it's hard to trace. Two of the steel plates had a little burn on them when I removed the clutch, but the bike never had this problem before the clutch failed. It could possibly be that there isn't enough oil on the clutch yet, or the plates are warped, causing friction sometimes even though the lever is fine. But if that were the case, and the bike was running and in gear, it would be trying to move forward, not locking.

magg · Post by **magg** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:11 pm

Did the replacement input shaft come assembled with gears etc? If so maybe it had the problem "built in" eg dud bearing. Can only suggest you remove the clutch and see if the problem still exists.

Jashdown · Post by **Jashdown** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:33 pm

Nah I only received the shaft. I used my current bearing and assembled the shaft exactly as it was removed. I rotated the gears heaps once the cases were bolted back together, and changed through all the gears and there was no sticking anywhere. Didn't get stuck once, everything operated perfectly. All I can think of is something caught in the one way clutch or one of the clutch bearings, which randomly causes the clutch to stop moving, preventing any movement in the wheel or shafts.

Post by **iDemonix** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:59 pm

Just to rule out the chain, could you possibly raise the rear wheel and take the front sprocket cover off? Then spin the back wheel until it locks and see if the chain has anything to do with it. The only thing I can imagine would be an incorrectly assembled clutch assembly but not sure what would cause it!

Jashdown · Post by **Jashdown** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 1:36 pm

We did jack it up, and we rotated it in neutral, it just spun freely without any problem. When we put it in gear, it was too hard to rotate the wheel by hand. But yeah, we rotated it heaps while in neutral with the sprocket cover off, didn't lock once, so I don't think it's the chain or sprocket, that was our first suspicion. The problem only occurs when the bike is in gear with the clutch in and trying to move the bike, sometimes it gets caught.

I'm 99% certain the shafts are assembled correctly, if they weren't, the problem would occur all the time or some gears wouldn't be able to be selected.

It has to be the clutch, but the irregular occurrence has me stumped. You can't really assemble the clutch wrong, it's pretty straight forward, and I would have though if it was done wrong, it wouldn't be working at all. So frustratingggg.

Post by **Drunkn Munky** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 2:17 pm

This sounds similar to a problem i had years ago, i cant remember the exact details but i ended up stripping the clutch back out and refitted it double checking everything went back in place as it should.

Jashdown · Post by **Jashdown** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 2:49 pm

Drunkn Munky wrote:This sounds similar to a problem i had years ago, i cant remember the exact details but i ended up stripping the clutch back out and refitted it double checking everything went back in place as it should.

Yeah I think that's what I'll end up doing. The Haynes manual has a pretty good thorough description of how it goes together. I think I must have just let some much get into a bearing or something. I'll pull the whole clutch apart and clean everything thoroughly, then reassemble with plenty of oil and hopefully it sorts the problem. Hopefully no damage has been done either.

Odd problem.

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