CLUTCH NOT RELEASING

[SINJIN]

I have a 2002 cbr 954rr and on 09-22-2006 I went down on the right side in T7 at VIR. The frame slider took most of the damage but it did eat away at the bottom portion of the fairing and put some very light scratches on the right side crankcase. I was able to finish out the day on the track, after passing tech, with no problems and got the bike home. After a few days we noticied that there was an oil drip under the bike. The drip was coming from the right side crankcase near the rear sets but would only drip one drop after two or three days. Myself and jninja decided to replace the gasket to the crankcase. After talking to the local Honda Shop I found out that it does not have a gasket but to use honda bond. I have a factory service manual and we followed the instructions to the letter for taking the crankcase off and putting it back on. The manual stated that after taking out the flange bolts and relaseing the cluth cable to turn the cluth lifter mechanism counter clockwise which released it from the cluth lifter piece and the crankcase from the engine. After doing this we cleaned both mating surfaces and applied the honda bond. AT NO TIME DID WE TOUCH OR ADJUST ANYTHING ON THE CLUTCH BASKET OR INTERNAL ASSEMBLY. After waiting a munite for the honda bond to cure we put the crankcase back on the bike per the instructions of the manual. The manuel advised after getting the crankcase cover on to turn the clutch lifter mechanism clock wise to pull the cover back into the proper place so that it would be able to engage the clutch lifter. When we put the crankcase on, it did pull the case cover into the motor assembly. Now.....with the bike on a rear stand and in neutral and not running we can put the bike into first gear and put it back into neutral without using the clutch. After putting it into first gear we tried to pull the clutch in and the rear tire will not spin. Put the bike into neutral and the tire spins. We have tried to remove and put on the crankcase cover several times and everytime the clutch will not release either with the clutch lever or manually. Every motorcycle shop that I have talked to says either that the transmission is messed up, the clutch plates are sticking, or what I most hear is "I have no idea but bring it into the shop so we can take a look at it for $60 an hour even though we have no idea what is wrong." The transmission doesen't seem to be broken since I finished out the track day and there was no problems with this until we removed the crankcase. How can the clutch plates be sticking together if again we did not have this problem before removing the cover and since we never touched the clutch basket or anything to do with the internal clutch. Any ideas how to fix this or has anybody run into this with their bike before. PLease help!!!!!!

[Jim McKenzie]

I seriously doubt that anything is wrong with your transmission, but it is probable that your clutch plates can be sticking. But first, a couple of questions.

When you pull the clutch lever in, does it “feel” the same as it did before you removed the sidecover? Is it softer, or is there more “free play” in the lever than before?
Put the bike in first gear, take it off of the stand, pull the clutch lever all the way in and rock the bike back and forth forcefully…does the clutch disengage and allow the wheel to turn? Even with everything working perfectly the wheel will not spin as freely in gear with the clutch pulled as it does when it is in neutral.

If the clutch does not disengage after rocking the bike back and forth with the clutch pulled in, my first thought is that the lifter mechanism is not “clocked” properly and may need to be rotated a little more to allow the clutch to completely disengage.

There is no need to start adjusting ANYTHING else to make this work. If there is an excessive amount of free play in the lever, do not adjust the clutch cable to correct it. That will be an indication that the clutch lifer mechanism is not installed correctly.

Where do you live? If you are near the Charlotte area I will be glad to take a look at it for you.

Let me know what you find out.

Jim McKenzie

[SINJIN]

THANKS JIM FOR THE REPLY

I WILL TRY THOSE THINGS NEXT WEEK WHEN I GET A DAY OFF WORK AND GO TO JNINJA'S HOUSE WHERE MY BIKE IS. I REALLY HOPE THAT THOSE IDEAS WORK CAUSE I AM REALLY BUMMED ABOUT THE WHOLE SITUATION. AFTER WE TRY EVERYTHING I WILL POST UP TO LET YOU KNOW HOW IT WENT AND THANKS AGAIN FOR THE ADVICE. HEARING ADVICE FROM SOMEONE IN THE INDUSTRY THAT KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT AND HAS AN INTEREST IN HELPING PEOPLE HELPS BECAUSE SOME OF THESE CATS THAT I HAVE TALKED TO DID NOT REALLY SEEM TO CARE OR HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO.

[SINJIN]

Jim.................Thanks again for the advice. Myself and Jninja got the clutch to release and everything is working properly without any leaks.

We tried to spin the backtire forcefully with the clutch lever pulled in while it was on the stand before we tried it off the stand and it broke loose. Not exacly sure why it broke loose today when we tried it because we tried the same thing the first day that we worked on the bike without any success. The Clutch lever feels normal again.....the same tension and freeplay... Filled the bike with oil and let it warm up and while on the stand tried to shift into first. Went into gear normally and we then went up and down through the gears with no problems. Took it off the stand and test rode it on the street gingerly a few miles and everything seems to be fine now. Can you explain why the clutch plates mave have stuck together or does my bike have a ghost in it and the ghost was pissed off that I crashed? Also if the plates are sticking does this mean that I need to replace the plates in the clutch? Thanks again Jim.

[Jninja]

Success at last, alot of stress has been relieved by the problem being solved. Its no ghost just a Honduh, haha, maybe she just wasn't ready to go back together. No worries, next step is to hit the track again, not literally though!!!

[Jim McKenzie]

It really is pretty common for the clutch plates to stick occasionally, especially if the bike has sat for a period of time. Different oils can make a difference, shutting a really hot engine down quickly can have an affect, etc, etc. Back in the day, so to speak, it was a common occurrence and on some dirt bikes (mainly Spanish) you had to do what you did by rocking the bike back and forth with the lever pulled in every morning or the bike would stall when you put it in gear. Don’t think you have anything to worry about.

Thanks,

Jim

[SINJIN]

Thanks again Jim for the advisce and Jninja without your help my bike would probably be in some shop and me getting bent over with no vasaline......ouch....Now its time to get back out on the track when the pocketbook allows.

[Jninja]

No worries sinjin, I would do this for any of my fellow riders, besides were family so we gotta look out for our boys. I just want to see you get back on the track and work on your comfort level, the smoothness is there now you just have to tie it all together.