Clutch help needed!

[sam]

2000 GasGas 280.

My friend had problems with the clutch slipping inwhich he disassembled cleaned and reassembled, seemed to work fine.

Then turned around and had to replace kick starter gear. So, once again disassembled and reassembled the clutch while replacing gear. Now the clutch is pumped up hard when pulling in lever? He has repeated disassembly/reassembly multiple times. Has cracked the bleeder valve to relieve pressure, tried like crazy to bleed clutch, still pulls hard.

Any help would be much appreciated.

sam

[jse]

2000 GasGas 280.

My friend had problems with the clutch slipping inwhich he disassembled cleaned and reassembled, seemed to work fine.

Then turned around and had to replace kick starter gear. So, once again disassembled and reassembled the clutch while replacing gear. Now the clutch is pumped up hard when pulling in lever? He has repeated disassembly/reassembly multiple times. Has cracked the bleeder valve to relieve pressure, tried like crazy to bleed clutch, still pulls hard.

Any help would be much appreciated.

sam

Sam,

Check to be sure the pressure plate is "indexed" to the hub by looking for the spring hole in the pressure plate with a line marked near/across it and that the spring tower that goes through that hole has a line across it. The pressure plate goes on the hub assembly one way.

Also be sure the adjustment screw on the clutch lever is backed out enough to provide some clearance between the screw tip and the plunger rod that goes through the M/C boot. Screwing the adjustment in too far will cause clutch slippage and a hard lever, when the piston bottoms out in the M/C cylinder bore.

Jon

[mcnut]

Sam's friend here. Who knows? I may be his only friend.

Thanks for the indexing tip. I've got that right. I also have the adjustment screw backed out almost all the way. Still having trouble though. As I bleed the system, over and over, again and again, the lever pumps up like a brake lever. And I almost always get a bubble or two. I've been bleeding it literally, for days. The clutch never moves. What the heck?

[jse]

Sam's friend here. Who knows? I may be his only friend.

Thanks for the indexing tip. I've got that right. I also have the adjustment screw backed out almost all the way. Still having trouble though. As I bleed the system, over and over, again and again, the lever pumps up like a brake lever. And I almost always get a bubble or two. I've been bleeding it literally, for days. The clutch never moves. What the heck?

There is a very small ball bearing between the clutch rod and the "mushroom" that presses on the pressure plate, you might want to check that it is there. The servo cylinder piston would probably be at it's stop if the ball bearing was missing.

Jon

[sam]

Jon,

Yesterday I traveled to mcnuts to assist with GasGas repair, And yes the ball bearing was missing. Then we had another problem getting the clutch cover on. We tried over and over, the spring seemed to get in the way. Then I realized that a aluminum bushing with a half hole on the kick starter shaft was out of alignment inwhich the case cover would not fully cloae and binding the kick starter.

Just like my friend Biff said, always work on GasGas clutch with bike laying down!

Thank for your help.

sam

[mcnut]

I blame the missing ball bearing on the heavy teenager traffic in my barn. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Regardless, thanks Sam, Biff, and Jon.