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How to get a good friction point on the clutch on a 80 GS750E

  • Thread starter Thread starter pnedac
  • Start date Start date
I have tried sitting on the bike and taking it off the stand and pushing it into/out of gear in both 1st and 2nd from neutral to no avail. I think I like this groove in the basket idea and that is going to become my next plan of action. I think I can just put the bike on the kickstand and get in there without draining the oil right? Not the end of the world of course, but it would be a shame to waste the oil. I think it just needs some good lean on it to be able ot get in.

Thanks again for helping me work through this. I would be lost without this forum I swear.

Cheers
 
put a clean container under the bike to catch what will come out and you can reuse it once you put it all back together.

My question was more like this, if the bike is on the ground, and it's in gear, say first, and you pull in the clutch cable, will the bike roll forward as you try to push it with your feet, or is the rear tire locked up ? and the bike will not move, until you select neutral with the gear lever

the other thing, is if it's in first gear, clutch pulled in, and you hit the starter button, does the engine turn over and start, or does the whole bike lunge forward, or at least try to move forward ?

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you could try putting the front wheel against a wall, then try starting it with the bike in gear and clutch pulled or put it in gear while the engine is running.do not rev it!

if it is the clutch plates stuck, the shock of doing this should free them up.

if this also fails then i think you really need to pull it apart and have a look
 
Thank you for that tip Gatekeeper. I will try and reuse what I can. Also, when I sit on the bike and I put it in first with the clutch lever pulled the bike DOES move forward, but it doesn't want to. In other words I would say that the wheel is locked up. When I mean it moves forward I mean it only moves a little bit and that is because I am pushing it pretty hard.

I think at this point it can't hurt to pull it apart and at least have a look. Maybe it is something glaring (hopefully).

@Agemax, I did try that too and the bike definitley lurches forward even with the clutch lever pulled in. It lurched forwards and dies.

I WILL get this resolved and it WILL work properly once again. You have my word on that. I can't thank you enough.

Next step: Pull it apart. It is officially party time!
 
Yup, something is wrong for sure.....you should be able to pull in clutch, no matter what gear your in, and you should be able to start the bike....need to be able to do this in case you stall the bike, and need to get going fast, pull clutch lever, hit start button, and release lever to get you going....one should not have to try and find neutral to get bike going....especially say at an intersection...


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I am with the other guys...something inside the basket is snagging and not letting it disengage fully.

Be sure the basket is fully seated back against the oil pump and the connector pin back there is sitting inside the allowed space. Look at the inside edges of the basket that recieve the plates and fibers for ridges worn in them from the edges of the plates. Look at a parts fiche and be sure the big washers ( spacers ) are in the right order as well.

http://www.bikebandit.com/1980-suzuki-gs750e/o/m21462#sch261637
 
Alright I might be getting somewhere here. I have taken the clutch apart and I do detect that there might be some ridges digging into the basket.

Now, it is subtle, but there are ridges. You can see all along the inside where the plates go that there are marks, but the outside ones are a little deeper.

I took a dental tool and ran it along the inside between the ridges and some of them were deep enough to just barely grab the tool. Mainly right toward the outer edge of that basket. I'd say about the first four slots were a little deeper; the further back I go it becomes more and more smooth.

To be as specific as possible the parts fiche listed it as number 5 (Hub, clutch sleeve)

Otherwise everything looks to be in order and the parts were in fact put in correctly.

Next, if that is the part that needs replacing how in the heck does one go about getting it off as it spins freely? Put it in gear?

Hopefully this amounts to progress!

Thoughts?
 
The grooves we are talking about will be on the outer basket ring..take a look in along the sides of the raised parts of the aluminum that the tabs for the plates and steels to slip in to. And put the steels and plates back in starting with a fiber..then a plate.


Also lay the steels on a perfectly flat piece of steel of glass and observe if they are warped. look for wear marks and/or bluing of the metal.
 
So, does the wheel turn freely with the plates out?
To take it apart, bend the tab off the nut, stand on the rear brake and use a breaker bar. Some coarse sandpaper or small file will knock down the sharp edges where the plates make contact with the basket.
 
gearhead13 said:
So, does the wheel turn freely with the plates out?
To take it apart, bend the tab off the nut, stand on the rear brake and use a breaker bar. Some coarse sandpaper or small file will knock down the sharp edges where the plates make contact with the basket.
Click to expand...

standing on the rear brake will not allow you to undo the centre nut,it will just spin. you need the special tool or fab one up to lock the centre hub to the outer basket.
 
Agemax said:
standing on the rear brake will not allow you to undo the centre nut,it will just spin. you need the special tool or fab one up to lock the centre hub to the outer basket.
Click to expand...
Really? I have been doing it that way for years:-k
 
Actually..if you use an impact driver, an electric or air impact, you dont need any special Lock up tool. Few whacks with the impact driver and hammer and the nut is loose.
 
All good info here thanks again. Looks like I have my marching orders so back to work I will go.

I have tentatively set that appt with my guru here in West Sacramento should I blow it, but my goal is to conquer this bad boy myself and cancel that appt.

I think it should be a relatively smooth operation though since I already have it all apart. Now to get that center nut off and out comes the basket.

I will say this: I thought it was more dramatic than it actually is (the grooves). I stepped away to post my progress and went back out there later and the grooves somehow didn't seem so deep. I think it is one of those things where you want to feel like you've found something big, but I will take the basket out and get some sanding on it just to be sure.

I will surely update when I get it back together.

Thanks again.

Pnedac
 
Have I made a fundamental error?

Have I made a fundamental error?

So my wife got home and I was still out there working this issue and she asked me to explain to her what is going on. So I said "Let me show you how this "should" work on a bike that is in perfect shape".

I also have a 2003 Suzi TL1000R (The R Stand for Rocketship!) and I sat on it, put the kickstand up, held in the clutch, popped it in first and to my surprise it did not move at all even with the clutch pulled in. It behaved just like the GS750. The TL was turned off though as has been the GS this whole time.

It was too late to be starting loud bikes up, but the TL works perfectly so my new question is this:

Have I been chasing this problem falsely because the bike is not turned on when I am doing this?

The only difference between the two bikes is that the TL has a hydraulic clutch vs. the GS cable clutch. I thought this might be it, but I also thought that perhaps the hydraulic clutch is a poor example because they are apples and oranges.

I will feel like a noob amongst noobs if that is all that I have been doing wrong. It could have been a simple cable adjustment, but I need to turn the bike on in order to test the operability.

Am I onto something here or do I really have a clutch problem?

Shaking my head!
 
So I went to the garage to test out your above comments on my own....

bike is off and in neutral I can push it no problem, as it should be

bike is off and in first gear and clutch pulled in, I can push the bike, some resistance but it is moveable, both forward and backward

same as above but clutch released bike will not roll forward or backward

bike was not running in any of these tests

hope this helps

.
 
Take out the clutch basket
Measure the fibers and steels with a caliper to determine if they are out of spec. (got a manual?)
Take steel wool to the steels and fibers to rid the old oil and glaze.
File the High ridges smooth in the inner and outer basket. Don't get too happy taking off material but just take off the high ridges. Dimples left over is ok.
Replace the clutch springs and the lock washer.(Lock washer the part you bend over the nut)
Use an electric impact to remove and tighten the clutch bolt.
Oil the fibers before reinstalling.
If you have 2-3 mm of play in handle bar lever and it increases a lot with the heat of the engine replace the cable.
 
The tl1000r should have rolled with the clutch disengaged (in) and tranny in gear. Get your wife back out there and ask her to try it, you may not be rolling with enough force.

I agree with Chef. Very straight forward and thourough. If that doesn't get it then you probably have some bent plates. These clutches are pretty simple.

Also, did you ever try spinning the rear wheel while in gear with the clutch out to make sure you're barking up the right tree?
 
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I'm having a similar issue. My 1980 GS850GL (recently bought) hasn't run in about 10 years.

I took apart the clutch just to have a look inside, but found everything to be within spec. I put it back together, adjusted the cable and whatnot, but can't get it to slip at all when turning the wheel by hand, even with the clutch lever pulled all the way in.

I can provide more details but before I do, I thought it would be worth noting: I haven't yet filled the engine with oil. Does this make a huge difference? I know that the clutch is supposed to be bathed in oil, but I figured the test above would still sorta work. I didn't want to put oil back in until I knew for sure that I wouldn't have to take the clutch apart again.

Am I worrying over nothing?
 
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