Clutch Not Disengaging

Hi,
First post on here, sorry if I mess up any formatting. I’ve been working on a 1986 vf500 interceptor and I’m running into an issue with the clutch. I’ve bled the system as the manual instructs. I will attach a video of the friction plates when the clutch is pulled. I’m hoping that you guys can just toss me some ideas on what my problem may be. Look forward to being a part of this community!

IMG_0589 by vr500project posted May 22, 2024 at 1:04 PM

IMG_0589 by vr500project posted May 22, 2024 at 1:04 PM

 

So... what IS your problem, exactly? The hydraulic clutch appears to be moving the pressure plate just fine.

Is it that with the clutch pulled in, the bike won't roll in gear? The clutch won't "release"?

 

Yeah that’s it, in the videos the clutch is pulled in. When the bikes in gear and I pull the clutch the bike won’t roll and the rear tire remains locked up, the clutch is not releasing.

 

It is fairly common on bikes that have sat or sometimes when new clutch plates are installed. They plates are stuck together. My Honda Hawk GT will do it sometimes since I installed a new clutch and it has sat.

Put the bike in 2nd or 3rd gear and on a high friction surface (rough asphalt or brushed concrete), pull the clutch in and rock the bike back forth with as much force as possible. If that fails to release the stuck plates, since you have the cover off already, you can also just disassemble the clutch pack and re-assemble.

Good time to inspect the plates when it's apart.

New to you bike? How many miles? Has it ran / ridden by you at all?

 

New to me, has high mileage, about 20k. Haven’t ridden it yet, had it running briefly before I started tearing things down to work out other problems. I’ll give the rocking method a try there’s a good chance that could be the case since this bikes been sitting for a while. Thanks for the advice.

 

20K is not high mileage necessarily, but I guess it depends on what happened in those miles. Good luck and report back.

 

every m'cyclist who has a bike that sits unused needs to know this !

 

The Kawasaki I have will not let you shift into second or third with the engine off and clutch in applying pressure to the shift lever due to the positive neutral finder. In that case, I would shift into first gear/clutch in and rock the bike back and forth while sitting on it. Once it breaks free, I would start it in neutral and snick it into gear. Annoying thing was if the bike was laid up for a week or so, the clutch plates would stick, and if I did not go through this drill, once started and first initiation of engaging first gear would result in a stall.

I ended up replacing the fiber clutch plates (not that the other ones where burnt or that worn) and the problem went away thankfully. I did not have to listen to some people who said I needed to put the front tire against a wall and do a burn out LOL. My Ysr50 does this too, but that bike only gets started 4 times a year - side note: my 91 had 70,000 miles on it and I replaced the entire clutch pack and noticed zero difference except maybe at 120mph or so. Good luck

 

bought a '92 ZX-7 at a bank repo auction with stuck clutch. no good rocking. first ride we warned the bike up, and i got away on a push-start kamikazi run, using the engine to fight the brakes while holding clutch in, feelin like a lucky test pilot safe after a forced landing.




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relevant to very little, my 4year ownership didnt result any any long rides, and the bike is not so good in town. power starts about 7000rpm, weak and balky below that. im a smaller guy, and maybe i needed longer arms as i never rode that bike without having a sore chest next day where i was forced against the fuel tank. best handling bike i ever rode, most stable front end. a race bike i decided i dont need. i might have seen 135mph once on the NY freeway. sold for a modest profit. a beautiful beast lookin at is exciting.

 

Love me those double ram air holes on the later ZedX 7s.

 

Update, the rocking method wasn’t enough to get them free but I took them out of the basket, cleaned them up, soaked them in fresh oil and reinstalled and that seams to have solved the issue. Thanks for the help everyone.