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New member from Louisiana needs help

1699 Views 17 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  shadetree
I have been reading this forum for a long time but just joined today. Thank you all for all the great information and entertainment too. I am currently restoring a 1991 300 fw that I inherited from my dad. The bike has only been run less than 10 hours in the last 15 years and the clutch plates stick after sitting for a day. I am going to change the clutch discs and plates and look for the cause of an irritating squeaking noise. When I first crank it and it is in neutral it starts making the squeak. It squeaks very slow at first and gradually increases to about 100 squeaks per minute. I believe this noise is from the change clutch slowly rolling over while the engine is running in neutral. Is the clutch rolling over in neutral a normal thing? I know the noise is not normal. When you shift to a gear the noise stops instantly and starts again when you go back to neutral. Any ideas on what I need to check to stop this irritating noise when I change the clutch plates? The noise gets a little quieter as the motor warms up. Could it be the one way bearing? The bike has less than 100 hours on it since new.
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welcome to the forums. one-way bearing is on the centrifugal clutch, not the change clutch, and this bearing is turning all the time. have a look at the change clutch throw out bearing for the noise ?. MAKE SURE YOU USE ONLY OIL MADE FOR WET CLUTCHES IN ATVS AND MOTORCYCLES, DO NOT USE AUTOMOTIVE OIL !.
Thanks for the welcome and quick response. Was not sure if the one way bearing turned with the crank or the centrifugal clutch drum.
Thanks for the welcome and quick response. Was not sure if the one way bearing turned with the crank or the centrifugal clutch drum.
your welcome :). bearing turns ( sorta ) with the centrifugal clutch.
I will check that bearing for sure. I am running honda GN4 oil now but who knows what was used in the past.
GN4 is good - it is JASO MA rated for wet clutch engines. But quite a few people are unaware that automobile oil that is Energy Conserving or Resource Conserving will have friction modifiers that can quite possibly ruin the friction disks in a wet clutch.

Rick

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Hello and welcome to the forum. Lots of great folks here and all are willing to help as is evident by the replies received already. Welcome. :)
So I pulled the right side cover and clutches yesterday and so far everything looks good. Tried to do it without the kickstart and reverse shaft falling out, but I think that is impossible. Now I have to figure out how that stuff goes. The clutch lifter plate that is on the end of the clutch adjusting bolt was pushed in so far that the little fork was about to come off the pin on the cover. I had adjusted that way to get the clutch to release at all. Maybe the fiber discs are swollen. We will see when I start to mic things. Removing the 26 year old cover gasket was straight from hell. Spent a lot more time scraping than turning wrenches. Also found one of the 4 clutch spring bolts loose but not backed out. Still looking for something that would cause the squeaking noise, but with the cover off everything rolls over quiet and smooth.
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So I pulled the right side cover and clutches yesterday and so far everything looks good. Tried to do it without the kickstart and reverse shaft falling out, but I think that is impossible. Now I have to figure out how that stuff goes. The clutch lifter plate that is on the end of the clutch adjusting bolt was pushed in so far that the little fork was about to come off the pin on the cover. I had adjusted that way to get the clutch to release at all. Maybe the fiber discs are swollen. We will see when I start to mic things. Removing the 26 year old cover gasket was straight from hell. Spent a lot more time scraping than turning wrenches. Also found one of the 4 clutch spring bolts loose but not backed out. Still looking for something that would cause the squeaking noise, but with the cover off everything rolls over quiet and smooth.
there is a throw out bearing in the center of the change clutch, start looking there. as for the gasket on the cover ?, I use my bench grinder with a wire wheel on it, so much easier removing those gaskets. BECAREFUL THOUGH !, you don't want to '' burn '' a spot on the cover your removing the gasket ?, in other words, make a low spot from doing it with a wire wheel on a bench grinder. service manual shows you how the reverse lever goes back in the cases, if you did not remove the 10mm bolt from the lever BEFORE you removed the cover ?, it will slide out of the engine case when you pull the cover. make sure to put all the thrust washers back in their spot !!, one goes on the reverse lever, one goes on the kick starting shaft, and one goes on the change clutch arm.
I got the clutch discs, plates, and springs changed out and all the shafts and washers back in place. Shade - the throwout bearing was fine but the way I had the clutch adjusted up it had a tremendous amount of pressure on it. Yea I know it was not set right but I did it in attempt to make the clutch release. Maybe it had something to do with the noise? The discs were thicker than spec (swelled) and the springs were too short. Maybe my clutch sticking problem is fixed anyway. I am about ready to put the cover on so what is the best way to keep the tri ball and spring in place. Manual says put grease on it. Are there any other tricks? Do I need to back the adjustment off? Maybe I am too worried about all that junk falling out of place. lol
Just dab a little grease on it and it will be fine...


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Thank you for the encouragement.
I got the clutch discs, plates, and springs changed out and all the shafts and washers back in place. Shade - the throwout bearing was fine but the way I had the clutch adjusted up it had a tremendous amount of pressure on it. Yea I know it was not set right but I did it in attempt to make the clutch release. Maybe it had something to do with the noise? The discs were thicker than spec (swelled) and the springs were too short. Maybe my clutch sticking problem is fixed anyway. I am about ready to put the cover on so what is the best way to keep the tri ball and spring in place. Manual says put grease on it. Are there any other tricks? Do I need to back the adjustment off? Maybe I am too worried about all that junk falling out of place. lol
tilt the atv over to the left side, just about 45 degree's, not all the way over !..lol. dab some grease on the part your worried about. back the clutch adjustment off all the way now, before you install the cover. make sure to install the bolts on the cover in a criss cross pattern, so you won't get the cover in a bind, it needs to go down flat as you can go with it.
then set the adjustment on the clutch after you get the cover back on :).
Well I got the 300 back together yesterday and the new clutch works great. It took me two tries on getting the cover on because the first time I did not pay enough attention to the crank bearing. Once it went down, it went down flat on the gasket. Good advice to back the clutch adjustment out before putting the cover on. Shade, you were right again as the squeak noise I was hearing was caused by the excessive side loading on the throw out bearing. I know that because when it is cold and idling, I can hold up on the shift lever and still hear it a little. I did it to myself by adjusting the clutch screw to far counter clockwise to get the clutch plates to release. Shade, you are the man!!!
Well I got the 300 back together yesterday and the new clutch works great. It took me two tries on getting the cover on because the first time I did not pay enough attention to the crank bearing. Once it went down, it went down flat on the gasket. Good advice to back the clutch adjustment out before putting the cover on. Shade, you were right again as the squeak noise I was hearing was caused by the excessive side loading on the throw out bearing. I know that because when it is cold and idling, I can hold up on the shift lever and still hear it a little. I did it to myself by adjusting the clutch screw to far counter clockwise to get the clutch plates to release. Shade, you are the man!!!
thank you, glad I could help ! :).
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After thinking about it I can now answer one of my original questions. It IS normal for the centrifugal clutch drum and the change clutch to roll over slowly when idling in neutral. That is what causes the atv to jump just a little when shifting from neutral to first.
After thinking about it I can now answer one of my original questions. It IS normal for the centrifugal clutch drum and the change clutch to roll over slowly when idling in neutral. That is what causes the atv to jump just a little when shifting from neutral to first.
you are correct :).
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