Clutch Bike rolls freely with clutch lever open

KellT

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Apr 20, 2016
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Just to start- I did check the other site on adjusting the clutch and making sure everything is tight and that is fine- I do not believe this is a clutch issue.

The problem- The bike was running fine today, although I first noticed an issue when starting it up, I would pedal, release the clutch, then nothing, it continued rolling as if I was holding the lever, I'd do this again and then it would start up and worked fine.


PROBLEM- after adjusting the clutch so that i worked fine I found when pushing the bike with the clutch lever open that the bike would free wheel. I took the head off and clutch cover off and noticed the piston would move up and down but then stop as I continued pushing the bike foward. The clutch and the gear would not spin however the bike would continue to free wheel if i pushed it foward

I guess something is happening where the drive sprocket is not driving the piston up and down and simply freewheeling.

Also it seems the cover for drive sprocket is tightened on to a rediculous degree. Is anybody in the Lehigh Valley area of PA that can help?

Is this engine toast? Or is it fixable?

I ordered a new engine pair from BEKITs but this engine is only a month old, and I didnt ride it hard.
 
when you say adjust the clutch, do you mean just adjusting the clutch cable? you probably need to open up the cover and tighten the flower nut.

 
"the clutch (plate?) and the gear would not spin.."
I don't think it is toast, my guess is you just need to remove the sprocket cover with an impact driver and check the status of the sprocket and it's cheap replaceable Woodruff key. :)
 
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Now I'm curious about why the key snapped. They're sacrificial, but they aren't supposed to break randomly, supposed to be strong enough to pull you up hills anyway and take the shock of bump starts..
 
It's a mystery. Some last beyond the engine life. Others fail before the brake pads wear out.A lot I have seen are caused by the gear retaining screw backing out. I have seen them fail when someone is haulin ass with a loose chain, and when it jumps a link and jams against the gear cover things go from 6500rpm to zero in a instant. I've seen the slot in the crank wobbled out. That should be pretty hard assed steel. I think we are just getting the quality in materials and craftsmanship that we have paid for steered by a little luck and chance.
 
Well I drive like an old granny, however there are alot of bumps and the bike doesnt have a suspension. I've also driven it offroad at about 10-15mph along a dirt stretch. I'm still waiting for my impact drive which is coming this next week and take a couple pics of the damage. The engine itself was one of the ebay specials but besides this problem, the motor runs like a champ. It probably has a total of 25miles on it. My guess is something was probably loose to begin with, and since I didnt have an impact driver, I couldn't tear the engine down to check.
 
Release clutch lever and look inside the cover where the chain goes in while pushing the bike forward. If the gear is spinning but the shaft that the nut is threaded to is not you have isolated your problem to the drive gear key. If the drive gear and shaft is spinning but the clutch plate behind the clutch gear is not spinning you have isolated the problem to the clutch assembly woodruff key, or broken clutch shaft. the later is unlikely. If the drive gear spins, the plate behind clutch spins, but the clutch gear won't spin it's pressure adjustment. If none of the above are the case it's the crank gear key.
 
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Release clutch lever and look inside the cover where the chain goes in while pushing the bike forward. If the gear is not spinning you have isolated your problem to the drive gear key. If the drive gear is spinning but the clutch plate behind the clutch gear is not spinning you have isolated the problem to the clutch assembly woodruff key, or broken clutch shaft. the later is unlikely. If the drive gear spins, the plate behind clutch spins, but the clutch gear won't spin it's pressure adjustment.


Well I managed to get the cover off.

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I'm guessing its a bit of the inside of the cover got shredded by something. Sorry for the blurry pictures, my camera is a potato
 
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