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82 450 nighthawk new clutch not engaging

720 views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  JLyman2.25 
#1 ·
New to the forum. I picked up and 80 to 450 nighthawk last year that was sold as a runner but needed work. With a lot of help from friends we rebuilt the carbs and the front brakes, put new rubber on it and got all the electrical bugs worked out, but when I went to run it the clutch started slipping. Easy I thought, ordered a new clutch pack and and springs and installed it yesterday. However, when I start it now the clutch will not engage at all. I took the new springs out and put the old ones back in thinking maybe the new ones were just too much but it didn’t help. The pack of plates I got were said to fit my bike but now I’m wondering if they are too thick and can’t release the discs. It is a cable clutch and that mechanism seems fine. Any ideas or threads I can look at?
 

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#2 ·
Terminology:

When you release the clutch lever to make the bike go you are "engaging" the clutch.
When you pull the clutch lever to stop you are "disengaging" the clutch.

Disconnect the clutch cable at the clutch lever on the right crankcase cover. Ensure that the cable slides smoothly in it's housing and the clutch lever is free. This should require practically no effort.

The clutch lever itself should rotate freely until the clutch lifter rod contacts the throwout bearing. It then takes significant effort to compress the springs and disengage the clutch.

If you don't find a problem with the cable and lever you'll likely have to remove the right crankcase cover to identify your problem.

Welcome to the group.

PM sent for manual.
 
#3 ·
did you put the special friction disc on the very outside by the pressure plate that the springs fit against?
if not, and if you mixed it with the inner one, then it may give you sass.
youll see what i mean if you look at a diagram... cmsnl or partzille etc
 
#4 ·
So I kept going through it and wasn’t making headway so I took it to the local bike guru and he helped me out with it. I had mixed up washer 16 and 17 (see the attached exploded view). Also I checked the fiber disks to see if one had bigger tabs to go one the end but they were all the same so I assumed that it wouldn’t matter, but apparently one of them had a step in it that would allow it to seat properly onto the retaining ring clip ( disk 6 onto retaining clip 18 in the exploded view). Running good now. Thanks for the proper terminology too, and the manual links you sent. Very helpful.
 

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