Clutch Shaft Removal

[molsen27]

I threw a chain on my 58cc Grubee motor and the clutch will not engage. Have removed the pin and
ball bearing behind it. The threaded (Clutch side, clutch plate removed) rod that the flower
nut installs on will not move. Have disassembled the clutch down to the hollow clutch shaft that
holds the frozen pin, have removed sprocket and keys on clutch and sprocket side. This piece will
not move from bearing races that it is mounted in. How can it be removed without splitting the engine case?

Martin
NC.

 

[GearNut]

It cannot be removed that way. You will have to split the cases to go any further.

 

[molsen27]

Thanks, I split the case and discovered the large spring around that shaft. There would
have been no easy fix

Martin

 

[GearNut]

Yup!
Good for you on jumping in deep to fix it! May the rest of your repairs be easy sailing!

 

[Norman]

to remove the shaft that the clutch is on ,you can drive the shaft out from the sprocket side there is no need to split the case. If you look through the posts I have on the clutch you can see that the bearing on that shaft are the only things holding the shaft in they are a tight press fit but by slowing tapping with a hammer on the shaft one bearing and the shaft will come out. Use a brass drift or wood on the shaft so you do not damage the threads on the shaft you can knock the shaft out from either side but it better to work on the side that does not have the clutch rod poking out from. I've done it from both sides, I prefer to knock it out from the sprocket side.

 

[GearNut]

I stand corrected, Lord Vader. *Gets on knees and bows down*

 

[Norman]

Cool! Now stand up and go ride your bike, young jedi. ( was that tacky?) YEP!!!!
To bad I didn't see this before he split the cases. Been busy making patterns and casting metal
for the light saber. errr metal mill.
I get busy and not on here regularly and you guys start tearing the $hi out of your toys.
The big question? Are you having fun yet? I sure am!!!!
Norman

My Avatar the Vader thing goes back to when this forum was new Paul started this forum after being booted from the other forum, I got the boot too from there due to a weird moderator over there as most of us did, Ilikeabikea help in getting me the boot as he was doing my web sitte and put this forum first over the other forum , for links to different sites. Old Deacon told me about this forum so that is how I ended up here. We were refereed to as the Dark Side so I decided to use the Vader thing just for the **** of it. I'm not a real big fan of Star Wars.

 

[biknut]

Do the bearings that hold the clutch shaft in ever need any maintenance?

 

[Norman]

If you have the bearing out of the engine clean out the grease and re grease them before installing the bearing.

 

[biknut]

If you have the bearing out of the engine clean out the grease and re grease them before installing the bearing.

To late. My motor only has about 500 miles on it. The other night I was on my way home from a long ride and about a mile from home it started making a nasty sounding noise. It sounded like something was scraping on the inside of one of the cases. The motor was running fine though. Of course I expected the worse.

After removing the 3 covers I didn't see anything obvious. There seemed like maybe a little too much play on the end of the crank, on the magneto side, but checking it against another motor it seemed about the same.

I decided it might be dry bearings on the clutch shaft. After removing the carb and the clutch cable support, I shot some grease down the hole. The I hit it again. Then I decided maybe a little more. Finally grease started coming out of the center of the clutch shaft on the sprocket side. I figured maybe just a little more ought to do it. Now the grease was up to my arm pits so I decided to stop adding more grease.

I put it back together and went for a ride. After a couple clutchings I noticed the clutch was starting to slip. Then it got worse. It slips pretty bad now. I guess I got plenty of grease in there.

The good news is that the terrible noise is gone. Now I guess I need to do some clutch pad cleaning.

 

[Norman]

The short shaft on the clutch rod will screech like H ell when it gets a bit dry.
Sounds like you got it VERY WELL greased. Brake clean will help get the excess grease off.

 

[biknut]

Well after taking the clutch back apart, I didn't see any grease on the pads. I lightly sanded the clutch pads, and cleaned the plates with brake cleaner. I put it back together and it still slipped.

I tightened the flower nut a little more and it stopped slipping. I guess I didn't have it wasn't adjusted right. I ended up screwing it all the way in, and backing it off 1/4 turn. Now it feels like it felt when new again. I've noticed the clutch felt a little down hill the last few weeks.

The scraping noise is gone, so I guess this repair was successful.

 

[hiker472]

My question is, what size are those clutch bearings? When I took mine apart it looked like there was a few missing, but since I didn't and couldn't get new ones at the time, I just regreased them and put it back together.

I want to get some bearings for it, but have no clue as to the size. They look like they're about 1/16". These are for the 80cc, so any help would be appreciated.

 

[Goat Herder]

My question is, what size are those clutch bearings? When I took mine apart it looked like there was a few missing, but since I didn't and couldn't get new ones at the time, I just regreased them and put it back together.

I want to get some bearings for it, but have no clue as to the size. They look like they're about 1/16". These are for the 80cc, so any help would be appreciated.

Dunno if this helps? Found this posting recently.

Dear Lord Vader,
I hope you will find this information valuable for presentation in your excellent tutorial.


This is how I pressed the HT clutch hub bearing apart using a 3" HD C-clamp, some scrap steel plate, three 9 gage tico nails, and an 11/16" 3/8 drive socket.
I had blunted the nail tips on a grinding wheel. The process was done over a blanket on the saw table, with some HD magnets hangin around...

Pic #2 shows the result. The ring, pressed off the hub center/back, is the inner bearing race, and the clutch plate/puck holder/ring gear constitutes the outer bearing race. It was relatively EZ, and I can see where the possibility exists it shall never again be as tight as it was the first time, as Norm has said. This is NOT a proceedure that should be done unless necessary.

Pic #3 shows a head count of 52 3mm steel ball bearings which may be purchased from vxb.com or other vendors. 250 sell for $3.50 + the freight.
(ceramic balls are available for abt 30-40 times the price, if ur so inclined!)

SO, the question arises... How many bearings are really supposed to be in there, and would my clutch/ring gear run true-er with new replacement balls, OR, could I replace them with 1/8" balls to tighten up the clearance?

1/8" balls are .007" larger than the 3mm balls.

Another option would be to replace the ring gear, to tighten things up, but IMO there are no guearantees what tolerances might be in place at the HT factory on any given day.

I'm going to call the level of puck wear acceptable, and probably re-assemble with a very small amount of fresh boat-trailer grease on the bearings.

Best
rc

 

[hiker472]

Thanks for that. I don't remember how many bearings were in there, all I know is that they didn't complete the circle, end-to-end, and there was about 1/2" empty space there.

I'll have to order some then and fix it right up, the way it's supposed to be.