Project: Hinson Clutch

[Dirtbikindad393]

Project: ’06 YZ450F Hinson Clutch

I would like to share so that if you decide to do a clutch basket, hub or pressure plate change out on your Yamaha 4 stroke you will have a step by step of what you will encounter doing the job yourself. This article is littered with pictures so instead of putting them into the article I put links to them all. Just read through and click each one as they come. I hope this article can help somebody out or save them some time. Enjoy!

The Bike:
2006 YZ450F bought in Late Feb. 2006 ridden and raced almost every weekend since then.

The Symptoms:
I have am having trouble finding neutral when riding into camp and have not been able to start in gear at all lately. I have been getting good starts but they could be better if I could start the bike in gear as our desert races are dead engine starts. I was told that it was because the clutch was notched, that I was having trouble finding neutral.

The Fix:
Install a new Hinson Clutch Basket, Hub & Pressure Plate along with all new fiber plates aluminum discs and clutch springs.

The Nitty Gritty:
I have purchased the parts and I am ready to start so lets get to work! New Parts Note:The fiber plates are soaking in fresh new oil make sure you do this before installing them. If you are due for an oil change drop the oil if you just changed your oil lay the bike on its side. First off take the clip from behind the rear brake lever bolt out and loosen the rear brake lever bolt from the frame. Swing it out of the way so you have easy access to the clutch cover. Brake Lever Remove the clutch cover 6mm bolts and take note there are different size bolts in the cover. They must go back into the correct hole on reassembly. One way to reinstall correctly is put all the bolts in the clutch cover if a bolt drops down or stands higher than the others it's probably in the wrong hole. Once the cover is off it will look like this Cover off. Take the 10mm bolts out of the pressure plate and remove the springs. Take the pressure plate off but leave the clutch plates in the hub its just a waste of time to take them all out. In the center of the pressure plate is a tube with washers pressed on it. This goes in the center of shaft against a ball bearing and the pressure plate. Remove it and put in a parts bucket with all the bolts. If your bike is on its side the ball bearing will stay in place if not becareful not to let it get damaged or lost in cases. There is a 30 mm nut holding the inner hub on, or clutch boss as it called in the Yamaha parts book. It has a fold up retainer clip on it, similar to what you have on the counter shaft sprocket. Use a flat blade screw driver and small hammer to fold the flap down so you can get the nut off. I used an 1 3/16 6 pt socket and an electric impact to remove this nut. Remove nut Remove the hub with all the clutch plates still in it Hub Note:The fold up clip that keeps the nut from backing off. It has a groove in it and look at the hub it has two raised knobs or ribs that the groove goes over to keep it from spinning. The new Hinson clutch has the same knobs. You might want to refer back to this during reassembly if you are not sure how it goes on. Now take the big washer from behind or underneath the hub off also. Now it looks like this. Hub washer

Now pull the basket out of the engine and turn it over. Rivets The plate is held on by rivets that I drilled out with a drill press which made the job much easier than using a hand drill. Drill rivets Once the rivets are drilled out use a flat blade screw driver and remove the retainer plate then work from side to side to remove the gear. Be gentle with the screw driver you don’t want to scratch or gouge anything. Remove gear Remove gear 2 Clean up all of the cushions and the gear of all metal shavings from drilling the rivets out. Note:Don't use a cleaner that will attack the rubber cushions. Now you need to press out the starter gear in the basket and press it back into the Hinson basket. Remove the retainer plate and screws from the new basket for this process. Gear I took it to a machine shop where my brother had it done in mere seconds for me. I tried knocking it out on my own and didn’t want to mess it up so I called the bro. Clean the holes and screws for the retainer plate with brake cleaner. Once that is done put the retainer plate back on the gear on the back of the new basket. I used some oil to lube up the cushions before putting the retainer plate on. Then assemble with RED loctite and you can’t put too much on. Loctite Flip it over and wipe up the excess loctite and take a punch and peen the threads to help keep them from loosening up.

Putting the basket in can be a pain in the lower rear side because you have to get all the gears lined up but there isn’t anything you can do to line them up other than pulling the basket out and spinning them by hand. Gears You can spin the basket but there are two gears to get lined up and they aren’t at the same level meaning that you can only spin one of the gears with the bottom of the basket. If you look at the "gears" picture the gear to the bottom of the shaft is higher than the gear to the left or the 9 o'clock postion to the shaft. Take your time and be patient it will go in. Basket In this picture you can see how I peened the retainer plate bolts. Make sure you get the basket all the way down. You will find out if you didn't when you try to install the hub. Put the big washer in under the hub and drop the hub in. Then put the retainer clip properly which is with the ears facing down over the rib or knob that is there to keep it from spinning. Refer back to the picture titled "Hub" above. Also look at the picture titled "Rivets" for a good look at the clip I am speaking of. Put the nut on and tighten then fold up one of the flaps to keep it from spinning.

Now it’s just a matter of reassembling all the clutch plates and putting the pressure plate on. Pressure plate While reassembling the clutch plates I put the green mark on one tab or finger of each fiber plate all in the same slot and marked it so if I ever have to remove the plates for anything they will all go back in the same way they came out. I take the plates right out of the oil and install them so when you put a new aluminum disc between each one it will get oiled by the excess from the fiber plates. Remember to put in new clutch plates, discs and springs when doing this project to your bike. DO NOT use a used set of clutch plates when putting in a new basket. The reason is the fingers on the fiber plates get worn from use if you take a micrometer and measure the fingers or tabs on a new set and a used set you will see that the used set is smaller. That could result in excessive wear of your new Hinson basket.

The reason I did this project is in this picture, I hope you can see it. This picture shows the notching in the clutch hub from the springs. Also look above the hub at the basket and you can see the notching there as well. Old parts Here is what you do with the old notched out parts. Basket literally

I will post an update and ride report when I get a chance to have that ride and let you know what if any differences I feel from the new clutch.

Dirtbikindad393
4/2007

[Florida 393]

Dane,
Very nice write up and pictures. this is going into the KB in a few days after it has some time to be seen here. Thanks for the time and efforts.

Bill

[pragmatic393]

Excellent write up, Dane! Well worth the read.....Wheh, better you than me

[Dirtbikindad393]

Well I went and started the bike and warmed it up a little and pulled the clutch in and put it in gear and it was pulling. I can't figure this out I adjusted it to the proper specs. Why is it not disengaging when I pull the clutch in? Am I missing something here?

[yzernie]

Sometimes they will do that for a short time with new plates.

[Dirtbikindad393]

Originally Posted by yzernie

Sometimes they will do that for a short time with new plates.

I was wondering if they needed a little break in. Atleast one heat cycle in them to get things settled in.

[crfjedi393]

Dane. You did a SUPERB JOB of documenting the process. I know it was a hassle and you could have finished much sooner but THANK YOU for taking the extra time and giving such a detailed account of the work.

[Dirtbikindad393]

Originally Posted by crfjedi393

Dane. You did a SUPERB JOB of documenting the process. I know it was a hassle and you could have finished much sooner but THANK YOU for taking the extra time and giving such a detailed account of the work.

Yes it did take a little more time and its hard taking pictures alone trying not to get the camera all oiled up. If I was a great photoshop guy I could add arrows in a few pictures making them even more informative. Just can't figure out how to do that. Then again if I had a camera man or woman I could just do the pointing.

Reguardless and I hope it helps just one person.