'99 CR 125 clutch problems

[twitchxxx]

I have a '99 CR 125 that recently blew the clutch. Before i took it apart the bike would just rev up and not go anywhere, when I pulled the clutch lever there was tension and it felt fine. I then drained the oil and put the new clutch kit in. But after I was finished the clutch cable was completely slack. When I pulled the flywheel cover off to look at it the clutch engager (don't know what the correct name is) it would move freely up and down. I took the bike out for a ride and just got it rolling in nuetral and dumped it into first and just kind of putted around. . . it shifted gears ok (without the clutch) but it felt as if there was a hesitation in the distribution of power to the wheel when i gave it gas, like as if there was play in the bottom end or something. If anyone can help me out with these 2 problems that would be great.
Thanks

- Joel

[ClosedCasket]

Pull off your ignition cover again and adjust your clutch cable until theres very little play/movement of your clutch lifter lever.

Then re-adjust for the 1/8 to 1/4 inch of slack you should have at your clutch lever(hand). Start her up ride and adjust again if needed...

[twitchxxx]

I don't think that will do anything because if i take the cable off from where it attaches at the bottom i can move the engager freely up and down, it feels almost like it came disconnected from somthing in the bottom end, if that is even possible. But the weird thing was that it worked fine before i replaced the clutch

[Backslayer]

Did you mic you pressure plate, Ive got a 98 cr 125 and had to replace a plate on mine. especially since buying those kevlar kits, Not saying this is your case but I got my service manually in my box at work will look up the specs in the service manual. 98-99 are same bikes so Ill check the book on it and post some troubleshooting tips on the clutch system as per honda manuall tomarrow night. If you don't get it fixed by then.

[twitchxxx]

"Did you mic you pressure plate?"

I'm not really sure what u mean by this. I was reading about someones clutch problem in another thread and someone replied with this suggestion:

"on alot of bikes there is a ball bearing between the pushrod and the tap that actually pushes the baskets apart. if this was lost in the installation of the new plates, it would not allow the pushrod to fully push the baskets apart. the way to tell if this is the case is if you have tons of lever free play. the lever would have no resistance until it is almost all the way in."

This is exactly the problem I am having so when I go home this weekend I'm going to look in the garage and see if that bearing fell out. Thanks for looking that stuff up in the book for me.

[Moto man26]

Originally Posted by ClosedCasket

Pull off your ignition cover again and adjust your clutch cable until theres very little play/movement of your clutch lifter lever.

Then re-adjust for the 1/8 to 1/4 inch of slack you should have at your clutch lever(hand). Start her up ride and adjust again if needed...

HI, I saw that you mentioned that you need 1/8 to 1/4 inch of slack on the clutch lever. But what happens if you have less than that?? Is that still normal.

[misfit]

Originally Posted by Backslayer

Did you mic you pressure plate, Ive got a 98 cr 125 and had to replace a plate on mine. especially since buying those kevlar kits, Not saying this is your case but I got my service manually in my box at work will look up the specs in the service manual. 98-99 are same bikes so Ill check the book on it and post some troubleshooting tips on the clutch system as per honda manuall tomarrow night. If you don't get it fixed by then.

i just put in a new clutch in my 98 125 too, and have the same problem, had to adjust the cable all the way out for the clutch to grab, and yes i put in the kevlar plates, but the pressure plate seemed fine so i reused it... and i double checked to make sure that the ball bearing was still in there and it was.

it's the same feeling that i got on my old yz 125, but that problem was that the clutch shaft that went down into the clutch cover and matted (sp?) onto the shaft that poked through the pressure plate wasn't extended all the way out (hopefully somebody knows what i am trying to say... it's hard to explain) it was a gear to gear setup....

the cr's clutch shaft comes from the side and operates kinda like a half-moon rocker (from what i can tell) so there is no adjustment really to speak of.

has anyone else had similar problems putting in a kevlar clutch?

and yeah what do you mean by "mic the pressure plate"?

[dhighlan]

First off I would check the push rod, rocker, end needle bearing , and ball bearing. It is something in your linkage if you have zero resistance at the actuator arm.

[misfit]

checked it and it is all good, and keep in mind that the cable had almost no slack when i took the old one out basket and plates were grooved, and it was slipping in the powerband but the actuation of the of the lever/clutch was normal... put in the new clutch and wham lever was flappin in the wind...

i've heard some negative things about the kevlar plates, but decided to give them a shot, tried ebc plates before and didn't like them.
if i don't solve this problem, i'll go back to factory plates and let ya's know what the result was.....

[misfit]

Originally Posted by dhighlan

First off I would check the push rod, rocker, end needle bearing , and ball bearing. It is something in your linkage if you have zero resistance at the actuator arm.

i do have resistance now, but i had to adjust the cable all the way out on the perch and on the cable...

[dhighlan]

If you are absolutely sure that the entire linkage system was placed back in correct order, the other thing is you might have put an extra metal/friction plate in your stack. Pull your pressure plate and move your actuator arm and make sure the thrust bearing is moving. If it isn't you know the rocker/push rod engagement is wrong. If it will move out (you will have to push it back in as there is no pressure from the plate). If it does you then something is not seated correctly basket/hub. If they are seated correctly then it must be your linkage order or your pressure plate was not installed correctly. You should be able to see the plate move when lever is pulled if not the the linkage is wrong or you put something in wrong causing the clearance to be over between the push rod and the pressure plate.....thats all there is.

[dhighlan]

Please don't tell me you have a worn out clutch cable

[misfit]

Originally Posted by dhighlan

you might have put an extra metal/friction plate in your stack.

about the only thing i didn't double check... another thing i'll try is putting the old plates back in and seeing what it does just for the hell of it..

[misfit]

Originally Posted by dhighlan

Please don't tell me you have a worn out clutch cable

no... sure about that one.... lmao... the cable was barely adjusted out before the new clutch....now there is almost no room left for adjustment...

[dhighlan]

Originally Posted by Moto man26

HI, I saw that you mentioned that you need 1/8 to 1/4 inch of slack on the clutch lever. But what happens if you have less than that?? Is that still normal.

If you have to much tension via the cable you can cause slippage which will cause excessive heat and premature wear on the clutch plates.

[misfit]

well... my problem is what appears to be a mispackaged clutch... picked up an OEM plate to measure and sure enough the barnett one is about .5mm thicker same goes with the metal plate, .5mm....
so I picked up a factory clutch, and voila half out on the perch and it's working the way it should...

and i guess the barnett was the carbon fiber clutch, not the kevlar....

[twitchxxx]

Ok so going back to my original problem of having no resistance on the actuator arm, i took the new clutch kit out and checked the push rod, rocker, end needle bearing , and ball bearing. Everything looked fine so I put the spacers and plates back in, torqued everything and the lever is still completely slack. . . at this point I am totally dumbfounded. I have no idea whats going on, and I'm ready to snap, someone please help me out here.

[ClosedCasket]

Originally Posted by twitchxxx

Ok so going back to my original problem of having no resistance on the actuator arm, i took the new clutch kit out and checked the push rod, rocker, end needle bearing , and ball bearing. Everything looked fine so I put the spacers and plates back in, torqued everything and the lever is still completely slack. . . at this point I am totally dumbfounded. I have no idea whats going on, and I'm ready to snap, someone please help me out here.

With your clutch cable not connected the lifter arm, the arm should swing bottom to top without any resistance.

When you get to the top of the lifter arms pivot it should seem as if there isnt anymore room to swing/move up but there is.

You wont really be able to move the arm up anymore with your fingers and it will seem like there isnt any room to swing up and if it did it looks like it will contact the ign cover.

This is normal. Connect your cable and adjust so your lifter arm is in the farthest position towards the top of its pivot.

Re-adjust @ lever and see how it is.

[twitchxxx]

Thanks for the help guys, I figured out what the problem was after messing around with it for 3 friggin' hours. The new clutch kit when installed was thicker than the worn out one, so when i put the cover on ( don't know correct term) and torqued the spring bolts. . . the cover wasn't pushed in enough to put pressure on the push rod (which when under pressure gives the actuator arm resistance) so after twiddling my thumbs for a few hours I found out the only solution was to put the old spacers in with the new friction plates, thus solving my problem. I took the bike out and everything works fine and its more torquey now that the clutch doesn't slip. Thanks again for all the help. Ride on!

- Joel