1000 clutch trouble

[karengog]

Hello,
A friend gave my 16 year old son a 2006 Concours 1000. Problem is, the clutch is stuck. The wheel continues to spin when the clutch is engaged. We have tried several times to get it working by putting it up on the center stand in gear and revving it and applying the brake (while tied down to our lift to prevent a disaster). We also filled it with synthetic oil to try to get the plates free, but will change back to correct oil before riding it. Does anyone have any ideas?

[gPink]

Welcome to the forum. Some one will be along that can answer your questions. The Concours is probably not what I would choose for a first bike. I would urge caution and be sure your son gets rider education and training.

[jirod]

Your bike may need to have the clutch bled. If that doesn't work then look at the internals. BTW, synthetic oil is fine if it is for engines with wet clutches.
What gPink said: get training, license and full gear for your son if he is going to ride any bike, please.

[karengog]

Hi and thank you for the welcome. I appreciate your concern regarding his age and the size of the bike. My son currently rides a Kawasaki KLR 650. He has ridden dirt since he was a toddler and has a lot of experience for a teenager. He is a pretty exceptional kid with a sense of calm and more common sense than most adults that I know :-) My whole family rides from his grandfather and father to me (mom). He is 230 pounds and almost six feet tall. He completed a state required motorcycle safety course and in a class of adults scored the highest on both written and on bike tests and has a motorcycle endorsement on his drivers license. The concours belongs to a family friend, but it has been sitting so we think the clutch plates are stuck and we were working on it for him. He doesn't ride it anymore and so he generously decided today that he would rather give it to my son so he could go on longer road rides with our family. We definitely plan on supervising him for a few rides before setting him loose alone, just as we followed him on the KLR at first. I apologize for going long about him, just didn't want anyone thinking he was being set loose without thought and I am a very proud mom.

As far as the bike repair goes, we were hoping there was a fix that we hadn't thought of to unstick the clutch without going into the case and replacing the plates. If anyone has a suggestion I would love to hear some ideas. Thanks

[jettawreck]

As you may already know, and mentioned above, the clutch is Hydralic using a slave cylinder. It has a bleeder valve like a brake cylinder that if it gets air in it will not operate and release the clutch disks. New fluid and bleeding procedure may get you going without having to go internal. And/or sometimes hunky fluid gets the check valve ball valve in the master cylinder stuck and again, it won't work the slave cylinder.

[turbojoe78]

Start by checking the brake fluid in the clutch master cylinder ... is it clean?  Full?

If it's dirty remove the dirty fluid being careful not to get any on the bike's paint and don't touch the clutch handle once it's empty, you don't want to introduce air into the system.  Once it's empty wipe out the inside of the reservoir and refill with clean fluid.

If it's clean then start next step.

Now bleed the lines out from the bleed port on the slave cylinder down on the lower left of the engine watching the fluid level in the master as your doing it.  Add fluid to the reservoir as needed and don't let it empty all the way out.  Bleed all the fluid out of the lines till you have nice clean brake fluid coming out.

After bleeding try the clutch again and let us know how you made out.

[turbojoe78]

Also, fill your profile out and let us know where your located, there may be someone that lives close to you that could come and take a look at it for you.

[karengog]

Ok Thank you all. I will try all of your suggestions and let everyone know how it turns out.

[T Cro ®]

Breaking the clutch plates loose usually is nothing more than holding the front brake firmly and dropping the bike into gear as you normally do with the wheels on the ground as though you were trying to ride off; 2 maybe 3 attempts will break them free....

Does the clutch lever feel like it is working normally? Should just be a steady dead pull to the bar.

[connie_rider]

karengog, it sounds to me like you have enough experience to know that the clutch mechanism is working.
So, my assumption is that the clutch discs are just stuck together from setting/corrosion.

What should work to break everything free is to simply ride the bike in low gear with the clutch pulled in.
 NOTE: On a back road, and using care..
   With the bike running, get someone to help you push it as fast as possible, and (at idle) engage first gear.
   Once bike is in gear, do moderate to hard accells and decells with the clutch pulled in.
          Should come loose pretty quickly.

Be careful!   Ride safe, Ted

[MAN OF BLUES]

or maybe pull the cover off, and see if a star spring is broken, and wedged into the clutch pack... making disengagement non functional...


maybe?

it happens on all years, even newer bikes with dual springs....
just noting it here..

[karengog]

I wanted to post a quick update. We finally had the time to get into the clutch issue. We had tried breaking it free by just running the bike on a lift and popping it into gear, but it was really stuck. Even in neutral the tire was spinning and no amount of force would stop it so it was not an option to try riding it. Yesterday we opened it up and found that although everything was intact the plates were very stuck. We were able to break them apart, dip them in oil, and reassemble. It runs perfectly now! It was apparent when we opened it that just popping it into gear would not have loosened it, the bike had sat for a long time and the previous owner had started it up, but never ran thru the gears.
We were so pleased that just a little elbow grease solved the problem without having to buy or replace parts.
Thanks for all of the advice and ideas. It was very helpful to have input from experienced Kawi people. Much appreciated.

[jirod]

I wanted to post a quick update. We finally had the time to get into the clutch issue. We had tried breaking it free by just running the bike on a lift and popping it into gear, but it was really stuck. Even in neutral the tire was spinning and no amount of force would stop it so it was not an option to try riding it. Yesterday we opened it up and found that although everything was intact the plates were very stuck. We were able to break them apart, dip them in oil, and reassemble. It runs perfectly now! It was apparent when we opened it that just popping it into gear would not have loosened it, the bike had sat for a long time and the previous owner had started it up, but never ran thru the gears.
We were so pleased that just a little elbow grease solved the problem without having to buy or replace parts.
Thanks for all of the advice and ideas. It was very helpful to have input from experienced Kawi people. Much appreciated.

Thanks karengog for the update. Glad you got it working again.

[karengog]

Here is his first ride. It was to the grocery store. What can I say...I'm a mom.

[gPink]

 

[tweeter55]

Here is his first ride. It was to the grocery store. What can I say...I'm a mom.

Proud mom, and deservedly so.

[Nosmo]

Well, he's doomed now. From here out, his life will be one of riding endlessly trying to duplicate that strange noise and figure out where it's coming from, attempting to get the elusive 50 MPG he's heard of on this forum, constantly surfing the web for farkle after expensive farkle, sitting up until 2:00 am ordering cool stuff from www.murphskits.com, writing checks to Steve in Sunny Florida for the latest performance increasing mod, sketching out his own designs for cool things he wants to add (or subtract) in hopes of turning an already-great bike into the perfect machine (never happen, but he can dream).  Soon he'll be middle-aged (or worse) with his face permanently contorted into an idiot grin as he flies down the road, wondering...."Does it get any better than this?"

He's doomed, man, doomed.