Stuck in gear?

[Descolada]

I realise you have your hands full right now, what with the cruise control project and rebuilding this old girl, but I wondered if I could tempt you to do a write-up (as you have already had the experience of stripping it down) on how to go about replacing the clutch on the wee. I have no need to so this and may never need to, but I am very interested in what's involved, how much blood and guts need to be spilt etc.

Any chance I could appeal to whatever part of you that has not already been frazzled to a crisp?

Des

[mjc506]

Yeah, only 100% radiography would have caught that, which is unreasonable to expect. I'd be very surprised if they even considered a recall - there's thousands of wee's on a higher mileage than me with no issues - it's a one off fluke.

That said, a free replacement would be nice

Descolada, a clutch rebuild is really simple, I'll make sure I take enough pictures on the way out to get a decent tutorial together

[Descolada]

Descolada, a clutch rebuild is really simple, I'll make sure I take enough pictures on the way out to get a decent tutorial together

Said it before, will say it again. Hero!  

[Andy M]

heh, I'm half considering sending them to Suzuki (I want to keep the actual gear as a souvenir if I can haha) but I'm sure they'd want the real thing to do any real analysis on it.

That said, they probably wouldn't care - one failure out of how-many-thousands isn't bad going

Automotive manufacturers working to current standards are looking for a failure rate under 3ppm. The SQA office should be interested in having a chat with the supplier of these things if they are current. If they ditched this supplier when the model changed it will be more of an exercise in back slapping the SQA man and face slapping the purchaser who signed them up, but still worth offering them the photos.

Great write up BTW, many thanks

Andy

[mjc506]

That's interesting info, thanks. I've no real idea how many twinspark wee's are out there, so it could quite easily be either side of the 3ppm mark. I have forwarded the photos on (and a link to this thread) so we'll see what happens.

I enjoyed the work, and 'gore' photos are always good Glad to pass them on to the community

[mjc506]

Arsebiscuits. Just found out the bits I've ordered won't be here for at least 2 weeks. Some fairly vital parts are on back order

I'm bike sick :violin: At least it gives me a little while to play with a few other tweaks

[mjc506]

Finally some progress!

I used my new tool to press the old journal bearings out. I was expecting this to be a complete arse, but it wasn't too bad!


Next, fit the new journal bearings into the other part of the tool, and tighten up the screw a touch (not as tight as possible, just 'wrist tight')


Heat up the casting (every little helps) and smother the surfaces with engine oil


I didn't take photos here, as I was terrified of it all going wrong! Place the ring containing the new bearings over the hole, aligning the split between the bearings with the marking on the casting. Now use the other part of the tool to press the bearings from the ring into the casting - this keeps everything straight and aligned.

Done!


After that, I started cleaning all the bits up. The crankcases are coming up nicely just with Muc-off.

I'm a bit worried about the carbon build up on the pistons and PAIR valves, although everything else (cylinders, heads, spark plugs) was clean and looking good


PAIR valves will be replaced, pistons will be cleaned.

[Juvecu]

If you ever think of selling the tools, let me know first

[mjc506]

I was considering setting up a 'lending library' actually. I think vsri do something similar...

[Descolada]

That's just the toolset you need right now isn't it Juvecu?  

[mjc506]

More than welcome, Juv (once I've got mine back together, that is )

[Hugo Magnus]

What a great thread. All power to your elbow. Thank you.

[Juvecu]

I just figure that if you want to get rid of them I'll take them instead of them going to someone that's not on the forum. That way if anyone needs them they can just pay postage both ways. If you're going to put them up for that anyway then there's no need to sell them to me, I'll just borrow them from you if I ever need them.

I have a headstock nut tool and a swingarm nut tool if you ever need any of those.

[mjc506]

Sounds good to me. Once I've got it all back together(ish), I'll see what I've actually got and post up.

I might borrow the headstock tool from you... I don't think I need it but I'll let you know if I do!

[Juvecu]

Much easier than tapping it with a screw driver or something, just send me a PM

[temporaryescapee]

Enjoyed reading this - add me to the respect list!  

I did an intro to motorcycle mechanics course 10 years ago.  Even the basic 12 sessions split broadly 50%/50% into "oh, actually I could do that" and "I don't have the skills and/or tools to do that, but I'll be more an happy to pay the bike shop to do it for me know I know what is involved".  Against that this is brain surgery!

[mjc506]

Honestly, once you get past the 'omfg this is terrifying' stage (the worst bit for me was unplugging all the hoses and cables and dropping it out of the frame), it's just a case of taking off a few bolts, and pulling a part off. Yes, you can break things if you're a clutz (like me, I forgot to keep the camchain tight while removing the primary drive gear) but anything can be fixed, and if you're slow and methodical and triple check everything, it's not particularly difficult.

I'm nearly at the stage where I can start putting it all back together! The crankcase needs a final clean (I need a high pressure jet of cleaner I think), then I can start reassembly.

I put together the gearbox last night (no photos, it was fiddly, but straightforward), and then gave in to my desires and chucked it in the crankcase for a test fit (Got to make sure I put it back together correctly, right? ) and was mortified when it locked up and would spin or shift! Turns out the countershaft runs on a spring washer, which needs to be compressed for it to mesh properly, so I put the crankcase halves together, and it now spins and shifts nicely. I'll now have to split the cases again, but that wasn't difficult.

 

[Sharpy]

Epic thread this!  Love a good resto thread!

Mechanics really is one of those terrifying things that once you get into is actually not so bad.  I just did the clutch basket and thought was going to be bad but it has been okay!  I surprised even myself!

[mjc506]

So it turns out that the best way to clean crankcases is with a dishwasher! Unfortunately, when the welder was fixing my breakage, the case took on a nice burnt golden orange look from the oil and crap being burnt on. So one case is silver and the other has a big gold patch.

I figure I should paint both cases to do the job properly (it'll annoy me otherwise). What would the forum do: try to match the silver (any pointers?), or go for a different colour completely? (Matt black maybe?)

Any opinions or advice?

[mr_diver]

I'm up for the black idea!