Clutch arm is dead

Shay HTFC · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Karma :

I attached my clutch cable to the clutch arm and came to test out running the bike. It ran beautifully, but I noticed the clutch was just dead.
Traced it back to the the arm and its just 'floppy' in that it doesn't spring back when you release the clutch lever and it doesn't seem to lock in at all (when I manually push it).

The bike has no chain on at the moment, so I can't really test the gears by riding it. It displays neutral, but the sprocket is still spinning (although if I put a finger against it quite firmly, I can stop it)

Just wondering if the clutch arm has a spring under the casing that may have fallen off, or whatever?

What do you reckon the problem could be?

Cheers Jamie

Vincent · Banned Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Karma :

Bike

Shay HTFC · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Karma :

Ah bugger.. forgot about that Razz

Its a CG125 BRJ 1989

Vincent · Banned Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Karma :

Are you sure you have the right cable? If you have the old one, compare them both.

Shay HTFC · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Karma :

Vincent · Banned Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Karma :

Like you suggest, it sounds like something has become disconnected inside the cover. The lever returns to it's original position by the force of the clutch springs and sometimes a return spring on the lever itself. How easy is it to get the cover off?

Shay HTFC · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Karma :

Going to test what it looks like inside on my old engine. I've just put new oil in it, so its another pain emptying it all again Sad

Is there anything I should watch out for do you know? Like if I just take the cover off, will everything just fall out?! Smile

Vincent · Banned Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Karma :

Shouldn't do. What side of the engine is the lever? I'm trying to work out what the actuation mechanism looks like. If it's on the opposite side of the clutch you should have a plastic "worm" inside the cover that when operated moves a push rod to open up the clutch plates. I've got as feeling yours might be on the other side. Any chance you could post a couple of pics?

Shay HTFC · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Karma :

Don't have a camera and I just tried to draw a little diagram on paint but is was unbelievably shite Laughing

The arm is on the right hand side as you sit on the bike, so the wire comes from the left handle bar, down the front frame arm bit, then crosses over to the right hand side of the crankcase.

I'll have a good read of the Haynes and see what it mentions about parts falling out Very Happy

Vincent · Banned Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Karma :

I doubt it's anything serious, there's probably a return spring on the inside of the case where the lever connects that has come off. Looking at the other engine sounds like a good idea.

Shay HTFC · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Karma :

Just going to watch the end of this Arsenal - Sunderland game then give it a crack Smile

Would LOVE to be able to ride into work tomorrow!

EDIT: Ah bugger.. forgot my chain snapped Mad

Shay HTFC · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Karma :

Getting really tired of this now!
Does anyone know if its possible to remove the right hand casing without removing anything else?

There looks to be a line going all the way round where you'd expect it to split open, but I've removed every screw and it won't shift at all.

The Haynes seems to only really cover it once they've already taken off the piston casing etc from the top down.
I just read something on the net and he wrote about taking everything off from the head down to get into the gears.

So now I have to take everything off just to get to the little clutch arm mechanism in the engine Sad

I have just put the fecker back on and spent all weekend working on it, just to have to get it out again and take it all apart. And you know what happens when you take stuff apart - you raise the chance of f**king up! Crying or Very sad

Vincent · Banned Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Karma :

Is it either of these rngine shapes? Both look like the casing should come loff freely. try tapping it around the edge with a wooden mallet or similar.

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/Drewskovitch/CG125engine2.jpg

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/Drewskovitch/CG125engine3.jpg

Shay HTFC · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Karma :

Yeah, its the bottom one. (and the top one is very similar.. probably just a slightly newer version)

I went to check it out on my old, broken engine which I want to repair later and I figured out the top does need to come off.
If you look at those 4 rods, the cylinder shaft slides onto those meaning that if you try to pull them apart it won't work as the piston chamber keeps the 2 sides together.

Anyway, I took the top end off my old engine where I thought the power had died, but it looked fine. The piston rings were fine, the piston looked ok and the valves worked and had no holes or anything in.

The chain had snapped on my bike and I thought that might have been a symptom, rather than the problem, but because it had a chain cover it had all built up near the front sprocket and lodged in.

Thinking back, the old engine idled okish when in neutral, but as soon as I tried to change gear it just died. Now that makes sense because the front spocket couldn't spin, so it would stall.

So long story short, I'm putting in the old engine hoping it will work. Hopefully my original engine might actually be in good working order.. hopefully!

Anyway, cheers for the help... I've learnt a lot this weekend and feel a lot more confident taking and putting my bike and engine back together!

Vincent · Banned Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Karma :

You're welcome, good luck Wink

The clutch lever had probably seized in the casing on the engine you're now not using - if you get me Smile

Shay HTFC · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Karma :

Yeah, I'll open it up next weekend and see what I can do. Get it working then just sell it off (or pickup a non-runner on eBay and put it in which would be cool).

Would love to make money from bikes. Buy them non-running then just mend them. My dad used to do similar repairing old British army bikes he brought back from Kuwait. He found them deserted by road sides etc and used his furniture shipping allowance to bring them back Smile

alun111 · World Chat Champion Joined: 31 May 2007 Karma :

If you DO decide to take the clutch cover off your new engine this is what you have to do:

-Undo all the bolts on that engine casing and remove them.
-Hit the gear lever on the other side (inwards) with a RUBBER MALLET (I can't stress this enough). If you do it with a hammer you can fuck the splines on the gearlever rod totally. The clutch case should pop off or atleast break free.
- When putting it back on you'll notice that same rod (but without the splines) in the clutch side and it has a big clip over it (looks like a big bottle opener). You need to push that rod in with your thumb and then also push the big clip over it. Then, before putting it all back together once you've done whatever checks you wanted to carry out make sure you can change gear (you don't need to pull the clutch in for this).

The reason I say this is it took me a long time to figure this out when I thought I'd totally FUCKED my brother's bike. I took the clutch cover off as I thought the oil filter would be behind there, and then once done it wouldn't change gear, so he couldn't ride it for about 3 days! haha