I wanna ride this darn bike PLS HELP

[stillsuspended]

Hey all, lurker now posting as ive just about reached all ends met with no solution. Ive had a 95 vmx12 since june of this year. Rode it for about two weeks on a failing stator and then came the serius issues. Was riding to replace the stator at my buddies when my clutch pressure just went on a vacation coming up to a red light, stopped it with brakes in 1st and it died as you'd assume. Pushed it to a gas station and got it towed back to my house after being stranded for 6 hours in summer heat. To catch up to where were at now
-Replaced stator
-replaced battery
-replaced slave cyc
-rebuilt the master cycl
-cleaned/rebuilt my carb
-new air filter
-fresh oil and filter
-bypassed kickstand switch
Bike still jumps and dies when putting it in gear and compared to my other bikes the lever feels stupidly soft. Im suspecting stuck plates as my last culplrit. Are their any possible ideas anyone has before i throw a clutch kit at this thing. Ask as many questions and ill do my best to answer ive scoured this forum looking for a solution and im at a loss with one problem arising after another.

*edit Clutch lever is currently tied down to rebleed, as bike starts moving when starting it in gear with level pulled.

 

[Traumahawk]

I think you can NEVER go wrong with a clutch kit, and I am a huge fan of the DD mod myself. But, 1 question, have you changed the clutch line itself? The standard recommendation is to change the rubber lines every 4 to 6 years (due to breaking down......swelling, etc) and in all honesty, your coming up on 30 years. Your not getting full pressure from the MC to the slave cylinder.

 

[stillsuspended]

I think you can NEVER go wrong with a clutch kit, and I am a huge fan of the DD mod myself. But, 1 question, have you changed the clutch line itself? The standard recommendation is to change the rubber lines every 4 to 6 years (due to breaking down......swelling, etc) and in all honesty, your coming up on 30 years. Your not getting full pressure from the MC to the slave cylinder.

Ill have to look into doing the clutch line, i shoulda thought of that with my experience lmao. Im assuming i can find the mentioned DD mod through these forums? Might just pull the trigger on doing my clutch kit then.

 

[Traumahawk]

Ill have to look into doing the clutch line, i shoulda thought of that with my experience lmao. Im assuming i can find the mentioned DD mod through these forums? Might just pull the trigger on doing my clutch kit then.

Here is what I used when I did my clutch.

https://vmax.lvlhead.com/tips/clutch.htm

 

[VMAXXIMUM]

Here is what I used when I did my clutch.

https://vmax.lvlhead.com/tips/clutch.htm

Eric is there a place where all of his how to’s are located?

 

[Traumahawk]

Eric is there a place where all of his how to’s are located?

You can click on the link, and you will see all of his tips on the bottom of that page.

 

[VMAXXIMUM]

You can click on the link, and you will see all of his tips on the bottom of that page.

Thank you Eric

 

[stillsuspended]

So now I'm curious what's going on with this red material on them, it's hard and very rough. My plates were all stuck together as well, and following the link you referred I seem to be missing this " piano string " inside of the housing

 

[MaxMidnight]

-bypassed kickstand switch

Bad idea

Bike still jumps and dies when putting it in gear and compared to my other bikes the lever feels stupidly soft.

hat would suggest that the clutch plates are dragging.
New plates won't fix that and may make matters worse as (assuming) they are thicker there will be less clearance.

My plates were all stuck together as well, and following the link you referred I seem to be missing this " piano string " inside of the housing

If the bike has been standing for any time then it is normal for plates that run in oil to wring together. However once freed up there isn't usually a repeat until the bike is left to stand again.
Whist they are out it would be prudent to check the thickness of the friction plates. Provided they are well within specification then, IMO, there will be little benefit in changing them.
You probably know this but just in case...
When they are stamped out there will be one 'smooth' edge and one 'sharp' edge. It is goo practice to have them orientated the same way.
Also the Yamaha Service Manual shows how they should be positioned relative to the clutch basket.

 

[[email protected]]

You need to bleed the clutch line again.

Looks like the "red material" is just the epoxy that was used to secure the friction material to the disc.
Those are not OEM friction plates.
My eyes aren't great at measuring thickness but, the friction plates look good from my view.

Can't really see your clutch plates in your photos. Any signs of overheating, warping, or if they are thinner than spec, replace them. Otherwise you can clean them up and reuse them. I've had good luck with scotch brite pads.

The DD mod definitely adds holding power. If you aren't looking to race the bike from stop light to stop light, you might not want to do the mod. It really increases the effort needed to pull the clutch lever. You can eliminate the half disc, spring seat, disc spring, "piano" wire and replace all that stuff with a regular size clutch disc without doubling up on the clutch spring. It still adds holding power to the clutch without requiring extra effort to pull the lever.

If you do want to do the DD mod I found that replacing the clutch master cylinder really helped reduce the force required to pull the lever. I used a radial master cylinder off a ZX14 (2008 i think)

 

[Fire-medic]

Be sure that you understand what someone's referring to when talking clutch parts.

'Friction discs' are the plates with small pieces of friction material fastened to them, making it look like a zebra, you might say. Measuring the friction discs' thickness should be done on each friction disc, at 90* apart from one another, say 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, and 9 o'clock. You measure on the friction disc material and not on the bare metal spaces between the friction pieces. The rectangular tabs on the outside of the friction disc perimeter fit into the spacing on the outside of the clutch basket. Read the factory service manual to see about how to orient the friction discs as [email protected] mentioned in his post. Look for an indentation on each clutch basket, and then find the friction discs' punch-out, a mark on the outside edge of each friction disc. Those marks should align in the same clutch basket tab space.

'Steelies' are the bare metal clutch rings, with wide teeth which fit onto the clutch hub's indentations. Yes they have a certain way to position them both in relation to one another and to the clutch basket. To break the glaze on the steelies, people use Scotchbrite pads or some other abrasive substance like coarse sandpaper to remove the smooth glaze.

https://ia800204.us.archive.org/14/...ice-manual/yamahavmaxvmx12-service-manual.pdf

 

[stillsuspended]

Hey y'all! Thanks for all the information, managed to pull the plates/discs out and get them separated. Id say they were definitely stuck as the all came out together . Scuffed and reassembled with the notes y'all listed and clutch is free! Able to get into gear and use my clutch now haha thank you all!

 

[maleko89]

This happened to my "new" Vmax. You can put bike in 2nd gear and then rock it back 'n forth until the steels/discs break loose. I learned that trick from Morley.

Mark