Rear Wheel turns with kicker - no clutch

I started my MK III the other day, after installing new CNW EZ Clutch kit, pushrod seal nut, clutch center hub, stepped washer, circlip, aliexpress sprag, and new plungers with springs and white nylon pieces for hydraulic chain tensioner.

The result was a horrible squeeling sound that went along with engine rpm.

I opened the primary back up and it all looked fine, of course. I wondered about the sprag, but it really should be fine, so I re-adjusted the clutch, this time as the Workshop Manual instructs. This left about 1-1/2" of threads exposed on the adjuster at the hand pull lever. I thought that was odd, as it contradicted the examples of properly adjusted cables that I've seen on this forum. The pull felt fine to me.

Next, I decided to test the kicker to see what it did. I don't entirely understand how things work in the transmission, but I think this may be an indication of a problem.

With the bike on the center stand, some weight is on rear tire, first with clutch pulled in, the only way the kicker would move is if the tire is allowed to rotate. Each movement of the tire allowed a corresponding movement of the kicker.

I found this suspicious, as well as the results of cable adjustment, so I took all of the clutch disc's out. I removed them and put them on the floor leaving no clutch whatsoever in the bike. Even after this, the kicker continued doing the same thing. It would only move if the rear wheel were allowed to rotate with it.

Again, I am not knowledgeable on how things are supposed to work with that. Maybe it's normal? Could it be that this is an indication as to the horrible shrieking sound when the engine is running? During that time the trans was in gear, I could not find nuetral, the transmission would only do one click at the shifter, so I had the clutch pulled in.
I only ran it briefly a couple of times trying to grasp what the F was going on!

Does any of this sound familiar?

The kicker will drive the rear wheel in all gears except neutral even with no clutch installed. If you cannot select neutral and only have one gear then you have other issues likely to be related to the x-over nature of the MK3 gearshift and you being inside the primary.

First, did you confirm the sprag was the correct way around? Get it wrong and it will engage when crank turns instead of when the starter turns. Test it by rotating the crankshaft manually with plugs out and watching what happens (primary off of course).

Has the clutch cable end inside the gearbox come off and/or the actuating lever dropped down off its pivot? This will give little or no clutch actuation from the bar lever. Described well in the workshop manual and on a recent clutch thread in this forum.

If bike is not in neutral, then yes, the kicker will turn the rear wheel even without the clutch plates.

BTW, I followed this detailed video when I first had to go into a MK3 primary drive to replace a sprag:



Pay attention to how he details the chain tensioner plastic cap bits & springs...its not obvious how these go together correctly.

kommando said:

The kicker will drive the rear wheel in all gears except neutral even with no clutch installed. If you cannot select neutral and only have one gear then you have other issues likely to be related to the x-over nature of the MK3 gearshift and you being inside the primary.

Click to expand...

Thanks Kommando!
If that is all reasonably normal, I will pull my new sprag back out for inspection. That noise had to be from something I did!

Tornado said:

First, did you confirm the sprag was the correct way around? Get it wrong and it will engage when crank turns instead of when the starter turns. Test it by rotating the crankshaft manually with plugs out and watching what happens (primary off of course).

Has the clutch cable end inside the gearbox come off and/or the actuating lever dropped down off its pivot? This will give little or no clutch actuation from the bar lever. Described well in the workshop manual and on a recent clutch thread in this forum.

If bike is not in neutral, then yes, the kicker will turn the rear wheel even without the clutch plates.

BTW, I followed this detailed video when I first had to go into a MK3 primary drive to replace a sprag:



Pay attention to how he details the chain tensioner plastic cap bits & springs...its not obvious how these go together correctly.

Click to expand...

Tornado,
I thought I'd put the sprag in right? I'll know soon enough! The new Dyno Dave starter spun the engine well too, (amazing difference from stock!).

I was following Workshop Manual Instruction and scrutinizing that lever at the lower end of the cable, checking movement... it all seemed good. I did re-adjust the nut at the diaphragm side too. I think I probably do have too many exposed threads at the top of the Venhill cable, but the pull did feel good.

The really big problem is that sound. Something not good is happening. I was hoping it would be the clutch, but now I must inspect the sprag...

Edfury828 said:

Tornado,
I thought I'd put the sprag in right? I'll know soon enough! The new Dyno Dave starter spun the engine well too, (amazing difference from stock!).

I was following Workshop Manual Instruction and scrutinizing that lever at the lower end of the cable, checking movement... it all seemed good. I did re-adjust the nut at the diaphragm side too. I think I probably do have too many exposed threads at the top of the Venhill cable, but the pull did feel good.

The really big problem is that sound. Something not good is happening. I was hoping it would be the clutch, but now I must inspect the sprag...

Click to expand...

Study the video I linked...they show lots of detail on the whole primary assembly. Before finalizing, with cover off and stuff still visible, take plugs out and just turn the engine over....starter or even kicker, to see if everything is moving correctly, no weird sounds etc.


The weird soud you heard...might even just be the chain is slack and hitting the casings before there is enough oil thrown around, up into the oil-fed tensionioner. Can take 10 or 15 minutes to load up apparently, esp if not recently primed.