Starter clutch trouble

GPzMOD750 wrote: Hare's a vid if you want to double check your work.

He made three mistakes, he didn't torque the three clutch bolts down, and I think he forgot to put that brass washer back in place. You also NEVER put oil or grease on any fasteners that require a torque specification, as the oil will modify your torque reading. Mine also had a large thin washer thing that held the clutch pins in place on the open side.

SmokyOwl wrote: He made three mistakes, he didn't torque the three clutch bolts down, and I think he forgot to put that brass washer back in place. You also NEVER put oil or grease on any fasteners that require a torque specification, as the oil will modify your torque reading. Mine also had a large thin washer thing that held the clutch pins in place on the open side.

Then I wouldn't doubt your install. so It's either down to the starter or the relay.

I can't see why the starter gears wouldn't disengage though, right now if I replace the starter the same thing will happen and I'll burn out another one.

SmokyOwl wrote: I can't see why the starter gears wouldn't disengage though, right now if I replace the starter the same thing will happen and I'll burn out another one.

It doesn't have a throw out like a car. That's why it has a clutch.

Does the reduction gear spin freely?
Steve

SWest wrote: Does the reduction gear spin freely?
Steve

I remember spinning the rotor forward (counter-clockwise) and it being smoother in movement as well. I washed the flywheel and gear with dawn dish soap and a toothbrush. Took a while for everything to dry before re-oiling everything.

Well, it happened to me so that's what I got to do today.

I got the cover off and the bolt out and I realized the 110 takes a bigger removal bolt than the KZ750 or the 1015 KZ1000. I had the M16x1.5 but not the M18x1.5 this guy takes. Luckily, the local bike supply had it and I had to dash up there to get since they were closing early today because of a supercross event they were participating in.

Once I got back and torqued it in as much as I could with my impact wrench it wouldn't budge. This just scared the crap out of me because I've had a seized one in the past. It came to me to tap on the flats of the removal bolt with a hammer, Not a love tap and not good smack either, just a good solid tap going around the bolt a few times to give break the static friction. It Worked! I put the impact wrench back on it came right off.



When I took off the rotor one of the clutch screws was loose. OH JOY! I used a valve removal tool to hold the rotor so I could remove the other 2 screws worked like a charm.

Don't tighten it down to where there's pressure on the magnets just close it enough that the rotor is captured by the holes.

The inside of the clutch was scored by the rollers pretty bad.

The old clutch compared with the replacement.



The springs were pretty spent too. I didn't get any pics of those though.

A pic of the old starter gear compared to the replacement gear already in place showing damage from the loose screw.




Then used the valve tool to hold the rotor so I could torque the bolt on to spec.



I used a 1/2 in. extension propped against the motor mount to brace it while a put the huge amount of torque spec'd for it.

Sorry,

I don't know why some pics posted upside down and others didn't. Anyway, you get the idea.

I actually had to do this about 3 times. Apparently, Kawasaki changed the method of marking the dampers since they published the FSM. I saw 2 marks on both dampers and thought they were the same. So I used the damper from the replacement parts lot I bought. Turns out they are marked, very small, with their thickness instead of the *,** or ***. So I ended up replacing the smallest damper with the largest one. Didn't work so well. It took a few tries to figure out the mistake and get everything back together again.

Well I found out what I did wrong today.

I re-installed my original clutch to the new rotor/magnet thing for the only reason being they were slightly different. You know, want to keep everything the same is generally a good rule right?

Boy was I wrong. The overall thicknesses of the two clutches were about a 2mm difference. So when I reinstalled the clutch, the clutch was touching and slightly compressing against the flywheel behind it. So the flywheel was no longer independent from the clutch and kept the gears and starter engaged while the engine was running. when I took the clutch off again there were scrape marks throughout the diameter of the clutch on the flywheel, so they weren't "locked' in place....but you could say they were the worst of friends.

So after the root cause was identified and solved, I removed the starter to find it sounded like a maraca with the brushes inside shredded to bits. Really glad there wasn't anything wrong with the relay as I didn't have a replacement for that on hand, but after hearing the starter rattle like that I was really glad my instincts were right and I didn't spend money on a new starter 3 weeks ago for nothing.

Since I removed the carbs myself for the first time (I had to in order to remove the starter), I took the opportunity to replace the large rubber intake boots. Definitely not the highlight of the weekend replacing those btw but worth it.

I get everything back together. After initially forgetting about the choke the bike fires up with no grinding like before, but it's kinda spittin' and something's just off about it. So I take it around the block and it's just surging and I have difficulty keeping the throttle steady as I gallop down the pavement. I turn the last corner....and it just dies about 50 feet from my driveway. I quickly assume that the gas was low and I just didn't have the petcock in reserve. I guess that one or two of the floats or whatever they're called in the carbs are stuck from being removed and reinstalled and I give the carbs a few taps. I give it another couple gallons of gas to the tank, fire it up....and it's purring like a happy kitten.

But by now it's late and I've been on this for 7 or 8 hours and I'm sore all over. But I suppose now's a good time to tell you the absolute best part of this story. I had been working this job the day before Mother's Day....with my own mother helping me, with the intention of getting it running so we could take a ride together on Mother's Day. I'll be honest I didn't think we'd be able to do it, and I was making preparations of renting a bike from the local Harley shop. But my mom insisted on fixing my bike and saving my money, and what-da-ya-know....mom was right again.

Not only that, you can bet your Mom was happy to be involved with the project. Ed

Newbie here. Thanks for all the good info on this thread! Is it true that you need to remove the carbs to get the starter out? (I know I was missing something) Is this a difficult process?
Any help would be appreciated. So far this has been the most frustrating thing about owning a bike, I haven't been able to do anything but bump start so far.