Planet Minis

zfiveO

Can oil with those nasty friction reducers make a kickstarter slip? I hear a lot of talk about it possibly making clutches slip. But, what about automatic clutches like on the the old Z50s. My kickstarter has went kapooey on my 76 Z and I can't figure out why? Other than that damn oil I used and didn't know any better.

This sucks!!!

jigracing

try adjusting the clutch. My Z50 is doing it too. But I think my clutch may be simply worn out.
http://www.danosbikeshop.com/technical.php?OID=t0012

__________________
Scott

zfiveO

Is removing the right side case that easy on an old Z50 like mine (1976)? I always thought the motor had to be removed and the cases painstakenly split using some special tools. I guess was wrong. I will give it a shot.

mdkuder

Your kicker is gear driven!

thorwarrior915

Yah, its possible that it would make the kickstarter slip. It could also just be worn out since it is a 1976. You could grab somebody's new CRF clutch assembly for pretty cheap probably and toss that on yours... or buy new plates and springs, or buy a complete HD auto clutch. You are going to need to invest in a clutch nut tool to get your clutch off at all. You can remove the clutch with the motor still in the bike if thats how you want to do it. I usually pull the motor for any kind of work. You are looking at like maybe 50-60 bucks to make your clutch better than brand new.

-Clutch nut tool
-Clutch cover gasket
-Clutch plates/used clutch assembly/new HD one

I would probably just rebuild the stock one with some new plates. Check out www.hondatrailbikes.com or maybe www.dratv.com for plates. If it was my bike, i would get a hardware kit for the clutch cover too, since those old phillips head bolts suck to work with.

xr1million

Yea an oil with some kind of friction reducer could make the kickstart GEAR slip since it is metal and uses a bunch of teeth to lock the kickstart gear to the tranny. NOT! -- the gears have steel teeth that mesh together, theres is almost no way an oil could cuase that to slip. Now it could cuase the clutch to inturn slip, which is what transfers the energy from your leg through the kickstarter to the kickstart shaft through some gears and the TEETH to the primary shaft to the large gear on that shaft to the small gear on the crank which is connected to the clutch and transfers the enery to the crank -- turning the crank over. More than likely the clutch is slipping or some of the teeth are broken off. Do you have any metal shavings coming out with your oil when you drain it?

DAGNER

Yeah what doug said.

thorwarrior915

Way to overanalyze things. I obviously meant that the clutch would be slipping which in turn means that the kickstarter will "slip". You are tying to show off that you know how a honda 50 engine works.... wow.... so do about 100 other people on this site.

zfiveO

There is some resistance when I shove the kicker down, but does not turn the motor over. So the slipping clutch theory rather than the kickstarter itself makes since to me.

No metal in my past changes. I've changed it about 5 times this past week trying to get gas outta the case.



Heres my deal:

I got the bike, bike didn't run, but always kicked over fine. No slipping. Rebuilt top end and lapped the old vavles in. All of the sudden, somehow gas got into the case (I think I left the gas on for a few days, Doh!!) Have been using the WRONG kinda oil to flush the case. Now it slips almost every time I kick it. Have since bought a new carb from DRATV and will be at my door today. Still trying to get the gas out. I'm going to try adjusting the clutch tonight, hope that along with flushing with some better oil will help out some.

bulkytits

try flushing the engine with some cheap non syntehtic oil from pep boys or somewhere like that. put a quart in, bump start it, and run it for a few minutes, then do a change and do it again till the clutch stops slipping, do not use lucas oil or other friction reducers, if you do use lucas, use a tiny amount of the 4 cylinder kind. the reason your kickstarter isnt working is that the clutch is a wet clutch, same thing happens to the clutch on a big bike if you put friction reducer in. the plates dont grip.

xr1million

the gas could have eaten away at the fiber plates in the clutch.... thats what it sounds like. put a new needle and seat in the carb... that will stop the gas from filling the engine.

Brent878

I thought the clutch adjustment was on the outside. Its the bolt with the screw in the middle, on the right side of the cases right in the middle. Try loosening up the 14mm bolt and tighten the screw maybe 1/8 to 1/4 in and see if that changes anything. But most likely if you change your oil back to normal oil it will go away.

-Brent

Z50King

Yeah, I was gonna say that it was gear driven

jigracing

Putting a new top end would give you more compression which could cause the clutch to slip when you kick it over. Just try adjusting the clutch with the screw on the outside of the clutch cover like the tech article (from Dano's bike shop) says. That is easy to do and you wont have to buy or tear down anything. If that doesn't fix it. Do what Thorwarrior said and replace the clutch plates and springs.

__________________
Scott