Attention diverted

My wife is due with our second child within the next 3-5 weeks and that's where my attention is. We have our hands full with Hudson Rogue, our 3-year-old boy, and soon I will need to be very available for him when my wife is caring for the infant. Gender unknown.

I am aware that the clutch video was too long for YouTube and Blogger, so I will look for alternative video sites at a later date. Paul will put the clutch back in the bike as soon as he can get to it. I also need to call a fellow SS180 owner to work out why my headlight is grounding out when in the socket. All the mean while, with every penny saved for projects, I am acquiring all the parts I need for my TV175 S3, but not really working on the bike.

I will be back!

Rebuild the clutch

The video below shows the final inspection/rebuild/bench test of the clutch. I will have it reinstalled in the SS180 and test ride the bike. If the issue is not resolved, then the bike will come home from Paul S's house and I will brainstorm from there . . . whether I buy a SIP VSC clutch or drop the motor, open the cases, and inspect the cush drive.

Clutch needle bearings "okay"

Got some garage time this morning and checked the needle bearings in my clutch. Yesterday, I bought a 1" pipe to hacksaw and Dremel into a tool to open the reverse thread nut to expose the needle bearings. After a few minutes with the saw and seeing that I had only scratched the surface I thought of a creative way to loosen the nut without a punch.
And the best part is the needle nose pliers worked. My only concern is I wonder if the nut should have been on tight enough so that I could not loosen it this way? Could this of caused the "grabbing" I experienced?
All forty needle bearings were there and appear to be in great condition. I need to oil them back up as I wiped them down with a micro fiber cloth to avoid any dust particles getting on them.
There is a small amount of space between the needle bearings, but it's fairly tight overall as you can see.

I need to continue down the trouble shooting list I compiled.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The clutch saga

Tonight, I am re-soaking the clutch plates in SAE30 non-detergent oil. After the engine was rebuilt it sat for nearly two years before being run so I was encouraged to soak the plates again over night. I will soak for a couple days for good measure.

This evening I searched to see if I had the original gear oil we filled the engine with and guess what I found? Yamalube Utility Performance four stroke SAE 5W-30!

I know, "what the what!" as Liz Lemon says on 30 Rock. I know for sure I asked my very experienced motorcycle buddy to buy SAE30 non-detergent oil from his motorcycle store of choice and I see that the red bottle cap and the top of the Yamalube Utility Performance four stroke SAE 5W-30 was pictured in the time we filled the gear box.

Next step is to immediately drain the gear box and refill it. The engine has gone no more than 10 miles since the rebuild.

I asked Paul S. & Tom G. if the wrong oil could be an issue and the answer was it's not my issue.

Paul S. said, "having modern detergent oil would not be the cause of your problem. The reason why non-detergent oil is recommended for scooters is that they don't have oil filters. Detergent oils will tend to push particulates to the top of the oil, but on scooters, we want the junk to fall to the bottom of the oil - so it will drop out of the drain plug. Anything on top of the oil will get flung from the gears onto the clutch.

So basically, it is better to have straight up SAE 30 in there, but it isn't really going to hurt to have 5W-30. It certainly isn't going to have any effect on your clutch action at this point."

Next steps with my clutch

Here's my plan for next steps in trouble shooting the clutch problem, which I compiled from speaking from a few different people:

1. Disassemble the brass retaining ring, and inspect and count the needler rollers. I suspect the problem is here, but even if it is not, you need to eliminate the possibility.

2. Test assemble the corks and circlip, to confirm that with the eared cork plate in place, the other corks slide freely in the basket slots.

3. Reassemble the clutch fully, after oiling the corks. Before installing, use your clutch compressor tool to compress the clutch slightly, and confirm that the plates are slipping smoothly as they should.

4. Reassemble the clutch on the bike.

5. If the lurching symptom is not solved, (only after the above tests) consider using "clip the ears" theory. I'm only suggesting this as a diagnostic, not as a permanent fix. I think you want to avoid riding long and hard on clipped ears, but for test purposes, I don't think you'll get into trouble. If the clipping solves the problem when nothing else did, well then I'd suggest we brainstorm some more to figure out how to keep the ears intact (substituting a new back plate of course), and still solving the problem. But at least if the clipping works, you can rule out some of the possible causes, and try to zero in on the real culprit.

Also, it occurs to me that it is just possible that your problem could be caused by insufficent oil on the clutch corks. Didn't you let the motor sit for quite a time before getting the bike on the road? If so, it is just possible that the corks are not saturated enough with oil, and thus don't disengage correctly at first. I'm not putting alot of stock in this theory, but do me a favor, and make sure you soak your corks in SAE30 overnight, just to make sure.

And while you have the clutch open, check to confirm that there is no play in the rivets that secure the large gear (which engages the inner diameter of the internediate steel clutch places) to the back steel plate.