Starter clutch lock up the motor?

[rs92s1880]

Riding around, started hearing some very pronounced rattlingfrom the left case when I let off the throttle in any gear. After a few miles of that, I'd let off and it it was jerking the wheel hard enough to just about lock up the tire and vibrated like crazy. Shortly thereafter, let off in second gear at around 15mph and she locked the motor solid, dragged me to an abrupt stop. try to crank it, locked. pushed it home, pulled the stator cover and tried turning the motor with a bar...locked solid. put a little pressure backwards against the normal rotation, and she freed right up. spins over beautiful.

Checked cam chains, tight. Checked clutch, good. Checked input shaft on tranny, good and smooth, no problems in tranny.

Pulled the flywheel, outer starter clutch cover(tin) was cracked and bolts were loose as can be. clutch body shows no cracks, but bolt holes are elongated and bolts are cooked.

What are the chances that the starter clutch being so loose could lock up the motor so violently? Did I find the culprit or is this just another problem I happened to find along the way?

By the way, I frequently beat the tar out of my 86 max and may have over-revved her a bit an hour or so before this happened.

 

[rs92s1880]

also, before i pulled the flywheel off, the starter gear had about 1/4 inch of end-play on the shaft

 

[RaWarrior]

I'm not sure the starter clutch could lock things up. Even if somehow it jammed and started spinning with the crank, I imagine it would either spin the starter into orbit and/or break one of the smaller gears/pins in the reduction line between starter and clutch.

When the clutch ring has a lot of play from loose bolts, typically the symptom is "missed" starts where the starter spins but the clutch slips on the crank. Were all three bolts still there or had any gone missing/broken? Are all three little pucks/springs still there?

But if the motor cranked fine after slightly reversing it, the clutch would seem to be a likely culprit. Inspect the clutch ring for any cracks and that all the pucks/springs are accounted for. Clean the threads and apply a bit of loc-tite on re-assembly to prevent this from happening again. I used the red stuff on mine to be extra-sure(mine had come loose and was "missing" starts frequently) but the blue should be sufficient.

The motor was still "locked up" in neutral, right? Otherwise something could have let go in the gearbox and jammed things up.

 

[rs92s1880]

All three bolts, springs, pucks, and pushrods were there. The threads on the top of the bolts were flattened out from the clutch body slapping around due to the bolts being loose.

I have had a few experiences with the starter clutch missing a start.

yes the motor was still locked up with the tranny in neutral or with the clucht engaged, but the wheel moves fine.

The main body (cast piece housing the pucks and springs) looks fine, but the stamped cover that covers it all up is cracked through and through, with a small piece hanging off the outer edge.

 

[RaWarrior]

I noticed the threads on mine were slightly flattened also. The bolts went all the way back in, it just required a bit of effort.

All the pins/gears linking the actual starter gear to the clutch ring OK? Nothing broken? The only possible scenario I could imagine for the starter clutch locking up the crank would be is if the clutch somehow jammed, broke one of the reduction gears, which then stopped the whole works up with the broken piece.

Otherwise if everything looks fine, put it all back together and try it out. Maybe someone else has an idea on this?

 

[rs92s1880]

No, no problems with the reduction gears.

Thats the plan. Get a new starter clutch and some gaskets from PCW this week and slap her back together, see what happens. If it takes a crap again, I'll pitch a bitch for a half hour or so and then yank the motor and slap it around a bit till i find something.

 

[rs92s1880]

FOUND IT!!!!! :eusa_dance:

Spun rod bearing(dmnit). :bang head:

Anyone have experience rebuilding one that spins a rod bearing? :confused2: