Clutch doesn't Engage

I just finished restoring a 1982 Yamaha Maxim XJ750J and it's running
real smooth.

Unfortunately I have a problem, the clutch doesn't engage. If I hold
the clutch in and go to first, it conks out. I tried adjusting the
nuts so that when I pulled in the clutch it would raise the mechanism
more, but no avail. Any ideas?

 

To update, I still haven't figured out the solution. I also noticed
that sometimes I cannot get back into neutral when I try to throw it
into first. I have to cycle through the gears 30 times to get it to
actually go back into neutral. Any ideas?

 

Actually, you have it backwards. Your clutch may not be *disengaging*.

I don't have time to look at the parts diagrams on www.partsfish.com or
at www.bikebandit.com
but you can learn a lot by looking at the parts fiches.

It may be a matter of "rigging out" a cable clutch release system to
minimize the amount of free play on the cable jacket where it goes into
the clutch lever adjuster. About 1.0 millimeters is correct.

If it's a cable release clutch, it may have an arm on the clutch cover.
That arm probably has to rotate through 90 degrees of motion to get the
maximum effect of pulling the clutch lever.

If you have a hydraulic clutch master cylinder, you may have air in the
system up near the master cylinder. We've discussed the problem of air
in a hydraulic clutch release system many times in this NG.

You might also have a sidestand safety interlock switch that shuts the
ignition off when you put the transmission into gear with the sidestand
down. I don't know what year Yamaha started adding the inerlock switch,
but some models have an inscrutable logic of sidestand down, engine
runs in neutral,
and the engine can be started with the transmission in gear IF the
sidestand is up.

 

When you say 'conks out', do you mean the engine stops or stalls?
That's 'stops' as in 'ignition cuts out' and 'stalls' as in 'I've tried
to put it in gear without using the clutch and it lurched forwards'.

If the former, then it's likely to be the dreaded sidestand/clutch
cut-out switch problem.

If the latter, and it's not actually disengaging properly, then you
haven't put it back together properly, assuming you took it apart, of
course.

 

After doing a lot more reading last night, I am pretty sure it has to
do with the side stand.
The engine cuts off, it doesn't stall. When I bought the bike it
didn't have a side stand on it, but it did have the side stand switch.
I bought a side stand and put it on, but left off the side stand
switch. I looked at a few other 1982 Maxims and none had the switch on
them. I might either have to put the switch on or short the
connections so it completes the circuit (the only problem is that it
has three wires and not two, so I am not sure which to cross.

 

Trial and error and when you smell burning, back off ;-)

Yes, when I've by-passed these switches in the past (usually on
Kawasakis, for some reason), I've found that you can just join the two
wires that lead to the switch. Three wires is odd, though.

 

It was the side stand switch. I just hooked it up and it was ready to
go.

 

One of the three wires is most likely to ground. Question is
whether the other two are connected to ground at the same
time or in an either/or arrangement.

You really need either a wiring diagram or a working
switch to analyze.

 

Since he said it was a restoration job, he is going to have to have
the sidestand switch on if he wants it to have any value as a "restoration"

Ted

 

Nonsense.

 

nomorespameventhoughthejapanesespamgivesmeachuckle

Told ya!

 

You obviously haven't ever sold a bike to a collector. They want everything
exactly identical to how it was when it came off the assembly line, or as
close
to it as possible, serial numbers matching, etc. It's rather rediculous
IMHO but
whatever floats your boat, and collecting floats some people's boats.

Ted

 

Restoring a bike to working order is obviously not a phrase you
would use?

 

You have *no* idea....

Oh yes, agreed, some do, but the point is that your statement implies
that without the switch, the bike is worthless to a collector. Read it
again.

And that is, indeed, nonsense.

There's a sub-plot in that the XJ750 Maxim is highly unlikely ever to
reach those exalted heights anyway.

 

No, the statement said it didn't have any value as a "restoration". The
entire point of doing "restorations" is to extract the maximum amount of
money out of the pockets of idiots who have way too much money
and who are looking for "investments" If the bike is missing anything,
even a miserable 50 cent switch, that can mean many hundreds of
dollars off the price a collector would pay for it.

Keep in mind that many of these little parts that people think are of no
account, cost a huge amount of time to procure. A collector that is some
overpaid doctor, for example, is billing out at many hundreds of bucks
an hour, chasing a missing sidestand switch could quite easily represent
many hundreds of dollars of lost revenue for him. Hence, that is why
when collectors go out and purchase bikes, or stamps, or whatever,
for investment purposes, they want everything present and working.

In short, if your going to restore a bike to sell it to a collector, you
don't
corn-pone it with duct tape. Otherwise you might as well not bother
restoring it, just get it in running order and ride it.

Of course, there are a lot of people out there who think they are
collectors,
but really aren't. Just having a garage full of good-old bikes that you
found
in people's barns over the years does not make you a real collector, it just
makes you a pack rat. The real collectors are able to buy things and sell
them for -more- than they paid for them. Very few pack rats ever figure
out how to do this (or have the money to do it, either)

Well, there is that, of course. ;-) Still, time has a way of adding value
to a
lot of unexpected things. Take for example, candlestick telephones - the
original wooden ones, not the fakey reproductions. In their day the phone
company made millions of them, but today a 90 year old one with a
dial that is in excellent condition and never been screwed with can fetch
a couple hundred bucks, easily.

Ted

 

Still nonsense!

"It's worth $5k with the switch and zero without"?

No.

 

Wow! You took one word and ran with it.

We can't tell if the OP wants to "restore" the old crock to showroom
condition, or if he's just using the word "restore" to mean that he's
getting the damned thing running so he can ride it and have fun until
it quits and then throw it away.

Who collects old Yamahas from the 1970's and 1980's? That's rhetoric,
no answer is needed. Most people who have old UJM's have them because
they are cheap and neglected and only need some small attention to get
them running.

If the OP was really a collector or planned selling to collectors, he
would know a lot more about motorcycles and wouldn't be confused about
whether a clutch was "engaging" or "disengaging" when he pulled the
lever.

I have to guess that he's just a newbie that has an old machine and
doesn't know much about motorcycles from his description of the
problem.

So, why bother second guessing the OP? That's just rhetoric, it doesn't
need an answer.

 

Yes, it is. The answer is: lots of people.

Here's a little hint. Yamaha made few UJMs in the 1970s, and not that
many in the 1980s. I daresay UJMs are cheap and neglected in the US,
actually - so probably fair comment.

Guess what Yamaha built in the 1970s?

Some of the most collectable Japanese bikes ever made are Yamahas.

(x-posted to the beardy ng where, I believe, a few Yamaphiles lurk)

 

Actually, a Mustang is regarded here as a serious car, not least because
they didn't sell them in the UK. 'Vettes too, but only the Stingray
model.

Last year, I pulled up alongside an *immaculate* Tbird convertible,
looked at it, flipped up my visor, and said to the driver: "A
sixty-eight and a half, right?"

'Right!' he answered. (Pause, and then in a disbelieving tone)
'*Exactly* right!' And he gawped.

Heh. I'd just finished reading Feeding Frenzy, so I knew what to look
for, but I left him looking at me, wondering.

They're worth sod all over here, really.

Now that's interesting, because air-cooled RD400s (*waves* at Lozzo) are
worth serious money here, and original water-cooled 350s ditto.

They're colletable here, but that's not the same as popular.

That *is* interesting. I'm not sure about the vintage racing regs here.

What's a Green Streak? A

The Hustler is very sought-after here, too. Few have survived in decent
condition.

What about Italian road bikes in the US? What's sought-after and what
isn't????

 

Again, interesting. You live and learn.