Frozen clutch, stuck in gear

Hey, I just bought a suzuki katana 600. The bike sat for a year and
half after having a new tranny and clutch with about 120 miles on it
Now the bike is stuck in gear and I can't start it. I took out th
friction and clutch plates and everything seemed to be alright. So I a
assuming it must be stuck at the flywheel or the starter. What would b
the best way to get the bike running or, preferably, get it int
nuetral? The bike is a 94 with 21k miles. As of now, the shift lever i
very tight and the clutch is also very tight and hard to pull in. Whe
pulled with the crank case off, you can see the clutch move as if it i
being actuated. Please tell me it isn't that the tranny is frozen. Th
guy said it ran and drove well, but it has sat for a year and a half.

Thanks for all the help,
Bil

 

So, does the starter just go "nnngh!" one time and quit turning? Have
you tried to start the engine with the tranny in gear and the rear
wheel off the ground? That might just break loose whatever is jammed.

It's possible that the one way centrifugal starter clutch is stuck.
It's under the cover on the left side of the engine.

There are three cylindrical rollers in the starter clutch that are
pushed against a stubby part sticking out of a large idler gear that
sits on a bronze bushing on the end of the crankshaft. If the rollers
won't roll, it jams up the starter reduction gear train and the
crankshaft won't turn, and that jams up the transmission. I had the
symptoms you described on my GT-750 Suzuki when the starter clutch
destroyed itself.

The three cylindrical rollers are supposed to roll up ramps and move
away from the idler gear just as soon as the engine starts. When you
shut the engine off, the "whiz-ching!" sound you hear is the cylinder
rollers dropping back down onto the idler gear and this backdrives the
starter a little bit.

If you remove the left hand side cover (you don't have to drain the oil
if the motorbike is on the centerstand), you'll see the starter clutch
that's bolted onto the end of the crankshaft, and you'll see the idler
gear just inboard of the starter clutch. There's a small gear just to
the right of the idler gear and you should be able to just pull the
shirt shaft it turns on right out, and remove the gear. Then, if you
grab the idler gear and try to turn it clockwise, it should turn
freely. When you try to turn it counterclockwise, the starter clutch
should engage and you'd be turning the crankshaft forwards against
engine compression (or no compression if the spark plugs are removed
first).

This explanation should help you understand why it's called a "one-way
clutch". It only drives the crankshaft in the normal direction.

Maybe you don't want to get your hands oily yet?

You could take your spark plugs out and, with the motorbike on the
centerstand, turn the rear wheel *backwards* a little bit and forwards
a bit and try to break the starter clutch loose or whatever problem
there might be with the shifter drum. That's a strange-looking
cylindrical part inside the crankcase which guides the shifter forks
from side to side when you push the shifter lever up and down, and
those forks slide some of the gears sideways, engaging large square
blocks called "dogs" into slots on the adjacent gears. Sometimes the
gears are in the wrong position to engage, and that's why the rear
wheel has to be turning to shift gears.

The center hub of the clutch which bolts to the transmission mainshaft
is made of aluminum. The teeth on the steel clutch plates will wear
grooves into the center hub, making it difficult for the clutch stack
to move laterally for engagement and disengagement. Also, the metal
tabs on the friction plates will wear on the clutch basket, causing the
same problem as the steel plates. I've also seen the clutch springs
wear grooves on the
part that they bolt into, causing the clutch to be very hard to
release.

All of this can happen within the first 25,000 miles if the engine is
run hard.

And, there is always the possibility that the previous owner installed
a set of heavy duty clutch springs.

OK, the tranny isn't frozen. There. Does that help?

I've only seen one tranny freeze up. The kick starter idler gear on my
Yamaha dirtbike froze onto the end of the countershaft. I had to grind
away the teeth and split the gear with a cold chisel before I could
split the cases and replace the countershaft.

It's amazing that transmission gears don't freeze up like that all the
time. The freewheeling gears in your tranny (there are six of them)
don't
have any bearings at all. They just run on the oil squirted by oil jets
using the engine oil pump for pressure...