Clutch question

[teufelziege]

Hi there! This is my 2nd time posting here, but I will let everyone know again that I am a newbie to the 305 club here, but I've had a few motorcycles in my time.

Anyhow, I just bought a 1963 CA77 junker that I am trying to get up and going. Probably do a full restore down the road, but not quite yet. I just Kreemed the tank which was rusty as hell, cleaned the petcock (which I am waiting for a rebuild kit cause now it's leaky), changed the fuel line, new plugs, and a fresh tank of gas.

Well, after about 10mins of kicking it over, I finally got it to breathe life and start running. It seems to run strong with the choke wide open and when warm it will run well with it ~mostly~ closed. All the way closed it starts to gasp a bit. I even took it for a spin down the road which is when I discovered:

The clutch is stuck.

I've read the forums and now I am here. I understand this is a common problem with these bikes and so I've tried a couple things like revving the engine to get it loosed up. No go.
Now, I wanted to clarify the procedure for un-sticking the clutch. I've read some instructions here, but they infer a certain amount of knowledge. If some one could point me to or quickly tell me how to unstick the clutch, I'd be appreciative. FYI, I am uncertain of the clutches status other than I know I get a good heavy pull from the clutch cable that doesn't meet any resistance.


Thanks so much!!

Thomas

[Buck]

Put the bike in 4th gear and with the clutch lever pulled in rock the bike foward and backwards until the clutch breaks loose. This usually does the trick.

[teufelziege]

Hey, thanks! I will give that a try and let y'all know how it goes. The bike has been sitting for many years though so we will see!

Put the bike in 4th gear and with the clutch lever pulled in rock the bike foward and backwards until the clutch breaks loose. This usually does the trick.

[joeweir1]

I have torn a few of these engines apart after sitting many years and the steel plates are most likely rusty/crusty also.You can do as they say to unstick it which I did one time, but you would be better off just to get the cover off and clean up the plates.MY 2cents

[brewsky]

I had the exact same scenario with my 66 ca77. Sat for 20 years and clutch plates were frozen.
Rocking would not free them.
Took cover off, gently pryed the plates apart with a screwdriver all the way around each, and sprayed with WD 40 and they finally broke loose. Soaked again with motor oil, put case back on and works fine now.
Did not have to disassemble the basket.
No idea what the long term effects of WD 40 will be, but so far so good.

[teufelziege]

Thanks for all your responses!

I basically tried the rocking thing to no avail. I ended up taking the left side case cover off and doing what many people have done and manually unsticking the plates and giving them a good scrub and soak in motoroil.

What may have taken an hour to do, ended up being an all day ordeal though. The clutch lifter rod fell out and I could NOT get that sonofgun back into the hole for the life of me. I ended up taking the RIGHT case off, losing the little ball that sits behind the rod and not figuring out where it went. It doesnt have it in the Clymer manual I have. It says #30 BALL and there is no picture of #30...hahaha....Well, I put it back together sans ball and of course the clutch wouldn't work. Figured that out and got it all back together. I then stripped out two thread holes and one screw. I had to repair all that and FINALLY got it back together and working...wheeeeew!

[brewsky]

Been there before!
Try it with a couple less beers next time?
All that effort will be worth it though when you are screaming down the road at 70 MPH plus knowing that YOU made it possible!