Clutch stuck! ?
 

:confused1:

I was out on the lanes and my gear lever broke off (turns out it had been badly welded in the past) so I carried on with it stuck in third gear, having to feather the clutch, until I could get to the bike shop...but I fell off in the deepest wetest dirtiest rut you could imagine. Anyway after picking up my wet self and XT I must admit I revved the xt out of the pond in third and then my clutch refused to work:( so I was stuck in gear with now..no clutch!

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/100_2603.jpg

to cut a longggggggg story short.....a few more green lanes and just before the bike shop I had a working clutch again? It just started working again?

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/100_2605.jpg

Fitted a gear lever and all was/is well.

Question is..what happened to my clutch???

is it ok to leave alone??? do I need a new clutch??

I realise it got a tad hot etc but what does the future hold?

Cheers

Carwyn

Slipped clutch + lots of revs = overheated.

You gave it enough time to cool down and for the friction material to then grip again. You will have worn lots of friction material away while it was being abused, reducing the life of the clutch. With some luck, the pressure plates (metal ones alternating with the friction plates) will not have warped out of flat. If the friction plates or pressure plates have warped enough, then the clutch will not dis-engage completely and keep dragging when the lever is fully in. I set of friction plates is not too expensive, but the cost will go up if the pressure plates need to be replaced too. These are both wearing parts and can be replaced pretty easily, without even draining the engine oil if you lay the bike down on something soft.

I know people who have surface-ground the metal pressure plates flat on sheet glass with grinding paste. It is possible, if you have lots of time and the plates are not too warped. Sometimes the incentive to spend hours doing this is financial, sometimes parts availability.

If everything works OK, then the clutch is OK. Sometimes you Do get lucky.

Regards

Nigel in NZ