alex_xtr

Hallebloodylujah! After 20 minutes or so of patiently turning the bolt round it came out. A quick trip down to the nuts and bolts man and I've got 5 shiny new bolts to replace them. The compression springs are worn below the limit. My local bike garages don't have any so I have to order them online which will take days. Thanks again for all your help, with a little luck I'll be riding it this weekend! I took this of me starting it up for the first time after months of headaches - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3pTnpP-9sU

Okay, great thanks

I don't see how I can remove the bolt without taking out the basket, see what I mean through the picture below - This is whats left of the bolt that isn't stuck inside the chamber - Also, the washer lock that sits behind the big nut has been mangled as can be seen in the below picture. Obviously I'll have to replace it, but do you think this will be an issue when removing the nut?

Not at all Toutesuite, I'm glad this forum is of use to others! I will take out the clutch boss tomorrow. These are the following steps as I understand it - 1. Set up the clutch holding tool as shown in pic below (not my bike, image of google) 2. Get a 27mm socket to fit over the center nut. 3. Lefty loosy - except I'm not sure how easy this will be until I try it, do I just get someone to push down on the rear brake lever to keep the bike halted and then give it alot of leverage to loosen it?

I was just trying to play it safe, 4 complete turns on each bolt to fasten them evenly. The main thing that I tightened them up using a socket with a screw driver type holder. I turned it until reasonably tight with that and then used the torque wrench which has an extension on it. I was keeping an eye on the tension but the bolt was turning so easily and the torque was still resting on 0 and it snapped out of the blue. There was no warning whatsoever :-/

Thanks for the warm welcome, I've amended the side bar so it contains less waffle! I look forward to getting to know you all

Name: Yamaha WR400F (1999) Date Added: 26 August 2013 - 03:22 PM Owner: alex_xtr Short Description: Purchased in December 2012 from a chap down in the deepest part of Devon. During his ownership he had gone to the effort of stripping the engine and doing a top-end rebuild, replacing parts such as the piston and valves. He had also uprated the cooling system through installing a better radiator and finished it nicely with a performance exhaust, new plastics and handlebars etc. The bike had been stood for about 6 months when I went to look at it, and it's been stood since December in my ownership. Unfortunately, I've been away and haven't been able to get it back on the road sooner. Issues I've been dealing with and am dealing with as I write this is re-lubricating and assembling the clutch as the plates have been sticking together where they have become dry from being stood. I have also stripped the carbs and sent it to be professionally sonic cleaned and rebuilt by a specialist. Everything else on the bike is in lovely condition so I'm hoping to have the clutch repaired soon and then be able to have it MOT'd and Tax'd and run the engine in! View Vehicle

Thanks everyone. With new found excitement I re-positioned the pressure plate on the bike and began installing the springs. I know the correct tension from the bike manual and so I began tightening the springs in the order it instructs. All was going well until, I was doing 4 whole turns on each spring gradually tightning them up using a torque wrench to monitor the tension. And then one of them snapped. At first I thought it must have been me, but I hadn't been stressing the bolt at all, it was turning so easily before it snapped. Then after chatting to my father who used to be a mechanic, he thinks it wasn't from the stress of being turned too hard but that the bolt was weak and I was really unlucky. The result is that half a bolt is stuck in the thread running through the clutch boss. The only way to get it out is to drill it out, which is something I've never tried and don't know how to go about it. The other option is to just order a new clutch boss, and replace the 5 bolts that go in the springs for good measure. Thanks again for all your advice so far

Brilliant, thanks for both your advice! I'm going to try this now. I went back into the clutch about half an hour ago and I got a bit carried away and ended up taking out the Push Rod. I've taken a picture of it here, does this look worn to you or is it ok?

Just to be clear, I force the spring 360' - I just found its maximum tension point and then let it back to its rest position knowing there was no way it would go 360'. So hopefully I don't think it was enough to damage it. The only other thing I can think of is whether the push rod and/or the bearings may have worn. My plan is to get a clutch kit with new plates, springs and a new push rod to have piece of mind and to get it sorted once and for all.

Apologies, see pictures below - Parts picture - How it looks after I took off part 24 - Disconnected - I hope that works better,

Hi, I've posted on the newbie section and introduced myself. I've attached pictures that hopefully better illustrate the problem I'm having. After inspecting it just now again, I've found the problem is almost definitely that there isn't any tension on the wire coil mechanism. See item 25 on the picture of the parts. http://s1337.photobucket.com/user/alex_evans1/media/clutch_zps805ad067.jpg.html This is how it looks before I took off part 24 http://s1337.photobucket.com/user/alex_evans1/media/photo14_zpse418e5dc.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1 And after taking off that bolt I tried winding round the unit 360 degrees to create tension but it would turn further than 180 before locking up but it wouldn't turn all the way so that idea was out the window. http://s1337.photobucket.com/user/alex_evans1/media/photo17_zpsc13dfdf5.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0 After taking out the bolt I could move the whole unit round so I tried putting the hook at the end of the metal coil over the U shaped gap on the left hand side of the above picture, even though I successfully did this, there was still no tension when I moved it back into place and bolted it down. I'm sure that I'm missing a simple trick here, it shouldn't be this hard! Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to this

Just introducing myself here, I used to ride on an XT125 and have no upgraded to a WR400F although I don't know how much of an upgrade it has been so far as I've spent most of the time fixing all that's wrong with it. Speaking of which, this leads me on to the fist topic I have started. An issue with getting tension in the clutch cable - Read more here; I look forward to meeting and speaking to you all soon

I recently took off the friction and steel plates to measure wear and re-lube them as they were constantly stuck together leaving constant drive when in gear. To get to the plates, I only had to drain the oil, take off the outer clutch casing, then the 5 springs. I didn't have to touch the push rod. I also disconnected the clutch lever and cabling. Anyway, that's the back story - I measured and lubed the plates which were a little dry but fine, put it all back together and re-tightened the springs to factory spec. After reconnecting the clutch lever and cable, I've found there is no tension or resistance when depressing the clutch lever. Strangely though, the lever by the transmission turns fine when all connected. I've tried adjusting the nuts to change freeplay but with no luck. I don't know what else to try because there isn't alot else to adjust. Any advice would be much appreciated as my bikes been laid up for too long now! Cheers, Alex