Topic: Cb650 clutch won’t disengage after replacement

[Nicklopic]

Is there a trick to freeing up a stuck or frozen clutch?
I replaced all the clutch plates, friction and steels, and springs with new barnett pieces. I slathered each clutch and steel with 20w50 while assembling and now trying to ride it for the first time about a week later I can’t get the clutch to disengage. I’ve tried rocking the bike in gear, dropping it into gear at idle, and dropping it into gear with a SMALL amount of revs, with the clutch pulled in and extra tension on the cable to no avail.
Is it a matter of just keep trying or did I ruin my plates by not soaking them for a while or letting the bike sit?

[HondaMan]

Is there a trick to freeing up a stuck or frozen clutch?
I replaced all the clutch plates, friction and steels, and springs with new barnett pieces. I slathered each clutch and steel with 20w50 while assembling and now trying to ride it for the first time about a week later I can’t get the clutch to disengage. I’ve tried rocking the bike in gear, dropping it into gear at idle, and dropping it into gear with a SMALL amount of revs, with the clutch pulled in and extra tension on the cable to no avail.
Is it a matter of just keep trying or did I ruin my plates by not soaking them for a while or letting the bike sit?

A long time ago (when the Earth was cooling?) the Barnett clutches for the 750 would do this, too, if they were not ridden immediately after assembling the new clutch. It sounds like you did it right, with oil on all the plates and [hopefully] the lifter pressing well on the hub when pulling the lever. But, the main difference between Honda's plates (and most modern aftermarket generic plates) that I've seen that is bringing this problem back to life again is: smooth steel plates, without the checkering on their surfaces that retain a tiny bit of oil when the plates are closed.

Did your Barnett set come with smooth steel plates? If so, use the old steel plates with the checkering, instead, or every Spring you'll be struggling with stuck plates again.

If it has checkered steel plates, then you may have to manually unstick and re-oil them, reassemble and ride as soon as possible to finsih distributing the oil deeply into the cork. This was SOP for the 750 (and a few CB500 riders) back in the day when they wanted "racing clutches" installed in their new 4-cylinder steeds. I learned it the hard way by installing one on a Saturday and, pulling the bike out for the customer the following Tuesday (we were closed Sunday-Monday), demonstrated how his new clutch didn't work. 

[fizzlebottom]

I don't know about the Barnett clutch, but I have rebuilt my CB650 clutch more than once. The only real considerations are alignment of everything inside the basket to make sure they're all seated, making sure you ordered the 'Disk B' friction plate correctly (this is the one singled out from the other 7), and reinstalling the judder spring & clutch plate spring correctly.

Aside from reinstalling the internals correctly, torque the lifter plate bolts properly then do all of your normal adjustments from the bottom cable end to the lever. And make sure the cable is routed correctly, else you might be getting snagged somewhere.

I would read through your FSM, take a look at the parts diagram (https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/honda/motorcycle/1982/cb650sc-a-nighthawk-650/clutch), and double check any extra instructions that came with the Barnett pieces to see if you can ID anything you may have missed.

[Nicklopic]

The barnett plates were definitely smooth steel, the only other plates I have right now are also smooth I think EBC plates if I remember what the PO said about them. I don’t remember ever dealing with this but they were more worn than the new ones so maybe they have some extra roughness to hold some oil
I am very confident I installed them properly, the B plate is in The proper location since it doesn’t fit any deeper in the pack, and the judder disc and spring things are NOS and oriented properly based on both the FSM and chilton I have. I was very careful about those since my bike was missing the beveled spring when I took it apart so I was extra mindful to make sure it went in where it was supposed to and flipped the right way

[Nicklopic]

Old clutch pack I removed just to show the plates

[fizzlebottom]

Interesting. Even the old clutch pack didn't have Honda plates.

Sounds like HondaMan has some good insight on breaking in the smooth clutch plates. They might need some of the cork material from the friction plates to build up and mate with their surfaces in order to move and release properly with normal use. My guess is that they're simply creating a tight enough seal with all of the fresh oil and smooth surfaces that they don't want to let go.

[HondaMan]

What was the trouble with the old clutch?

[Nicklopic]

I replaced them because I had this constant issue where ass the bike would warm up, I’d gain a bunch of slack in the cable, as it would cool it would tighten back up so on rides I was constantly tightening the adjuster. New cable, multiple different kinds of oils all the same. It was also missing the beveled jutter spring when I took it apart.
I did the starter clutch again and put new clutch bits in it while I was at it to see what happens.

I opened it back up, split the clutch pack apart, coated each piece heavily in oil, scuffed the plates lightly before cleaning and oiling them, then restacking. Adjusted tension again starting at the basket adjuster thing. Even dumped some more over the basket before putting the cover on. Felt a little on off switch like at first but it also could be me being very rusty. I went around the block a few times and things feel good now.
New stack attached just to show everything is where it should be and the beveled spring is oriented properly. Hondaman what is the jutter spring actually for?

[RAFster122s]

Did you soak the new clutch plates overnight in oil?

[Nicklopic]

I did not soak them overnight, just a bath before stacking and installing them.
I didn’t think to soak them, both manuals just said to apply a coating of oil and I didn’t second guess it at all.