Trail 90 clutch not engaging

M

mountain

New Member
Good Morning I have just started trying to figure out my 1971 Trail 90 K3. The kick starter would not engage the clutch and make the motor turn over. I drained the old (and horrible) old oil, flushed it and put in fresh 30WT oil. Now when try to turn it over the gears just continue to free spin. It s not engaging even a little bit. I have the side cover off so I can see what is going on and the main gear and the small gear behind the clutch just spin. Thanks for any help you can provide!

Jason
Tioga Pa
 

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W

wesley

New Member
What kind of oil did you use? The oil has to be for wet clutch use, Modern auto oil will make the clutch on these old bikes slip
 
deezy

deezy

New Member
mountain said:
Good Morning I have just started trying to figure out my 1971 Trail 90 K3. The kick starter would not engage the clutch and make the motor turn over. I drained the old (and horrible) old oil, flushed it and put in fresh 30WT oil. Now when try to turn it over the gears just continue to free spin. It s not engaging even a little bit. I have the side cover off so I can see what is going on and the main gear and the small gear behind the clutch just spin. Thanks for any help you can provide!
Click to expand...

If the primary drive gears spin freely without engaging the crankshaft then your problem is in the clutch. Like Wesley said, the automotive oils can be to slippery for a wet clutch to engage. If the oils to slippery the clutch plates will slip and not have the friction to engage. Sometimes this is the case, although I have been able to use automotive oils with wet clutches and have them work fine. I would mess with the gears and see if you can get the clutch to engage through shifting. If you still can't get it, put the cover back on and use the clutch adjustment nut to adjust the clutch. Heres a link to a video on youtube that explains how to do that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pP_L85mo7A
try that and if your still having trouble you might want to try motorcycle oil for wet clutches. If all else fails and you still can't get it to engage than you might want to rebuild the clutch and replace the plates.
Hope this helps:)
 
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L

Long Crapper

Member
Sometimes when the clutch plates are effected "slip when trying to kick start" by people using automotive oil with the friction modifiers, you can still push start. You need to use either motorcycle oil or diesel engine motor oil like Rotella. Most of the Rotella I see at walmart is 15w40. I use it because its cheaper than motorcycle oil and it won't hurt your clutch because it doesn't have the friction modifiers in it. I've even used the cheaper priced walmart house brand "Super Tech" diesel motor oil 15W40.
 
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