[Ande780]

I have a 2005 CRF450R and it seems to be having some clutch issues. Earlier this riding season it seemed to be good and not causing any issues when both cold and warmed up. Not until 2 rides ago, after the bike was warmed up and hot, I noticed when I tried coming up to a stop that it was REALLY hard to shift my bike into neutral. I thought that maybe because of hitting jumps and riding, the adjustment point down by the clutch cover had come loose and my clutch was just out of adjustment. I tried playing around with it and could not get it back to normal. After about an hour and a half of resting, it seemed to be ok again. I tried taking my bike out today and sure enough it was good off the get go but after about 20 minutes it did the same thing and I cannot shift it into neutral and then when I loosen it, it slowly creeps forward and eventually stalls. I’ve tried adjusting it and tweaking it according to what other people say to do online and I just can’t seem to get it and I don’t have much experience at all with clutches. Does anybody have any tips or clues on what I should do? Possibly a new clutch? I don’t even know the position that the adjustment by the clutch cover should even be in. If the nut should be backed off and loose or actually snuggled up a bit. Any bit of help would be greatly appreciated

[JimDirt]

What I am guessing the issue is , is the basket is notched , this will cause grabbing , but usually accompanied by jerky engagement , if it does not have the jerkiness to it , then it is possible just the plates are worn , or possibly one of the 6 clutch springs broke , or even a disk broke , or even the basket is wobbly

What you can do is lay the bike on the ignition side , so the clutch is pointing up (it does not have to be laying all the way over , you can prop it up by the handlebar on your bike lift , or a milk crate or a upside down 5 gallon bucket) , then remove the bolts from the round clutch cover , it will expose the clutch , then remove the 6 springs/bolts , and pull out a few plates , and look at the basket , if it looks like the one in this picture , then the basket is worn and needs replaced , or you can limp it along for a bit longer if you remove all the plates (keeping track of the order they come off) , and put a rage around the basket (stuff it down a bit) and on the inside of it , then take a flat file and file it till it is smooth , clean up the shavings as best you can , and put everything back together and try it ...

While you have all the disks/plates out , grab the basket on each side and try to wobble it back and forth , if it wobbles , then the bearing is bad or the basket is worn enough to need replacing ....... inspect all the plates for burnt discoloration , if they are blue , they are toast , look for worn down or cracked disks , making sure the fiber material is not worn all the way down .....

Report back with findings ....

This is a worn basket , those notches are not supposed to be there , it is supposed to be smooth

[Ande780]

Thanks for the tip. I will give it a try. I thought maybe it was just an adjustment problem but I guess I’d better check the clutch itself. I’ll let you know.

[Ande780]

So I took my couch apart and found some stuff and got some pictures but I’m not able to upload them for some reason. Am I able to send them to somebody of text or an actual email and get an opinion?