While my buddy was riding his raptor the machine just stopped moving. The motor will still run fine, however it seems the machine is in "constant neutral." You can put the machine in neutral (which registers on the indicator light) shift into first and let the clutch out and nothing happens. It does feel like the machine is "shifting" into gear however, the bike goes nowhere. The same goes for all the gears even reverse. Also all of the indicator lights(neutral, reverse) function like the bike was running fine.

 

it has to be the clutch, check and make sure there is some free play in the clutch cable.

 

Thanks for the reply. That makes sense to me. We will adjust the free play and give an update.

 

Went to adjust the clutch free play and found that the adjustment on the handlebars was already at max free play. So I adjusted the free play at the case adjustment. Even after I went to max free play at the case the machine has no free play in the clutch lever. When the clutch is pulled in and the bike is shifted into first or reverse, the machine will only barely move. Just thought people might want to hear about this.

 

I hate to tell you this but it sounds like you might have worn out the clutch plates. A friend of mine that has a raptor had this happen to him. He was trying to ride it like a 2-stroke by pulling in the clutch all the time. The manual says that you must pull the engine to replace the plates but we did it by leaving the back bolts in the case when you remove it. Put in heavery springs when you do replace the plates.
The friends raptor when we are riding, the clutch will quit like you talked about. If he lets it set for about 15 min and cool down it will come back and work great. He is now learning to ride with out using or pulling in the clutch so much. Best of luck.

 

Is it possible the clutch basket cracked? I have heard a couple people have had this happen.

If, and or when you take a closer look, please post back and tell us what you found.

Thanks.

 

Unfortunately this raptor is out of warranty. My friend and I are planning on taking the clutch cover off this evening and see what we can see. I have read a lot of things about raptor clutch fade but this seems like the clutch is gone with no prior indications. Another interesting thing, when I check the engine oil the oil started to over flow out of the reservoir like it was over filled. The oil has a definate "burnt" smell but was not milky in color. I don't know if this is realted to one another or not. I will keep an update though. Thanks for the feedback.

 

CP,

You guys have a wasted clutch, no doubt. My clutch left in a big hurry, just like you described and it caused the oil to smell and overflow the same way also. What happened is that the clutch heated up causing the components and oil to expand which in turn forced more than a normal amount into the oil tank. We replaced mine with a Barnett clutch and springs and I've been good to go ever since. Since then, I've used my clutch quite a bit in the tight woods and for getting the most power out of my quad. Absolutely no problems so far and no slip that I can tell.

 

You have had these same symptoms huh Bash? Thanks for the info about your machine. It sucks, this machine probably doesn't have 20 hours on it yet.

 

Yep CP, exact same thing. In fact, I was one of, if not the first to experience this problem on this message board. I probably didn't have but about 5 hours on my wheeler. At the time, we figured it was a mis-adjusted cable and wrote it off to a factory error. That being the circumstance, the dealer/Yamaha picked up the tab to put a new one in. The dealer had a Barnett in stock that would work, so he put that in along with the new springs.