I was riding yesterday in the absolute muddiest poker run ever. Spent most of the day in first gear and spinning in the mud. I was riding the clutch for a great deal of the 36 mile hell-run. All of a sudden my clutch lever got very tight and I had to back both adjustments at the motor and the clutch lever all the way off. The clutch never slipped but it now seems to engage almost at the end. I've never even had to adjust the clutch since it was new a year ago. A Raptor at the event had the same exact symptoms. Anybody have any clues before I go tearing into the clutch? It shifted fine and never slipped before or after. Could it be that my cable just got some mud and was not returning to release, it was extremely muddy after all. Any help would be appreciated.

 

It sounds like a friction disc may have lost some or all of its fiber material. I suggest you disassemble immediately and remove the all of the debris before it causes lubercation problems. As you may know, your clutch shares the oil with the crankshaft and every other moving part so you don't want to let it go. Once you have it cleaned out, change your oil and filter. Oh yah, check your oil p/u screen in the oil reservoir.

 

Wouldn't that mean I would have to adjust the clutch tighter to get it to grab? I just didn't get an opportunity to check the cable or I would have to rule that out. Also, how easy is a clutch change on the DS?

 

Sounds like clutch cable to me. Sounds like mud weakend it and ether stretched or fraid somewhere.

 

Well, I checked the cable and it was fine. I had to pull off the the cog that goes over the spline shaft that comes out of the clutch housing to get the cable free because of all the tension. Any ideas? After putting the cog back on and adjusting the cable, I took it for a ride and all seemed well. It didn't slip at all. Anybody have any ideas?

 

Im getting mine replaced under warranty this week...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

then having them add the stiffer springs while in there!