Hi, I have a 1987 LT80 that I fixed up for my daughter for Christmas. When I got it it had low compression, no carb, and was stuck in gear. I plastic welded the plastic back together and painted/added new decals, put in a new piston and cylinder, new carb, new drive belt, rebuilt front clutch (4 rollers), and swapped out the rear clutch with one I got from a local salvage yard. Everything was working great until today. When I cranked it, the tires began spinning and it acts like it's under a load. I tore it down and when i spin the rear wheel it tries to turn the drum. If I back the pressure off the nut it works properly. I see no obvious issues (everything clean and rust free and bearings spin easily). Since it was doing this same thing before the rebuild I am wondering if there is something else causing this problem. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forums.
The drum should turn with the sprocket/rear wheels.
I'm wondering if you have the parts in the correct order.
Rear clutch sheave sliding properly?
The rear clutch nut should be tight.

 

Hi there LT80! Nice to meet you. First off, even though this is the first time we have talked, I want to thank you for all of your help during my rebuild. It seems like every time I googled a problem I encountered during my rebuild, I landed on a thread that you had answered. As this was my very first foray into a 2 stroke motor, you can imagine how often that was I ended up working late today and won't get a chance to verify the order of the sheaves until tomorrow. I am almost certain that the order is correct as it has worked properly since Christmas and my daughter has ridden it every day (I painted it purple and added tassles, lt80 decals from ebay, tinkerbell stickers and a big butterfly so she just adores it ) Anyway, it is definitely worth checking. I am going to check the bearings and springs really good tomorrow also (I'm off since it will be raining here in North Florida and I work construction). I am hoping it's not the bearings since my manual doesn't really say much about them other than to replace if damaged. I will update tomorrow with my findings and maybe some pics. Thanks again!