Clutch adjuster nut FROZEN

Spaulding · Jul 13, 2011

Hi - 1974 Commando 850 -

My clutch plates need to be cleaned. But I'm stuck at square one. I have the diaphragm tool ready to hook up - but I CANNOT get the adjuster nut to BUDGE. It appears to be completely frozen. This is the one you can see if you open the inspection hole.

Am I missing something? The entire clutch basket will spin inside the sprockets if I put the bike in gear and apply the break while trying to turn this nut. The nut just will not budge.

If this nut is frozen, what's the next step? Seems very odd that it won't turn at all.

Help...

DogT · Jul 13, 2011

Air hammer? Large mallet? Very fast whack? It's not that big a nut. Squirt some sauce on it overnight. I had one of the adjuster studs break in the threads and couldn't figure why I couldn't adjust the clutch correctly until I found it, and probably was because I tightened up that nut too much.

Dave
69S

Hobot · Jul 13, 2011

Heat the snot out of the nut till oil smokes and you get pensive from mommy telling you not to play with fire, then with tranny blocked/locked up put a socket on it and heave ho and get the clutch serviced.

IF that don't do it do as DogT says Air Impact the sucker off and get a new one, just in case its distoreted - like one of Ms Peel's after it cycled through chain. I use loctite and good umph on it now.

nortriubuell · Jul 13, 2011

Mmm ... ditto what Dave wrote. Soak with penetrating oil (I use PB blaster) and then an air rachet. If it's still stuck

Put some heat on it ( I use a hot air gun myself, has worked wonders in the past.) Hope this helps ...

Torontonian · Jul 13, 2011

Up here in Canada we have frozen nuts all the time. Shock it free ,use the force young Luke.

rpatton · Jul 13, 2011

I would put the primary cover and peg back on. Ride over to a your local bike shop around closing time. Walk in with a six pack in one hand and the socket in the other. Worked for me. If you have to do it in the AM, bring doughnuts. It's faster and more fun than screwing around with it.

Diablouph · Jul 14, 2011

A mechanic at Rabers in San Jose, Ca told me to wack it. He said that there is no way you can hurt anything unless it is already broken. (be sure to hit it the correct way)

pdl999 · Jul 14, 2011

Had exactly the same problem! Tried force, shock, heat etc to no avail. In the end I used a nut splitter and bought a new nut. In retrospect, it was the kindest thing to do as there is no trauma caused to other parts. Its really quick, so saves wasting time and anguish.

Spaulding · Jul 14, 2011

Excellent - thanks all - I'll proceed with torching and generally beating the $&@! out of it. Looking forward to that actually... Just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something obvious - as is usually the case...

maylar · Jul 14, 2011

Had the same problem yesterday. First time in 36 years I couldnt get it off with just a ratchet. My impact wrench took it off in a second.

warpedscout · Jul 14, 2011

Did mine saturday and had to disassemble the clutch and hold the adjuster with a set of vice grips. Made sure to put some anti seize on it before reinstalling. Once adjusted made a major difference in my clutch action!

Spaulding · Jul 14, 2011

Impact wrench worked like magic. Just like it was nothing at all. Amazing how the human arm trying to mimic the movement of an impact wrench apparently doesn't even come close. And the wrench doesn't ask for Advil afterwards...

Clutch adjuster nut FROZEN

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