mr neutron

Man, Oh Man, Zippy! It's like you have a "Zippy Cam" in the Neutron household! You called it pretty accurately, Mah Man! It's not quite to the point where I need to wear makeup to hide the bruising I get from the wife, but gettin' close, hee hee...... Actually, the Mrs. is pretty darn easy to get along with. She's a dirt bike rider. It is funny to watch her ride my Gas Gas, tho.... For some reason, taking off without a seat really confuses her..... Jimmie

Thanks, Andrew!!! Actually, I'm finding I can do more harm to myself by getting up to pee in the middle of the night, and then tripping over the dog, than most any other way..... Zippy, Good Luck on the linkage bearings. Are you using the caged needle bearings mentioned in another thread here that have the seals built into the ends of the unit? I wish I'd seen that before I'd already bought my bearings, bushings, & seals.... Congrats on locating spark in your snowmobile! I typically find all the sprk I need by scootin' across our carpet, and kissing the wife...... Jimmie

I spent the day repairing some damage I inflicted on the bike about 2 months ago. I managed to chip the kickstart pawl gear, and the idler gear it helixes out to & meshes with. When I did this, the bike made a noise almost exactly like a knocking rod sound. I replaced the Idler Gear with a new one. I smoothed out the chipped teeth on the k/s pawl gear with a Dremel hand grinder. Reassembled everything, and added some atf. It fired up and sounded just like it used to, and maybe even a bit quieter than it did before. It always used to have some "clutch rattle" when running before. A rattling sound that goes away as soon as you pull in the clutch lever, basically. For whatever reason, it didn't do that today. And speaking of "pulling in the clutch lever", I did it MANY TIMES. Afterwards, I spent some time balancing with the engine off on my shop floor, and practiced some really ugly front wheel hops. Actually, today was a sort of "milestone" for me. I had total knee replacement surgery 5 weeks ago, and managed to get my bike started today with the new knee! I am mucho happy-o about that! it was one of my biggest fears that I may not be able to start my bike, and hence, possibly not ride, after the operation. I've pretty much put that fear to rest now. I still have an S3 low compression head insert to put in, which will hopefully make starting even easier on me..... And Shyted, your bike is INCREDIBLE!!! I wish my 3 year old bike looked that good. I don't mean to sound like a jerk here or anything like that, but do ever ride that thing? It is so clean..... Jimmie

Nicely Done, Andrew!!! You did Nice Work on your bar risers! I'm curious; where did you come up with the air bleeders on your fork caps? Jimmie

Ben, I totally agree with members zerorev3rev4 & chylowen. I would certainly pull the clutch off and look at the back side of the kickstart idler gear. I am basically chasing the same demons as you; you described the exact same problem I'm having with my 2010 Pro 280: The clattering noise that gets faster in frequency as the revs go up, and then slows down in frequency as the revs drop. Also, the fact that this happened (as did mine) right after a poor statring technique (not being critical of you; this is more aimed at myself. You already know you don't try to start a bike when it's already running, I'm bettin'....) would steer me towards a problem with the k/s mechanism somewhere. FWIW, here's what the back of my bike's idler gear looks like: Basically, those 2-3 chipped teeeth are enough to make that noise, Ben. It's actually pretty easy to get to this to look at, Ben (I think you've already done some of this before, haven't you?). You pull the Kickstart lever, then the clutch cover, and then the clutch itself. This makes the idler gear visible, but you have to pull a circlip off for the gear (and a washer or two; watch out for those!) to come off, to be able to look at the back side. I suppose if that gear is seriously "grenaded", you may not have to pull it off to see the damage. Look at your kickstarter shaft's gear also, as well as the gear on the back of the clutch that the idler gear meshes with, for any chips, chunks, or other carnage. At any rate, doing this first is much easier and cheaper to check out than yarding the engine out, and then taking it to have it looked at & repaired. Hope this helps some! Jimmie

Hee hee, this reminds me of the First Rule Of Gun Safety: ALWAYS keep your weapon pointed in a Safe Direction. A friend of mine had a Beta that had a clutch that behaved as Da Lipper describes. It would do it every time it was started up when cold, as in the first start & take off of the day. He said it better be pointed in a safe direction when you put it in gear, because wherever the bike was pointed was where it took off towards. After the initial "White Knuckle & Big Eyes" take off of the day, the thing was fine..... Jimmie

My '10 model Pro 280 is still scattered all over my barn, waiting for parts, and for my knee to get totally mended. I have the clutch cover loose (no bolts in it) as I'm waiting for my new kickstart idler gear to arrive. With the clutch cover loose, I don't dare pump my clutch lever when I walk by the old War Horse. I fear I'm beginning to suffer from "Clutch Pump Withdrawl Syndrome"..... My wife's Honda XR100's clutch lever is beginning to look mighty good these days..... A side issue here: Can anyone possibly direct me to a thread about removal of the kickstart shaft on these later model Pro bikes? I've tried doing a "SEARCH", and have pretty much struck out. I've seen the trialspartsusa tech video of how to install it, which is helpful. From that I've wondered if you just simply pull the thing out, expecting it to sort of "spin", or "unwind", at a certain point? Sorry for the sidetrack here. Jimmie

I like that idea, Laser! But I guess I'm being a Goober here..... Do you mean above the radiator??? I've kind of accepted a small amount of water is going to get into my 2010's airbox. I've taken it apart, and put sealer in it, like Huski described above. I don't think the flap at the bottom of my bike's airbox is very efficient at letting water out. So I drilled a couple of small (3/16" diameter, or approximately 3.5 mm) holes in the corners of the airbox. So far, these have been enough to let the majority of the water out that makes it'w way inside there..... Jimmie

Good Job with the Pics, Andrew! And that's a VERY Nice Bike, Sir! Jimmie

Holy Mother of All Splatters, there it is just as he said!!! I REALLY feel like a Doofus now!! Thanks, Copemech! I owe you one, Buddy! Jimmie

Hey, All!!! Thanks for giving that ifo & link! My wife uses Adobe for her graphics design work for her t-shirt printing biz. She downnloaded CS2 from the link above. But when she tried to install it, it asked for a serial number. Any ideas on how to resolve this issue? Is there some sort of other file we need for her Photoshop CS to work with this? FWIW our Windows OS is XP Professional, Version 2002, if that helps any..... Thanks Again! Jimmie

Yes!!! That thumper sure seemed to make traction, huh? That looked like some really tough riding conditions! If a guy gets good in that sort of snot, imagine what he can do when it dries out..... Thanks for the video, Ben! Jimmie

You did indeed call it correctly, Sir! Thank You for that! Cursed, Thank You SO MUCH for that Very Good Advice & Help! I actually do take digital pics when I go to take a bike apart, anymore. I simply don't trust my memory when the bike will be apart for more than a few days, or when small critical parts that have a specific order they need to be reassmbled ...... And it will likely be a few months before I get around to fixing this; I'm now "recuperating" from my knee surgery. I really appreciate the advice on how to remove the kickstart & it's hardware! Jimmie Jimmie

Hi, Skyline1!!! I'm a total Novice, so Trial riding advice from me may need to be ignored, But you've sort-of hit on something that I was doing, and had to be told (numerous times!) to correct it by a friend of mine. I don't know if this is "The Problem" or not.... I (still) have a tendency to ride with a lot of my weight on the bars. As I've been told, I need to stand more with my knees slightly bent, back a little straighter than I usually have it, and the feeling of my weight centered on the footpegs. I was told my hands should just sorta be resting on the bars, not the weight of my head, arms, shoulders, & such resting on the bars. I had been riding MX for so long, and with a bike that didn't corner particularly well ('06 Yamaha YZ450), so I adapted & rode with as much weight on the front as I could, in order to get the front end to "stick" in corners. Sold that bike, got the Gas Gas, and even though I wasn't sitting down (OK, sometimes I do when I don't want to... ), I still tended to ride with my weight resting on the bars, and especially when I'm tired. My turns suffer from that, so you may want to look at how you're turning the bike to see if this is relevant at all. You want to do the turns primarily with your feet, I'm told. This requires actually very little weight resting on the bars. I'd say if you feel as if you're constantly doing the "Push-Up" exercise (do you call them "Press Ups in the UK?), you've probably got too much weight on your handlebars. After that, I'd try setting your bars up in a more neutral position, and double check your lever position. Wrong positioning of these can make you tend to do what I did (too much weight on the bars, not enough on the pegs). Like Zippy & others have said though. with Trials you do need to move around. Weight back when called for, and weight forward as needed also. Riding position, balance & technique are EVERYTHING in this discipline of dirt riding..... Are you able to ride with someone more experienced than you who can evaluate & give good advice? That would likely be a HUGE help to you, Skyline1. I hope this possibly helps, and is somewhat accurate. Like I said, I ride at the Novice level, so I defintely don't have this figured out. I've been lucky and ridden with some guys that are really helpful, and give good advice. This is an attempt to give back... Jimmie

Okay, Success!!! The bolt finally came out just as Laser1 had said. I did try my little hammer operated impact driver, and got nowhere with that. The handful of Torx bits I had in the correct size got pretty rounded, so I gave up and drilled it out. I'm certain the chips were all captured in the liberal amount of grease I put on the drill flutes. I swabbed everything left with many cotton swabs, stuck my small pencil magnet tool in there, and even used my Shop Vac for good measure. The 1/4 inch left hand drill went a short ways into the bolt head, then "caught itself" in the bolt material, and spun the bolt out just as pretty as you'd please. Nice!!! After I got the clutch out, I found this on the back side of the kickstart idler gear: Shown beside it is the drilled out bolt, just for grins & giggles. I'm going to assume that since this gear is pretty chipped up, and that my noise began immediately after I started the bike, that this is the problem, or part of the problem? I haven't yet figured out how to remove the kickstart shaft & it's related parts to see what sort of shape that's in. I ran out of time, and it's beginning to cool off outside again. I'll do some more searching & reading on that subject. Plus, I have this quote from member "jandyb", from post #77 in the "What Did You Do To Your Gas Gas Today?" thread: Thanks Again, Fellas! Jimmie

Ahhh, I guess I forgot about the case & slave cylinder holding it on....... Makes sense, I reckon. Realistically, I probably won't get this fixed before my operation on Monday. It'd be a miracle if any dealer within driving distance for me would have the parts. But for me, it will nice just finding out what the real problem is..... It's 27 degrees outside in my barn where my bike is. The weather floks say it will wrm up somewhat today. I'll probably get out there around noon or so. I'll report back if Ihave any luck.... Jimmie

Wow! You guys posted while I was typing, Cursed & Lineaway. Several days ago, I went for a ride on my property. I have a few "obstacles" for practicing double blips & turns, and unweighting & stuff. One such "obstacle" is a rotting maple stump about 18" high. Due mostly to my bad technique, when I tried to double blip over the stump, I "cased" it. Got the case up on the stump, and the back tire still on the ground. The bike's engine died, so I pulled the clutch in, backed the bike off of the stump, & restarted it. After I restarted it, the motor had a new noise, which is what I'm really trying to fix.... FWIW, the noise is a clattering/rattling kind of noise that you can hear at idle. The sound "gets faster" as the revs go up, and slows down as the motor slows. It sounds like it's coming from inside the clutch case somewhere, but that's definitely a guess. I've looked on the ignition side already, thinking the flywheel weight I just installed might somehow be the culprit (Loose bolt, or whatever....). The ignition side seems to be alright. Knowing that Gas Gas kickstart gears, and the idler gear in particular seem to suffer when starting technique isn't perfect, I'm almost hoping my noise is from part of that mechanism. And that's why I need to remove the clutch..... I don't mean this as a "sympathy ploy", or anything like that. I'm having a surgery on my knee in a few days, and won't be able to ride for a few months, most likely. I'd like to try and get this fixed now, so when I get healed up, I can just start my bike & ride again. Plus, I've noticed that the older I get, if I leave stuff laying in pieces in my barn, I tend to forget how they came apart, or rather how they should go back together. And that's a big reason why I appreciate this forum. The knowledge base here speeds up stuff a lot! Cursed, I consider the drill method kind of a "last-ditch" way to do this, for most of the reasons you described. I'd rather not take a chance of getting chips inside motor. I have already rounded off my Torx bit that fit the best; I can grind more material off of that & try it again today. And I just remembered I have one of those old hand held "Impact Driver" tools that you hit with a hammer. It has a spring loaded affair that a socket fits onto on the opposite end that you hit, and rotates a few degrees when struck. This tool has been good for loosening up bolts in the past. I have not used it in years, and forgot I even owned it. That may possibly work before I drill.... In the past, I also have removed bolt heads by drilling down past the bottom of the bolt head, as Lineaway described. This actually works very good if you're careful. The grease should catch and hold the chips, as the shape of drill flutes tends to pull chips towards you. This grease trick actually works really good. Since this bolt has a "pilot hole" already, the drill likely won't walk off location. Normally, there's enough of the bolt remaining above whatever it's screwed into to turn out with Vise-Grip pliers or something like that..... But you guys ran without that bolt, Lineaway? What held the clutch on? I'm not familiar with the ANY Gas Gas clutches, as this is the first one I've ever worked on. I'm assuming there are splines on the shaft my clutch is fit on, and that may even be a tapered affair with splines. I can't figure out what would hold that on w/o a bolt? Jimmie

It might if I owned the correct items, eugenevd! I know the type of tool that your describing. I use one for holdng the chuck onto the spindle of my lathe at work, but it's a 14mm setup. It's a shop-made setup with a 14mm allen wrench cut to around 100mm long, and then brazed into a 14mm impact socket. I really wish I had a a setup like that in 4mm here at home, that was long enough to reach down to that bolt (along with an impact wrench.....). This is my first time doing this job. From the videos at www.trialspartsusa.com, it seemed like it should be fairly straightforward. I think Mr. Snell (the tech in the videos) may have underestimated the "Stupidity Factor" when someone like me attempts these sort of jobs. Like most folks, I tried to work with what I had laying around my barn first. I simply managed to round things off with the variety of weapons I first threw at that bolt. At one point, I cut the 90 deg. corner off one 4mm allen wrench I have. Needing 3 hands and not having them (and evidentally missing some brain cells as well... ), I recruited my son to help me. He put my shortened allen key in that demon possesed bolt & tried to turn it with a wrench while I tapped on it with a hammer. This yielded me nothing, other than the slight relief I got from taking a hammer to something. In hindsight, I probably should've just hit my son with it. I'm sure he's done something he needs that for..... But at 25 yrs. of age, he'd probably take it from me, and use it against me, so I forgot about that one. But I digress..... I'll go to a local tool store & pick up some left hand drills today, and give that a shot next. Hopefully, that will do the trick. Thank you to you guys that have replied. I really, really appreciate your help & ideas here, Fellas!! Jimmie

Hmmmm. Thanks, Laser1! Again, I truly appreciate your help also! Ya know, that left hand drill trick sounds like that may be the ticket! Now I'm off in search of a left hand drill! Thanks, Mah Man!!! Jimmie

Hi Jon!!! Jon, I am really, really appreciative of your help here Sir! And in Trials & Enduro News also! Unfortunately, I already did try the tricks of grinding off an allen wrench to get nice sharp edges, as well as attempting to mash a Torx bit into that hole. And I pretty much "struck out". Every tool I put in there got rounded off. Or, the 6-sided allen hole got more rounded off. I'm afraid it's possibly going to call for more "drastic" measures..... But I didn't know the little hole in the middle of this bolt served as a vent from the tranny to the clutch side of the case. Is it primarily for tranny fluid, or air? And if I go drilling in this bolt, like I mentioned above (to get an EZ Out in there), metal chips may be able to get into the transmission side of things, correct? Oh boy.... I've done it this time..... Thanks again! Jimmie

Hey, All!!! I apologize if this has already been covered. I did a "SEARCH" using terms like "clutch removal" & "removing clutch", and basically struck out. Here's my problem: I'm trying to remove the clutch on my 2010 280 Pro model. I'm to the point where I need to remove the 4mm allen bolt in the center of the clutch. The bolt on my bike appears to be "stripped", and at the least, is VERY shallow. The once 6-sided hole of that allen bolt is now more or less rounded, from what I can see. I probably was the one that did this. The hex key I have that is long enough to reach down to that bolt is one with a "ball end" on one end, and that's the end I tried to use, before reaozing the hole was really shallow on that goofy bolt..... Has anybody else had this trouble when removing the clutch's center bolt that holds it to the transmission shaft? If so, how did you beat this problem? All I can think to do right now is try drilling a shollow hole into the center of that pesky bolt, and then try using an Easy Out to get that bolt out. I'm hoping someone else may know of a little easier or cleaner solution..... Thanks! Jimmie

Yeah, I understand, Ham2 and b40rt!!! I appreciate the warning! I'm thinking that's a way to make even more problems for myself that I really don't want.... I guess a person needs to squeeze their clutch lever in a responsible way, huh? Jimmie

Hi, Jan!! Jan, that information is really encouraging! (Except maybe that part about the gear being expensive, hee hee.... ) The way this whole thing occurred, along with the fact that Gas Gas kickstart gears have a reputation for being slightly "fragile", had me thinking the same things you just wrote. Well, I'll have time to work on it this weekend, and hopefully will be able to report back. Again, thanks for your help here, Jan! And everyone else's help as well!!! I appreciate it very much! I would insert a beer-clinking emoticon here, but for some reason, my ability to put text in italics, underline, pictures, and the smileys isn't working now???? Jimmie In EDIT: I figured it out; there was a little "lightswitch" type of "toggle" thing up in the upper left hand corner I had to click on.....

I feel guilty for laughing, yet it was SO funny. I hope the guy (Neil?) and his bike made out alright after all that. And that was just part of a trail between sections?? Jimmie

Thanks, Zippy! That's Much Appreciated! I hope to get the clutch cover off this Saturday, just to have a look. At this point, I'm simply hoping it's something fairly obvious that kinda jumps right out at me, and screams "Here's the Problem!!!:".....And while I'm out there, I'll probably squeeze & fondle my bike's clutch lever a few times. I won't be able to ride for a couple months after Monday, so a little squeeze now & then will be all I get..... Thanks for the kind words on the knee, Zippy! It's been said the problem with my knee is that I have 1/2 ton rated knees with a 3/4 ton body.... Jimmie