Hi. I am having problems with the clutch on my 1972 ( 21M ) 247 and I was wondering if any special tools are needed to remove the clutch plates so I can give them a clean and hopefully solve the problem. At the moment it tries to move forward once I put it in gear with the clutch still in. Thanks.

Go to rocky mountain montesa on the web.. In the tech articles he has info on clutch maintenance. It could just be your oil.

No special tools are required. However, sometimes we tend to overlook the obvious, so before you tear it apart, have you checked the clutch cable for binding, kinks, etc.

Thanks for your feedback. This evening I have just removed the side cover and found that inside the casing had worn away slightly, so those bits of casing are obviously in the oil. The oil was quite dirty and thick to a change of oil now.Does anyone know what grade oil I should use? See photos below, you can see were the casing has worn. I was unable to remove the flywheel weight so I was unable to remove the clutch. I will change the oil and see how it goes.

Looks like you could use a new 3 prong plate and new brass plunger . What did the plunger look like?

To be honest they both looked ok. My plunger is steel and not brass and looked fine, it was just the casing that was worn. There was no gasket or sealer on the casing either. The only other problem ive got is that one of the bolts that hold the casing on the thread has almost disapeared so its going on one bolt less for now. Just need some oil today.

Oil should be 10w 30 or auto transmission oil which I have been using for years. By the way the case is not worn. All of mine look the same

^{As noted by Stillers65, there is substantial wear in the '3 pronged plate'. A certain amount of wear there and in the plunger, and in the clutch plates and discs can be compensated for by clutch cable adjustment. However, your original post indicated a problem with clutch drag and all of the items previously noted will lead to clutch drag and all will contribute to 'gunky' oil.}

^{Incidently, the design of the clutch release mechanism is one reason why you never want to sit for extended periods of time, on a Cota, with the clutch lever pulled in. It just contributes to the wear shown in your photos.}