Motorcycle Repair: Clutch wont disengage 1975 Honda CB360T, clutch packs, friction plates

Question
Hi Bill
    
    I picked up this bike about 8 months ago and did a pretty thorough overhaul. The wiring harness had been chewed out of it by who knows what so i replaced that and corrected some of the intriguing little jerry rigs from the former owners. Had the tank cleared of rust and coated. Oil, Air filters all the essentials. Got the bike running consistently and sounding very nice. Went to slip it into first and bam the bike lurches and the engine cuts out. So i adjusted the clutch and tightened everything up but still same problem. After some thought and deliberation I came to the conclusion that the the clutch just wont disengage. So I opened her up and inspected each plate individually for warping and ware but all were in good shape so i gave them a bath in oil for an hour and put them all back in hoping that this would be the fix but unfortunately not. So next i opened up the left hand cover (probably should have done this first) where the clutch lever is hiding and fully dismantled and re-greased the ball bearings etc to make sure it was all in the right way and working also making sure it had good contact with the rod. Again this gave me zero result.

Now I'm kind of at a loss.

Oh i did order a new clutch cable but that being mildly stretched wouldn't account for zero play in the plates i shouldn't think .

This is my first bike and my first restoration but I am relatively handy and not afraid to try pretty much anything. I would be very very thankful for any suggestions you have.  

Cheers
Tom

Answer
Tom, it isn't unusual for clutch packs to "stick" together when sitting for years, but it is pretty apparent when you pull the plates apart that they have been stuck for awhile, as you generally have to pry them apart.

If the metal plates had residues or rust/corrosion, the rough surface is enough to "catch" the friction plates and keep them engaged when the clutch is supposed to be disengaged. Send the metal plates smooth, if necessary or replace them.

A good time to verify that the clutch pack is separating is when the clutch cover was still off, so you could watch them separate or not. You have to make your clutch adjustment on the engine case first, with the cable adjusters all backed off. Once you have that initial slight free-play setup, then you can make final cable adjustments to take up excess slack. You just want about 1/8" of free play at the clutch lever when it is set up properly.

Wear in the ball ramp release components, and a dished end of the clutch pushrod where the ball bearing rides can be enough to create some out of spec issues that make precise adjustments more difficult.

Bill Silver