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'07 Ninja 250R Clutch Help

Joined
May 9, 2013
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Location
Leander, TX
I picked up a decent 250R from a co-worker cheap. Its been sitting a year. Since I picked it up this morning I have cleaned it all up, lubed the chain, aired the tires, made some custom shorty front blinkers from the rotted rubber ones that were dangling from it, and it looks great! The battery is on charge and I'm hoping it comes back to life.

The story on the clutch is that during his first replacement he cracked the cover somehow reassembling it. After a new cover and try two it doesn't go into gear when running. It seems fine just sitting there but the clutch feels a bit stiff though the arm moves fine. Maybe the cable? One person suggested the plates weren't soaked before installation and they are always grabbing.

Any tips before I dig in? I have tons of automotive and other electromechanical experience but virtually none on bikes.

Also the gas is about a year old. Drain, refill, check oil and start it up? Or does the carb likely need attention?

TIA
 
Hmmmmm.... My first thought is why does an 07 Ninja250 need a new clutch? And how does one crack a clutch cover during the replacement? This sounds kinda fishy to me.

Soaking plates is pretty much a wive's tale with modern plates. Sure with old cork plates they needed a good soaking but that doesn't really matter with today's motorcycles.
 
Hmmmmm.... My first thought is why does an 07 Ninja250 need a new clutch? And how does one crack a clutch cover during the replacement? This sounds kinda fishy to me.

Soaking plates is pretty much a wive's tale with modern plates. Sure with old cork plates they needed a good soaking but that doesn't really matter with today's motorcycles.

Good to know, and hope nothing's fishy. More likely some sort of honest screw-up by someone not so mechanically inclined. Wondered why it needed a clutch at 12k miles myself, but some people are just clutch slippers.

I did find a clutch installation tool sniffing around Ebay. Wonder what you could screw up if you didn't have one of these? I guess I'll see what's up tomorrow if it starts.
 
On most bikes you don't need any special tools to replace the springs or the plates on a modern Japanese bike. The clutch holder would be used to replace the basket and/or hub.

12k miles for a clutch replacement on a 250 is pretty much unheard of. I would proceed with extreme caution and more importantly don't spend any more money until the true problem is found out. Will it go into gear with the motor off? If so does that also lock up the back wheel?
 
I would proceed with extreme caution and more importantly don't spend any more money until the true problem is found out. Will it go into gear with the motor off? If so does that also lock up the back wheel?
Yes everything seems normal with the engine off. Maybe there just isn't enough travel to release it?
 
Something is not put together right I think. Kawi clutches are known for their robust nature. My KLR at almost 50K miles measured within a thousanth of an inch of new spec. Without seeing it first hand I would be guessing at anything more than that. Having said that I am guessing that something is amiss with the way the arm actuates the rod in the center of the clutch. People have been known to put those in backwards.
 
Hmmmm maybe he misdiagnosed the clutch in the first place? I'm wondering now about a bent shift fork. Found this online:

Gear Shifting Faulty, doesn’t go into gear; shift pedal doesn’t return:
Clutch not disengaging
Shift fork bent or seized
Gear stuck on the shaft
Shift return spring weak or broken
Shift return spring pin loose
Shift mechanism arm broken
Shift pawl broken
Pawl spring broken

I guess I'll have to get it running and see what it does...
 
Before spending too much time guessing, get the manual out (or get one if you don't have one yet), and go through the shifting gear and clutch. Make sure the clutch parts are there, and installed correctly, check the shifting forks. This will require some time and effort, but it's not going to fix itself, and running or not, it has to be done before you can go very far on it.
 
Found the manual online and I'm in deep now. The clutch is the least of my problems and I won't be going there for a while. Battery charger seems to think the battery is OK. It cranks. Checked oil, overfilled. Removed cap and and its really full. Drained oil, mostly gas. A full pan worth - about 7 qts.? Crap.

Pulled tank and carbs. Doing carb rebuild and possibly petcock rebuild from videos. Hoping for no bent rods or other engine/gearbox damage when this is all said and done, and after a few oil/filter changes. :(
 
How 'tight' are you with this "co-worker"? Seems like he's not told you everything he knows.....
 
Could be something simple as having the clutch plates out of order in the clutch basket. How many miles does it have?
 
I'm not surprised that a beginner bike with 12k miles needs a clutch. Think about all the high revs, slipping, etc. that follow stalls. It also takes a lot of revving and clutch dumping to lift that front wheel! Again, think of the (responsible) newbie young man that had to impress his friends!

I loved my 2003 and would be all over a project Ninjette like this.

Look on ninja250.org for all the information you'll ever need. I would approach the clutch as if you needed to replace it yourself - complete dis-assembly, new parts (where needed), reassemble per the manual and online tutorials, etc. This should indicate what is bent, broken, or missing.

Good luck!
 
Had to break and go for a ride at 3 yesterday!

Thanks all, and yes, Ninja 250 .org has been a resource. It starts choked now but won't stay running so the carbs have to come off again. No biggie, I'll remove the EPA caps, shim the needles, and replace the bowl screws this time per the FAQ. Must still have a clogged passage somewhere.

The left carb was disgusting and the float valve stuck. The petcock seem to flow with vacuum and not flow without so left that alone. I'm sure the seller was unaware of the fuel problems and simply could not get it started at some point, and I wanted a project bike to learn on. So far so good!
 
So you're thinking the fuel in the oil issue is float/carb related and taken care of?
 
Kawasaki vacuum petcocks are known for not sealing completely and allowing fuel to dribble past. Replace the sealing o-ring on the vacuum plunger, 92055-1664. Remove the float needles and use a Qtip to clean the needle seat.

Remember, Kawasaki has a positive neutral finder and you can't go up past neutral unless the rear wheel is moving. It's possible to do it on a stand with help, someone spinning the wheel by hand while you move the shift lever, so that you can verify gear selection. That would be a starting point to see if your problem is clutch related or not.
 
Thanks Mitch. The petcock seems OK but I'll replace that O-ring to be safe. Need to pick up some parts anyway - like that washer between the oil filter and spring that was missing, and some tank bushings.

Worked today so couldn't pull the carbs again for round two, but I got the jets and float needles cleaned well already, but maybe not the casting fuel passages. The oil level seems stable so far so I'm hoping it passed all that fuel while being cranked.

Grabbed some T6 5W-40, a filter, and plugs for tomorrow.
 
That washer sticks to the oil filter and gets thrown away frequently. Make sure all of the transition ports, bottom of the carb throat just in front of the slide, are clear.
 
Yup they were all clear. Added the shims, new plugs, reset the idle mixture. No change. Choked it would runs a few secs then slowly die. I opened the petcock and all looked OK. Flipped the O-ring 180 degrees. Finally I pulled the air filter and seemed to get a little more run time. Eventually it stayed running and warmed up. Throttle response was good but slow to rev and slow to decel. Changed the oil to T6, changed the filter, cleaned the screen, added the washer.

Ran it some more and tested shifting. At first it didn't seem to want to engage any gear running, and finally I gave the rear tire a spin and dropped it into first without the clutch. From there on it seemed ok upshifting and down. Chain was a little jumpy.

Dropped the oil a third time and refilled. Looked more like oil. Warmed it up good and up/down through the gears again. Exhaust seemed to be clearing up and it kept sounding better and requiring the idle to be turned back down more and more. Shut it down and resoldered the butchered tail wires, reinstalled plastics, tightened chain, and hours later it was back to the same symptoms of barely running for a few secs fully choked. It was pretty cold again by then and below 40 here. Must just be very cold blooded??

Hopefully tomorrow I can get it on the road and see how it does. It seemed to run great once warmed up.
 
Still sounds like something is missing or assembled incorrectly in the clutch.

Leanness will cause it to act that way. What air filter is in it? Did you uncap the fuel screws?
 
Possibly. I should know soon. Will try opening idle a half turn. The air filter is the old oiled foam semi-cleaned.
 
Finished it up. Idle mix adjustments had little noticeable effect. Found my filterchargercharger kit and cleaned and oiled the filter. It finally grudgingly started up after we hit 50 degrees and ran fine thereafter. Clutch slipped immediately and bad. No freeplay. Added a couple mm and all slipping stopped even in high gears with my 270 lbs. aboard.

Took it to my neighbor's long paved driveway and my daughter started riding lessons for well over an hour. All was well, lots of stop and go - she drives a manual transmission car well so no problems there. The bike sat for about 15 minutes and when she went to take off again the clutch slipped like crazy. It would almost idle stopped in first gear. Lever and cable seemed fine, and no hint of slippage before that.

:giveup:

Stumped. Shopping for clutch parts...

EDIT: Clutch opened up. Cover was indexed incorrectly. Plates mic as new. Good to go!
 
Wondered about that myself but the Rotella T-6 Synth 5w-40 is highly recommended for the Ninjette. The Internet said so. :)

It was the pressure plate indexed wrong. 4 bolts = 4 positions and two were right (less slop) and two were wrong (more slop). It was wrong and now it's right. The cover came off clean with gasket stuck to the crankcase unlike the filter cover below so I do believe he just changed it and didn't notice the alignment. If I hadn't read about it I might have missed it as well. It's not readily apparent or easy to see at all.
 
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