my xs650 clutch

[Mortikan]

SO i finally got my old girl back together. 1973 tx650. she has been sitting for two years almost to the month. due to oil blowing by left side rings. I replaced the top end new pistons rings midsection got her back together. she sounds great runs better than she every did before I had my oil issue.
now the problem, If she is on the center stand I can put her in gear and run through 1st through 5th no issues. she will do this with me on it or off it.
I put it on the ground I can not get her to budge. I thought because front brakes are all new that maybe to tight. Not the issues I removed brakes so could not be the issue still happens. I have the clutch adjusted properly I am going to re-adjust again tonight just to make sure. and make sure the back brakes are not locked up. but I don't think so she will roll.

the difference I put castrol gtx 20w-50 in her this time I have not run synthetic before I was running penzoil 20w-50 with no issues but had been doing research and found synthetic is better.
my question is could the oil be the issue could it be to slick and the clutch is just not grabbing. I am planning on dumping castrol and putting my normal penzoil lighter weight 20w-40 in the old girl and see.

anybody have this issue? I would have thought if the clutch plates were sticky which was a possibilty suggested the other day. that, it would always be sticky and not allow the bike to go into gear while on center stand or not.

 

[djelliott]

Sorry, just to clarify, When the bike is under load you can shift it into first but it won't move or it just won't shift?

 

[SrgtBear]

First of all you should always avoid putting car motor oil in your bike. You want to use JASO Certified stuff. (Made for wet clutches). A bunch of us on here use Shell Rotella 20w-50. I would suggest you use the same thing. You can buy it at walmart for dirt cheap. Make sure you don't buy the synthetic stuff.

I have only experienced slippage with car motor oil at high rpms. I'm thinking you want to check the springs or go through the adjustments and get the plates tight but not too tight. You probably will just have to play with it. But definitely change your motor oil first.

 

[magnang]

SO i finally got my old girl back together. 1973 tx650. she has been sitting for two years almost to the month. due to oil blowing by left side rings. I replaced the top end new pistons rings midsection got her back together. she sounds great runs better than she every did before I had my oil issue.
now the problem, If she is on the center stand I can put her in gear and run through 1st through 5th no issues. she will do this with me on it or off it.
I put it on the ground I can not get her to budge. I thought because front brakes are all new that maybe to tight. Not the issues I removed brakes so could not be the issue still happens. I have the clutch adjusted properly I am going to re-adjust again tonight just to make sure. and make sure the back brakes are not locked up. but I don't think so she will roll.

the difference I put castrol gtx 20w-50 in her this time I have not run synthetic before I was running penzoil 20w-50 with no issues but had been doing research and found synthetic is better.
my question is could the oil be the issue could it be to slick and the clutch is just not grabbing. I am planning on dumping castrol and putting my normal penzoil lighter weight 20w-40 in the old girl and see.

anybody have this issue? I would have thought if the clutch plates were sticky which was a possibilty suggested the other day. that, it would always be sticky and not allow the bike to go into gear while on center stand or not.

If you have the wrong type of oil in the crankcase, slippage will be the issue. However what your experiencing right now sounds more like clutch drag, IE the plates don't release enough to fully disengage the transmission.

Make sure the clutch is adjusted correctly. It's touchy on an XS650. Take the left side engine cover off, clean and grease the worm gear, make sure the ball bearing is there inside the adjuster. Put the cover back on and turn the adjuster untill you feel it contact the pushrod. Now back it off about 1/4 or a turn and tighten the locknut in that position

Then adjust the lever on the handlebars so there is a couple of mm of free play. if it still drags, tighten the cable gradually using the adjuster.