1999 Kawasaki Lakota 300 primary clutch removal?

[ninhalo5]

Hi, I'm having a serious issue with my 99 lakota.

Earlier today I went to go for a ride and when I put it in gear it stalled out in gear for whatever reason, now it will not go back into neutral, when trying to get it out of gear a friend and myself pushed the quad back and fourth and I managed to get the gears to shift all the up to 5th but going back down it shifted really soft into 2nd and will not get to 1st or neutral.

So I decided to tear apart the engine, I'm reading the Clymers manual to check for things that may be wrong, I'm thinking possibly the shifter and the star gear that shifts the gears might not be connecting correctly. to even look at that I have to remove both the primary and secondary clutches.

The Clymers manual tells me to remove the primary by first removing the recoil starter and hold the rotor bolt to unscrew the clutch bolt. When I tried that the rotor bolt broke loose, so I decided to try to hold the rotor still and that is spinning. So now both of those ideas/methods have failed and I'm plum out of ideas on how to get that nut loose, then I'll have the same issue with the nut on the secondary clutch. According to Clymers the clutch nut is torqued to 107 ftlbs the only other thing I can think of is jamming the sprockets but thats not an option cause they will more than likely break a tooth or more.

Anyone have any ideas on what I can try to do? The way it's looking now the bike is done

Thanks

[Ajmboy]

* Added manufacturer into your thread title.

[DirtDemon]

Stick a penny between the gears, it is soft enough to not damage the hardened teeth on the gears. You may have some luck using an impact wrench, but that won't help you when it comes to torqing it down.

[ninhalo5]

Thank you, yes a friend with a breaker bar on one side and me with a torque wrench on the other make a good team tightening her back up

[DirtDemon]

I take it you figured out a way to get it off then. Did you get your problem worked out ok?

[ninhalo5]

Hopefully, I'm waiting for the crankcase gasket to come in so I can put it all back together. I can tell that the shift mechanism is still binding somewhere, at least I got it back to where it will shift again. I can't find the culprit, hope it'll stay ok until the fall I plan on stripping down the entire engine then.

Where I ride is all shale, dirt and large rocks; mountain terrain so I hardly ever get past 4th gear. I'm mainly in 2nd and 3rd

[DirtDemon]

While it is still apart, you might want to take a look at the shift forks and the guide shafts that they slide on. If the forks are bent, or the guide shafts have grooves worn in them, it will cause the forks to catch and make shifting difficult.

[ninhalo5]

I didn't actually go that deep into it, don't you have to remove the top half of the engine to get to the forks and main drum?

I just pretty much just removed the shifter and the 2 clutch hubs just to check them out. I did discover that the shoes on the primary clutch have some cancer starting. I'd like to replace them but those suckers are almost $300 just under the crankcase that was the only thing I found that looked 1/2 bad

Thanks

[DirtDemon]

Yes, you would have to take the top end off to split the cases. So I guess that will have to wait untill you tear the motor down. You may do alright for now by just cleaning everything up in the clutches. Maybe buff that surface rust off and make sure everything moves freely. Good luck.

[BCHANDO]

I'm not a mechanic but I've been attempting to get my three bikes in perfect running conditions. The grizzly has wiring ignition problems, the Brute force needs a carb cleaning and then comes the Kawasaki 300 lakota. I had originally thought i blew the motor but come to find out, one of the gasket behind the front sproket is leaking.  Also, the bike has to much pressure in crank case causing it to not idle correctly. I wish I knew how to get the main bolt off the sprocket shaft so i can get to the problem. Any ideas on how to approach this issue without ruining sh**, i have a tendency to break stuff like breaker bars, tire stems, bolts, etc .....how do I get this bolt off without ruining anything?

[MarkinAR]

Blowby in the crank case is a tight valve or leaking ring issue...and doesn't affect idle quality.  Now, if valves are too tight and causing blowby, then idle may be affected just because of the tight valves.

Also, you're better off to start a new thread than to tack on to an existing unrelated thread.

Edited April 13, 2021 by MarkinAR