Another newbie, Just picked up a 305

[Dgormley]

62

[murray-eliminator]

Thanks for the year. Have not spent to much time working on it, but did pick up a new battery and the motor does turn over & it has great spark. so now I'm soaking the petcock & Carb in chem dip while waiting on the new kits to get here. I will post as i get more into this project.

[murray-eliminator]

Well good news! It Runs!!... started it up today and it ran good. even took a short ride up the street.. but the clutch is not dis engaging.. so whats involved in getting the side cover off to look at the clutch ajustment?..

[carolinaboy]

I just took my left side cover off to free up the plates. If it's your plates and not the cable adjustment, just pull off the cover, remove the clutch springs carefully, and then the plates. 3 plates will stay in (1 friction and 2 metal plates). They are held in by a wire. Then just remove the lock ring and pull out the basket to get to the other 3.
This worked for me, others may have more info. It didn't take long. I just cleaned and oiled the plates and put it back together like I found it. Maybe an hour job total.

[murray-eliminator]

I will try that next if all is well in the right side. The reason i'm suspecting the right side is, When i had it running, i noticed a steady oil drip coming from the bottom of the R side cover. when i took a scewdriver to try and tighten it up a bit i noticed that all the bolts on that side cover were only finger tight. leading me to think some one had it off at some point! also the kick starter is not working and i read somewere on here if you don't install the cover right the kick start wont work. so this leads me to think some one was in there at some point and may have not put things back together correct.. I just hope all the parts are there..lol

[conbs]

The clutch may just be stuck and not out of adjustment. Pretty common. Just riding it may break it free when it heats up. You can also try, engine off, bike on center stand, put in 3rd gear, pull in on clutch lever all the way, grab rear tire and rock back and forth forcefully. Riding is probably easier, but it may take a while. Good luck.

[OldStan]

Like they say, I got good news and bad new!

Since the right side cover is loose, there's a good chance when they had it off they lost the 5/16" ball bearing that sits inside the clutch adjuster and pushes against the clutch rod.

The bad news- most likely if the kick starter is not working (as in not turning the engine over) your going to have to split the case to fix it. About the only problem the right side cover can cause in that respect is the lever not returning to the rest postion (and possibly a ratcheting noise in the transmission.)