Is Your Clutch Inner And Outer Binding When Torqued?
If the clutch on your Honda CR250 is binding when you torque the center bolt, pull the outer and check how far the kickstarter gear sticks out from the back of the basket.
I want to give a huge shoutout to Brian from Georgia for figuring out a problem I didn’t even know existed!
Brian was experiencing this binding issue, so I asked him to send me a message on Facebook so we could troubleshoot with pictures and video. We found that the thrust washer was worn out. Problem solved, right?
A few hours later, Brian sent me a link to a forum post on Oem-Cycle.com with a possible cause other than a warped washer, and it was something I had never experienced.
The user on the forum goes by Sandblaster, and they found out that the kickstarter gear would work its way out of the clutch basket, forcing the basket forward just enough to bind.
And by “just enough,” I mean less than a millimeter.
The Clymer manual does not provide specs for the correct height, so Sandblaster used a different clutch from a 1999 CR250 as a reference, measuring 10.15mm.
Brian’s clutch basket measured 10.38mm. He pressed it back to 9.8mm, and now it spins freely.
This would also explain why some older bikes are hard to push or start when in gear and the clutch pulled, even with a fresh clutch and cable.
I pulled my clutch basket to check and measured right at 10.15mm, so that seems like the OEM spec.
Here is the link to the Oem-Cycle.com forum post and to Brian’s beautifully restored 1986 CR125, which you should check out.
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Keep Your ’97-’01 CR250 Running Right!