earlytimz
Senior Member
Offline
Savage model 417 (4 speed, 17mm)
Posts: 382
BG, KY
Gender:
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G'morning folks.. I recently acquired a well used 86 with 17k+ miles. It ran really well, sounded good, shifted good, etc... When I got it home, I immediately started tearing it down. I wanted to check the cam chain, adjust valves, carb jets, cone filter, all the usual stuff. Anyways, ordered a new cam chain & guides. Everything went together fairly smoothly. I also massaged the intake & exhaust ports as well as just generally checked things out & cleaned it up. Once everything was together, she started up and ran beautifully. Sounded good, no knocks, no noises... Basically I couldn't be happier. I let it run for several minutes while I adjusted the carb & let the new header wrap burn in & watched for leaks, etc.. Sorry I'm rambling, here's the fun part... I get the bike completely back together & I'm satisfied that it's ready for a test run. I jump on, pull the clutch, put it in 1st gear, let out on the clutch and NOTHING. WHAT??? I try it again... NOTHING! Dang, the clutch didn't change, so what could have happened?? I did notice that while the bike is in gear and I pull the clutch, I can feel it wanting to go. Yeah, like the clutch is barely trying to engage. I let out on the clutch and it stops, no more wanting to go. It's like backwards or something. I'm stumped. I am gonna pull the side cover tonight and see what I can see, but I really am stabbing at the dark here. I did several searches and the best thing I can come up with is that I put the oil pump gear on backwards. I think that's worth checking, but with that, many others have reported oil starvation failures not clutch engagement problems. I also checked the oil level window and could see the oil sloshing around so I assume it's pumping, although I guess it could just be getting splashed around by the clutch spinning, etc... It's a good thing I used plenty of assembly lube on the cam and soaked the new chain before I assembled it. I also filled the "bath tubs" with oil before I put the rocker inspection covers on. I ran the engine for a total of about 20-30 minutes before I realized I had a problem with the clutch but I think I'm still OK even if the oil pump wasn't pumping, if that's even the problem. So any takers?? As of now I'm clueless! Thanks!!
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