Last few Climbs of the season, I had an issue with my clutch on the ol' KDX. Figured it out, but thought I'd share my experience and get some opinions. The clutch is always an easy pull on the kdx, but after a seriously rough ride, it decided not to work. The lever was bound up and not disengaging. After rolling down the return trail in neutral, it started working just fine. I thought it might have been a fluke until it did it again. I chased the cable around, and it was kinda pinched between the pipe and head. I re-routed it, so it was clear of any pinching being careful that it did not bind while turning the bars. Seemed to do the trick. Then right before I went to race it again, it jammed up again. Then after a few squeezes, it worked again.
I was told it was probably a broken disk or I figured the cable was toast. I was kinda worried that it was gonna require that I order parts, after taking it apart to find out what was broke, but since I had 3 weekends in a row of racing to finish off the season, I rode it without pulling it apart. I managed to live through it, but its only a 200. I'm sure I'd be laid up somewhere, if I tried that with the 500.
Turned out to be the big nut of the clutch basket had backed off. Since the clutch release arm is on the same side of the motor as the clutch basket, the nut would get turned back on while I was pumping the lever of the malfunctioning clutch. After taking it apart and inspecting it, I found that it did not have the special washer that has the inside cut-out to fit the end of the crank. Someone had used 2 normal washers to assemble it. The spacing was right, but no asterik-shaped cut washer in there. Is that washer critical to keeping the nut tight?
