The Hodaka Club Forum

Going to be re-rebuilding my motor again and am thinking about replacing some of the counter shaft parts. Any opinions on the control shaft and and when to replace the ball and springs? I'm also going to be replacing the clutch plates too. After I put it back together the first time and ran it a little bit the gears were slipping when I would roll on the throttle pretty good. Low RPMs were fine. I just don't want to get it together again and brake it apart because I didn't replace something I should have.

First, I hoped you blueprinted your clutch liked illustrated in V1- Issue 4 of the Resonator. If your not a member you should be for this, I will say its not necessary to blueprint. But why not do all you can for smooth operations. As far as you slipping issue, do you have the correct play in the clutch arm on the side case?

The clutch arm seems like it almost bottoms out on the case when engages the gear. Not sure what that is indicative of. Is that just saying I need to adjust something? I will look at the article your referenced. Thanks.

I did read a thread that mentioned the same issue after rebuild. The guy figured out with the new gasket he couldn't get enough free play because of spacers. Could I have too many spacers causing it to barely be engaging the gears?

It sounds like the clutch is partially disengaged all the time which is causing the slippage when accelerating. If you removed all of the adjustment shims in after replacing the clutch plates (which are thicker than the worn one, of course), you probable have too little free play as Kelly suggested. Try adding a shim or three.

Hate to be picky here, but terminology does count. The gears on a Hodaka are constant mesh. They are always engaged, all the time. Which gear transmits power through the transmission depends on which gear is connected to the ball receiver on the control shaft. So, technically the gears can't slip. (Disregarding a gear that spins on the mainshaft, which is possible but rare, and is a transmission failure.)

The clutch doesn't engage gears, either. It relays power from the crankshaft to the pinion, which in turn spins the mainshaft. No gear in a Hodaka is ever disengaged from its mate, so one can not technically "engage" a gear in the sense you are using the term. Engagement happens between balls and receiver, and they can pop apart under load, but they can't slip or spin. So I don't think that what you intend.

I think we are all assuming your clutch is slipping. That can be a matter of age and wear, binding inside the clutch, improper build, improper shimming of the free play, or improper clutch cable adjustment.

Using the wrong oil in the gearbox can cause the clutch to slip also. Ensure that the oil you are using is rated for wet clutches. There are many!