Honda NT700VA difficult selecting neutral

Hello following on from my recent thread regarding difficulty engaging neutral on my 2007 NT700VA , I decided to take the plunge and open the clutch up. I found three areas where there are burrs on the clutch components which may be causing clutch drag. The spring posts, the inner basket grooves in which the inner fingers of the steel plates run and the outer basket where the outer fingers of the friction plates run. I have attached some photos. At first I thought I might replace these but having seen the cost (approx £750) I am instead going to see if I can dress the burrs and will then rebuild the clutch and hopefully that may improve matters enough. Perhaps new springs may be worth installing as they aren’t too expensive.

For information to remove the clutch side engine cover I did the following - removed clutch cable, exhaust silencer (not downpipes), plastic cover over right engine guard so I could eyeball one of the clutch cover screws without having to remove side fairing and all that entails. The only difficulty I had was removing the clutch nut. The front of the clutch nut has an integral ring which is used to lock the nut into a slot on the shaft. Trying to punch the indented section up out of the slot unfortunately resulted in me basically flattening that part of the ring in the slot. I eventually resolved this by drilling a 4mm hole in the nut close to the slot to weaken the bent part of the ring enough before proceeding to attempt nut removal. The 27mm clutch nut was incredibly tight (normal right hand thread) but I managed to shift it though a combination of an air operated impact driver and a 600mm breaker bar.

I’ll provide a further update in due course. Thanks
 

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Trebor said:
Hello following on from my recent thread regarding difficulty engaging neutral on my 2007 NT700VA , I decided to take the plunge and open the clutch up. I found three areas where there are burrs on the clutch components which may be causing clutch drag. The spring posts, the inner basket grooves in which the inner fingers of the steel plates run and the outer basket where the outer fingers of the friction plates run. I have attached some photos. At first I thought I might replace these but having seen the cost (approx £750) I am instead going to see if I can dress the burrs and will then rebuild the clutch and hopefully that may improve matters enough. Perhaps new springs may be worth installing as they aren’t too expensive.

For information to remove the clutch side engine cover I did the following - removed clutch cable, exhaust silencer (not downpipes), plastic cover over right engine guard so I could eyeball one of the clutch cover screws without having to remove side fairing and all that entails. The only difficulty I had was removing the clutch nut. The front of the clutch nut has an integral ring which is used to lock the nut into a slot on the shaft. Trying to punch the indented section up out of the slot unfortunately resulted in me basically flattening that part of the ring in the slot. I eventually resolved this by drilling a 4mm hole in the nut close to the slot to weaken the bent part of the ring enough before proceeding to attempt nut removal. The 27mm clutch nut was incredibly tight (normal right hand thread) but I managed to shift it though a combination of an air operated impact driver and a 600mm breaker bar.

I’ll provide a further update in due course. Thanks
Click to expand...
Thank you for providing this information. You may be on to something. I hope its this easy to fix. And not the synchonizers/ or ? in the tranny. 750 pounds is roughly 1,000 dollars US. That is alot of money. In the US, technically, Honda doesnt even have to support a bike that is over 10 years old. This puts you in a tough position. No one wants to go to a wrecking yard and pull parts. Wonder what happened to make this fault occurr? Please keep us informed as to the outcome. Good luck! 🙏
 
Coyote Chris said:
Thank you for providing this information. You may be on to something. I hope its this easy to fix. And not the synchonizers/ or ? in the tranny. 750 pounds is roughly 1,000 dollars US. That is alot of money. In the US, technically, Honda doesnt even have to support a bike that is over 10 years old. This puts you in a tough position. No one wants to go to a wrecking yard and pull parts. Wonder what happened to make this fault occurr? Please keep us informed as to the outcome. Good luck! 🙏
Click to expand...
Thank you Coyote Chris. I am currently dressing burrs on the components in photos. The clutch friction and steel plates all appear fine. The 4 springs are well within service limits too but I have ordered 4 new ones thinking that may help overcome any sticking on any residual roughness. A new clutch nut is going to take about a week or so to come.

Regarding wondering what happened to make this occur ?. Perhaps at sometime when the bike was stationary on its centre stand and someone got on it and pushed it off the stand without realising the bike was in first gear causing the clutch plates to suddenly be smashed against the basket. I am just guessing and probably talking rubbish. Thanks for your interest.
 
Trebor said:
Hello following on from my recent thread regarding difficulty engaging neutral on my 2007 NT700VA , I decided to take the plunge and open the clutch up. I found three areas where there are burrs on the clutch components which may be causing clutch drag. The spring posts, the inner basket grooves in which the inner fingers of the steel plates run and the outer basket where the outer fingers of the friction plates run. I have attached some photos. At first I thought I might replace these but having seen the cost (approx £750) I am instead going to see if I can dress the burrs and will then rebuild the clutch and hopefully that may improve matters enough. Perhaps new springs may be worth installing as they aren’t too expensive.

For information to remove the clutch side engine cover I did the following - removed clutch cable, exhaust silencer (not downpipes), plastic cover over right engine guard so I could eyeball one of the clutch cover screws without having to remove side fairing and all that entails. The only difficulty I had was removing the clutch nut. The front of the clutch nut has an integral ring which is used to lock the nut into a slot on the shaft. Trying to punch the indented section up out of the slot unfortunately resulted in me basically flattening that part of the ring in the slot. I eventually resolved this by drilling a 4mm hole in the nut close to the slot to weaken the bent part of the ring enough before proceeding to attempt nut removal. The 27mm clutch nut was incredibly tight (normal right hand thread) but I managed to shift it though a combination of an air operated impact driver and a 600mm breaker bar.

I’ll provide a further update in due course. Thanks
Click to expand...
I'll be looking forward to seeing your results. Best of luck!
 
My as installed clutch friction plates are inconsistent with David Silver website and Haynes manual descriptions.
David Silver site indicates requirement for 1 type B, 6 type A and 1 type C.
Haynes states 1 type B with wider internal diameter should be on outer end, then 6 type A with blue tab then 1 inner friction plate type C with orange tab.
There are no colours visible on my friction plates, instead I have alphanumeric characters.
I have 5 off FP 377 30, 2 off FP 377 29 and 1 off FP 302 5.
The 302 5 is the large internal diameter and is fitted on outer end.
The plates are in this order starting from outer 5, 30,30, 29,29,30,30,30.
Regardless of how colours may equate to numbers, instead of 1, 6, 1 off of different types I have 1, 5, 2 off of different types. I suspect it may well have come out of the factory like this from new considering only 19500 miles.
I have no idea how significant this might be but the friction plates are hardly worn yet I might need to replace them due to this anomaly. Having dressed the clutch inner and outer basket however , I am very tempted to just put what I have back together rather than incur the expense of buying new plates.
If anyone can shed any light on this it would be much appreciated. Thanks
 
I'll not be much help on correct plates for your bike but from the wear notches on the clutch basket my guess is some oil issues somewhere in its past. Maybe improper oil or wrong viscosity.
You may be able to clean it up satisfactory but be patient with it. it could take a while to clean up well.

Arknt
 
ARKNT said:
I'll not be much help on correct plates for your bike but from the wear notches on the clutch basket my guess is some oil issues somewhere in its past. Maybe improper oil or wrong viscosity.
You may be able to clean it up satisfactory but be patient with it. it could take a while to clean up well.

Arknt
Click to expand...
Thanks. I think I’ve made a reasonable job of cleaning up the burrs since posting the photos . I’m just trying to figure out way forward regarding the friction plate discrepancy
 
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