1980 Lav Jota 180

Francois 180/120

Francois 180/120

New member
Location
USA
Clutch is not disengaging, or doesn't seem to be. I can go thru the gears not running but when running, shift to first and and bam! In gear like i'm not pulling on the clutch at all. Any thoughts?
 
Do you use the bike regularly?
If not, your clutch plates are stuck.
Does it already have one of those hydraulic clutch mechanisms in 1980?
Paul
 
Francois 180/120 said:
It's a 180 and yes a lot easier on the 120. Bike's been sitting a while
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first of all: the ball in the slave piston looks dead.I would replace the whole piston and the ball bearing along with a new O-Ring of the RIGHT size and grease the ball properly. Measure the length of the rods and see if the ball between the rods has given up, too. Many people do engage first gear with pulled clutch at traffic stops. this is no good for the mechanism, as it is under pressure and one side can't move while the other is moving at significant speed, causing friction in the system and with that heat. Even worse: if you pull the clutch at high speed and keep it pulled until you fully stop. This kills the mechanism (like on a dyno). Guess how I know...

After that, I would use an engine cleaner (f.e. the one from Louis), use it as described and your clutch will free up soon if nothing else mechanically is wrong.

HTH
 
cookie981 said:
If I leave the bike (cable operation) for any length of time like over the winter, I cable tie the lever to the bar. plates don't stick
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Found, dependent on actual clutch actuation adjustment setup, only need to take the initial pressure off the clutch plates to maintain an easy to release clutch. My case only a third of the clutch lever travel is maintained in storage, as a strap retain/restrain device. HTH j.
 
Laverdalothar said:
first of all: the ball in the slave piston looks dead.I would replace the whole piston and the ball bearing along with a new O-Ring of the RIGHT size and grease the ball properly. Measure the length of the rods and see if the ball between the rods has given up, too. Many people do engage first gear with pulled clutch at traffic stops. this is no good for the mechanism, as it is under pressure and one side can't move while the other is moving at significant speed, causing friction in the system and with that heat. Even worse: if you pull the clutch at high speed and keep it pulled until you fully stop. This kills the mechanism (like on a dyno). Guess how I know...

After that, I would use an engine cleaner (f.e. the one from Louis), use it as described and your clutch will free up soon if nothing else mechanically is wrong.

HTH
Click to expand...
I only have the right side off right now(no time) the ball bearing doesn't seem to be damaged but did need a good cleaning telling me a good cleaning is in order. Never been this deep into this 180, little intimidating. Is the Laverda tool necessary to access the clutch and if so who sells it ? thanks
 
Francois 180/120 said:
I only have the right side off right now(no time) the ball bearing doesn't seem to be damaged but did need a good cleaning telling me a good cleaning is in order. Never been this deep into this 180, little intimidating. Is the Laverda tool necessary to access the clutch and if so who sells it ? thanks
Click to expand...
no special tool is necessary to get access to the clutch.
 
Francois 180/120 said:
I only have the right side off right now(no time) the ball bearing doesn't seem to be damaged but did need a good cleaning telling me a good cleaning is in order. Never been this deep into this 180, little intimidating. Is the Laverda tool necessary to access the clutch and if so who sells it ? thanks
Click to expand...
You'll need to find a way to undo the crank end nut if that's what you're referring to as needing a Laverda tool.
Best is to use a rattle gun on that nut, no need to block the primary transmission.
Paul
 
I can remove the big primary sprocket at the clutch without removing the small one on the crankshaft. But my 120* engines have to chains not the tripple chain…?
 
andre g said:
I can remove the big primary sprocket at the clutch without removing the small one on the crankshaft. But my 120* engines have to chains not the tripple chain…?
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exactly the difference! With a triple chain (or even a double chain), chains are to stiff to get the big one off the clutch without the small one, too.

BEWARE!!! Before undoing the crank nut with a rattle gun make sure, this part is removed!

Crank.jpg

For the ball bearing in the piston: make sure this is really moving freely! if not, it might have already melted on the back side and worked it's way into the piston. If you can remove it with a magnetic device f.e. and it's still round, all seems to be good. still, I would check the two push rods going from right to left side of the engine that push the clutch to separate and also check the ball between them. Typically, you should get the ball out by applying a strong magnet to the righthand side rod and pull that one out. you might have to remove the oil-seal to actually get the ball out. it is smaller than the one in the piston, still it is a bit bigger than the inner diameter of the oil seal. Oil seal can be easily removed and put back typically.
 
This looks like a 3CL in Francois's avatar. If that's the bike in question, I think they do not have rivets ever on the clutch sprocket. 120's for sure never had (not even 180° Series two engines)
 
Mine is 7474 and did not have it (nor did any other bike I owned, except for the 750 I think, which was re-worked to screws), it had screws. As the bike was only having roughly 12.000km from new when I bought it, I am pretty sure that was original.
 
cookie981 said:
If I leave the bike (cable operation) for any length of time like over the winter, I cable tie the lever to the bar. plates don't stick
Click to expand...
I would expect that technique to lead to premature clutch spring failure ... but maybe not? Just can't imagine it's a good idea to have the springs compressed and bound for ages at a time without some loss of spring tension?
 
murphus said:
I would expect that technique to lead to premature clutch spring failure ... but maybe not? Just can't imagine it's a good idea to have the springs compressed and bound for ages at a time without some loss of spring tension?
Click to expand...
Some of your valve springs are compressed whenever the motor isn’t running. Does that lead to premature failure?
 
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