Stripped starter clutch bolt :(

4912 Views 16 Replies 7 Participants Last post by ninjabailey, Jul 20, 2018

NinjaLife

Discussion Starter · Aug 16, 2016 (Edited)

Just finished installing new shims, was turning the engine over a few times by hand so I could re-check clearances and the fucking starter clutch bolt stripped. my question is, do cylinders 1 and4 need to be at TDC before I attempt to crank it? or will it be fine to put back together and crank?

Edit: I think what happened is that I didn't turn the manual cct in before turning the motor to take the slack out of the timing chain(I know silly mistake on part) and I think that caused the chain to maybe jump a few teeth or bind at bottom... I think I'll need another way to possibly turn the crank in order to put it back in timing. Any other options as far as turning the motor manually?

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andrewinbriz

· #2 · Aug 17, 2016

I haven't done the valves on my 2014 yet, only has 5000klm. But I own a gsxr1000 and an 1198, and do the valves on them. No, the engine can be anywhere when you start it. You can put in gear and move the rear wheel with your hand, assuming cam chain tensioned and spark plugs out. Never heard of such a thread stripped. Something likely wrong somewhere.
However, if it was me, I'd be absolutely sure the cam timing was correct, so I'd check the timing marks. Then I'd check them again. I have the zx10r service manual, but haven't read the section on valve adjustment yet. The suzuki tho I think is very similar, shim under bucket. With the suzuki, there's marks on the in and ex cam sprockets that have to be aligned, and there's a specific number of cam chain links between 2 points.
I'm an old bastard, mid forties, checking clearances with the cam chain properly tensioned is what you do, because you need to keep the timing in place but move your engine so you can check the second set of clearances. If you had to remove the cams to change a shim or two, I'm astonished you could remove them without the cam chain slack.
You need to have someone come around to check what you've done.
Or you need to calmly re-read everything relevant in the service manual, and go thru it again.
Because if the timing is off, engine damage can result.

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NinjaLife

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 17, 2016

I'm gonna re-visit this again later today. I will try rolling the back wheel, as of right now, the cct is tightened down to take out the slack I was kinda in a rush and completely forgot to tighten it down before I started turning the motor by hand, our motors have a Torx bolt on the starter clutch and that's what stripped out on me. Thanks for the tip about the back wheel. I'm gonna give it a try!

SkyDork

· #4 · Aug 17, 2016

My question would be why are you using the starter clutch bolt to turn the motor? You should be using the crank itself to turn the motor over. Remove the timing cover and put a wrench on the crank itself.

If there's any possibility the timing chain jumped, the FIRST thing you need to do is check that. And to do that, you need to line up the timing rotor marks with the case and the cam marks with the head. You need to pull the timing cover off to get to these, so that's where you need to be turning the motor from.

NinjaLife

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 17, 2016

10-4
I guess I was trying to go the "easy" way without removing that cover and using the Torx or star bit to turn the motor by hand. I really thought that was the best way to do it. glad that I kinda took a break and thought about it. I know now that I was doing it the wrong way, I will remove that cover and put an actual wrench on it.

SkyDork

· #6 · Aug 17, 2016

NinjaLife said:
10-4
I guess I was trying to go the "easy" way without removing that cover and using the Torx or star bit to turn the motor by hand. I really thought that was the best way to do it. glad that I kinda took a break and thought about it. I know now that I was doing it the wrong way, I will remove that cover and put an actual wrench on it.

This thread is for the Gen 2! I just looked at the manual and the starter clutch bolt is the only way to do it, apparently. The torx screw on the starter clutch is connected directly to the crank. The port through the case cover is the same thing as removing it. So if you stripped out that bolt, then you weren't using the proper torx bit? I guess I'd probably replace the stripped bolt and try again. From the looks of it, you can't get directly on the crank without going through the clutch there. :sad:

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michael4012

· #7 · Aug 17, 2016

That particular torx bolt is notoriously soft, most people remove that all together and use a conventional bolt when degreeing cams etc, & refit when finished for the purposes of shiming i use a clutch holder tool on the starter gear its self, you can only turn the engine one way with this way but thats all you have to do when shimming. Unfortunately you will as mentioned above need to check all is still in time. I have in the past cut a groove in the torx head so i can use an impact driver to get it out, it may also be possible to hammer a larger torx bit into the head so you can get the old one out, new ones arent that expensive.

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NinjaLife

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 18, 2016

Ok well that definitely sucks but still isn't as bad as I thought. The bolt should just be able to be taken out by turning it counter-clockwise correct? or is there something special about it?
And I was using the correct torx bit this time lol(T45). A while back the threads on the bolt got a lil messed up from using the wrong size but I was still able to turn it with the T45 torx bit after that so I thought I would be fine in the future.

I really appreciate you guys for chiming in and helping me out.

vdharris

· #9 · Aug 18, 2016

NinjaLife said:
The bolt should just be able to be taken out by turning it counter-clockwise correct? or is there something special about it?

Yes and kinda. The starter clutch bolt will come out by turning it counter-clockwise. But it's very possible that the motor will start turning in that direction (backwards) before the bolt breaks loose unless you find a way to lock the motor in place. It's been years since I had to do this but I think I tried to use the stator bolt on the other side to hold the crank in place but it broke loose before the starter clutch bolt did. Maybe you'll have better luck.

I think the "proper" way to do it would be to order the rotor holder special tools from KHI but the set was far more expensive than I was willing to pay. I ended up sticking a metal rod through one of the stator holes such that it held everything in place while I turned the starter bolt. Not my proudest work and you should be very careful if you go this route but it got it done on my bike without breaking anything.

Good luck!

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michael4012

· #10 · Aug 18, 2016

The bike in gear & possibly someone on the rear brake too should be enough as long as you can get a good purchase on the head, it's also got a thread lock on it so it won't spin out once broken.

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andrewinbriz

· #11 · Aug 19, 2016

Over 20 years, in similar situations, with different bikes, if I absolutely have to, bike in neutral, I put a bit of wood with a blanket around it thru the rear wheel. Wood has a bit of give in it, and the blanket seems to protect surfaces. I'm always embarrassed by what looks like a half-ass way of doing something, but nothing has ever been damaged.

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NinjaLife

Discussion Starter · #12 · Aug 19, 2016

Perfect, I'm kinda leaning towards the wood with a blanket wrapped around it through the rear wheel, I may try the bike in gear and have someone hold the rear break but the blanket/wood route sounds just as good.

ninjabailey

· #13 · Jul 19, 2018

How did you end up getting the stripped bolt out? I'm currently having the same exact problem with my zx6r.

ninjabailey

· #14 · Jul 19, 2018

How did you end up getting the stripped bolt out? I'm having the same exact problem right now with my zx6r

ZX10

· #15 · Jul 19, 2018

ninjabailey said:
How did you end up getting the stripped bolt out? I'm having the same exact problem right now with my zx6r

Big vice grip and sticking a bit in the groves of the starter clutch against the case to stop it from rotating from what I remember but mine wasn't stripped and I know what I am doing and I watched the case and bit like a hawk as I turned it to make sure it didn't mess up that end of it. Depending on how you clamp the vice grip you can either use the vice grip to apply force to turn or can use a long thick screw driver perpendicular though the vice grip to apply force to turn. Helps if you can clamp the vice grip real tight and you have to be very good with tools and be able to control how much force your putting in and see if the vice grip is holding or slipping, if it starts to slip you reclamp so it don't slip. Gono need a new bolt for sure.

NinjaLife

Discussion Starter · #16 · Jul 19, 2018

ninjabailey said:
How did you end up getting the stripped bolt out? I'm having the same exact problem right now with my zx6r

To be honest, I took it to a shop that I kind of trusted to remove the bolt. I didn't feel too good about messing with it myself, now that I think back about it I'm sure I could have figured out something but it was nerve racking just thinking about it.

ZX10 said:
Big vice grip and sticking a bit in the groves of the starter clutch against the case to stop it from rotating from what I remember but mine wasn't stripped and I know what I am doing and I watched the case and bit like a hawk as I turned it to make sure it didn't mess up that end of it. Depending on how you clamp the vice grip you can either use the vice grip to apply force to turn or can use a long thick screw driver perpendicular though the vice grip to apply force to turn. Helps if you can clamp the vice grip real tight and you have to be very good with tools and be able to control how much force your putting in and see if the vice grip is holding or slipping, if it starts to slip you reclamp so it don't slip. Gono need a new bolt for sure.

Ya know this might've worked out for me but at the time I wasn't sure of what to try nor did I feel too confident in my skills after that damn bolt stripped haha.

ninjabailey

· #17 · Jul 20, 2018

I got it out and it was nerve racking to say the very least. What i ended up doing was picking up a set of chromoly torx bits (I went with chromoly ones because they're a lot stronger and are therefore less likely to round out) and figure out which one would fit best which was the t50 in my case and gave it a good tap with a hammer and it came right out. Can't tell you how relieving that was. Thanks for the suggestions though, the vice grip method would've been more convenient because i wouldn't have had to take the cover off.

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