Starter Clutch Repair VFR750 With Pictures

[Gareth_VFR]

Hi there!
Here's my first 'how to' article.

The aim of this article is to show how easy it is to do this repair by yourself and avoid those horrific dealer fees (and you know the job will have been done properly too!).

I don’t intend the article to sound patronizing but if I assume limited mechanical knowledge then it can be used by everyone who stumbles upon it.

If I have missed anything out then please let me know and I will amend as necessary.

---
So, I get on my bike in the morning and "clack, clack, clack, clack, crunch, crunch" - that’s the noise it made when I hit the starter button, it sounded like the starter wasn't engaging enough to start her up.

Sometimes it would 'catch' and then start up, but most of the time it wouldn’t.

I didn't like riding the bike knowing this fault existed; I was scared that it might be causing further damage.

I knew what it was straight away, I had read on the VFR forum ages ago that on VFR's, at around 50K mileage, the starter clutch is likely to cause problems.

So I opened it up, here is what I found and what I did.

Parts were mostly from David Silver Spares and Lings Honda, both in the UK.

Parts required:
1 x starter clutch outer -28120ML7690
3 x spring for starter clutch 28125MT4000
3 x roller for starter clutch 91101516000
3 x cap for starter clutch 28126516020
1 x gasket for right engine cover 11394MY7000
1 x bottle of Loctite 270 Threadlocker (find it cheap on Ebay)

You will likely be refreshing your oil and filter while you are at it:
1 x oil filter kit 15010MCEH51
1 x oil drain bolt 9280012000
1 x oil drain washer 9410912000
And 3.1 litres of your favourite oil!

Tools required:
Socket set
Hexagonal wrench set
Torque wrench
Neat little cutter from Poundland (optional)

Lets get on with the task:

Remove the left and right hand side plastic fairing covers.

Remove the lower fairing.

Get the engine warm.

Drain the oil, careful you don’t get burnt!

Remove the old oil filter and install the new one, tighten to 10Nm.

Install your new oil drain bolt and washer, tighten to 30Nm.

Ok, let’s get the right hand side engine cover off, when you do it looks like this:



The starter clutch is the one with the three golden bolts.

These bolts were already loose on mine, I am glad I had stopped using the bike before any worse damage had been caused!

Here’s a closer look:



Can you see the cracks?

Look at the bottom bolt, then look to the left and right of it, there are small cracks visible on both sides.

To remove the centre bolt from the starter clutch, I wedged a towel in between the gears to prevent them from moving while undoing the bolt.

The golden coloured bolts were already loose; if they weren’t loose then I would have used the same method with the towel while the starter clutch was still in place.

Here’s the starter clutch off the bike with the top plate removed:



See those cracks (above) are actually quite bad.

Here are the old and the new next to each other:





See this pin (above):
It’s got to be transferred from your old broken starter clutch outer to the new one.



I pushed it from behind with a really small screwdriver.



Above picture shows the new starter clutch outer with the new springs and caps installed, and that little pin on the top right too.



Now the rollers are installed.



It’s time to put that top part back on, remembering to line up that pin and the hole.



Now to put the three bolts back in, they need thread lock to prevent them dangerously working their way out again.



Make sure the threads on the bolts are clean and free of oil.

Apply the Threadlocker and just do the bolts up finger tight.

Put the starter clutch assembly back on the bike.

Tightened the bolts to 40Nm using a towel or cloth to stop the gears from moving.







Next install the centre bolt of the starter clutch, tighten it to 90Nm.

Almost done.

Now just put your new gasket on and replace the right hand engine cover.

My old gasket was baked on and some of it didn’t want to budge, so I soaked it in WD40 and carefully persuaded it off with this tool I picked up at Poundland:



The engine cover bolts should be tightened to 12Nm.

The longer two bolts locate with the two dowel pins.

Now, if you did the filter change you need 3.1 litres of oil so top it up warm up the bike and check your oil level is still ok.

Panels back on.

Job done!

Post a message if you require further assistance.

[Badbilly]

Spot on, on that repair.

60k miles and mine started making noises, would ehgage but was making all sort of flakey noises. I lucked out and did not need the springs ect. The hub was cracked in one place.

The American version of the factory service manual is a bit deceptive in that it lists the hub as "clutch, starter". This is only the hub, not the springs ect. The gasket is needed.

[btl68]

THANK YOU!!!


My poor 93 with just 17,000 miles original started this (only 2 times) yesterday. So, I'll go check things out.

[daveyto]

Thanks Very much for the howto!!!

I have the same problem at 40, 000k.

Will look into the parts today.

dave

[tris1948]

Hi

Looks like a good write up this 'un

I think I'm going to have to do the same thing on my 93 this winter


Thanks

[daveyto]

BTW...Would anyone know if I can use a starter clutch from an 84 vf1000 in my 91 vfr 750?

thanks,

david

[Badbilly]

BTW...Would anyone know if I can use a starter clutch from an 84 vf1000 in my 91 vfr 750?

thanks,

david

Anyone with a parts cross reference could. Best way would be to use a Honda parts search that is provided as part of most online site that sell parts for Hondas ect.

[daveyto]

I was trying to do this on ronnies.com but to no avail.

I was just wondering if anyone had done this type of swap...for all intents and purposes they look the same to me???

thanks

[Badbilly]

Try another parts supplier to make sure. Great, if what I think you have is NOS and does fit there is a chance that over the years there were some minor changes not easy to spot that may be different in just a few thousandths and really hard to see and could cause some significant damage.

If it does fit correctly and your part is not NOS and is worn, it too could let go and trash things in your engine that would not be fun replacing or repairing.

That assembly is a very heavy duty piece of engineering and the forces sufficient to crack that main containment are strong. IMO this is maybe time to take the conservative view and the old measure twice, cut once approach. Just sayin..

[adamjenkins]

Thanks for the info ,, My starter clutch just failed last week and I am in the process of repairing..

[adamjenkins]

Lucky me I cleaned up the clutch inspected all parts starts like a charm.. I found out varnish or cold weather can impaire the springs and rollers from functioning properly

[douglasthecook]

Lucky me I cleaned up the clutch inspected all parts starts like a charm.. I found out varnish or cold weather can impaire the springs and rollers from functioning properly

Good to know!!! Thanks!!!

[sruss67]

Hi there!
Here's my first 'how to' article.

The aim of this article is to show how easy it is to do this repair by yourself and avoid those horrific dealer fees (and you know the job will have been done properly too!).

I don’t intend the article to sound patronizing but if I assume limited mechanical knowledge then it can be used by everyone who stumbles upon it.

If I have missed anything out then please let me know and I will amend as necessary.

---
So, I get on my bike in the morning and "clack, clack, clack, clack, crunch, crunch" - that’s the noise it made when I hit the starter button, it sounded like the starter wasn't engaging enough to start her up.

Sometimes it would 'catch' and then start up, but most of the time it wouldn’t.

I didn't like riding the bike knowing this fault existed; I was scared that it might be causing further damage.

I knew what it was straight away, I had read on the VFR forum ages ago that on VFR's, at around 50K mileage, the starter clutch is likely to cause problems.

So I opened it up, here is what I found and what I did.

Parts were mostly from David Silver Spares and Lings Honda, both in the UK.

Parts required:
1 x starter clutch outer -28120ML7690
3 x spring for starter clutch 28125MT4000
3 x roller for starter clutch 91101516000
3 x cap for starter clutch 28126516020
1 x gasket for right engine cover 11394MY7000
1 x bottle of Loctite 270 Threadlocker (find it cheap on Ebay)

You will likely be refreshing your oil and filter while you are at it:
1 x oil filter kit 15010MCEH51
1 x oil drain bolt 9280012000
1 x oil drain washer 9410912000
And 3.1 litres of your favourite oil!

Tools required:
Socket set
Hexagonal wrench set
Torque wrench
Neat little cutter from Poundland (optional)

Lets get on with the task:

Remove the left and right hand side plastic fairing covers.

Remove the lower fairing.

Get the engine warm.

Drain the oil, careful you don’t get burnt!

Remove the old oil filter and install the new one, tighten to 10Nm.

Install your new oil drain bolt and washer, tighten to 30Nm.

Ok, let’s get the right hand side engine cover off, when you do it looks like this:



The starter clutch is the one with the three golden bolts.

These bolts were already loose on mine, I am glad I had stopped using the bike before any worse damage had been caused!

Here’s a closer look:



Can you see the cracks?

Look at the bottom bolt, then look to the left and right of it, there are small cracks visible on both sides.

To remove the centre bolt from the starter clutch, I wedged a towel in between the gears to prevent them from moving while undoing the bolt.

The golden coloured bolts were already loose; if they weren’t loose then I would have used the same method with the towel while the starter clutch was still in place.

Here’s the starter clutch off the bike with the top plate removed:



See those cracks (above) are actually quite bad.

Here are the old and the new next to each other:





See this pin (above):
It’s got to be transferred from your old broken starter clutch outer to the new one.



I pushed it from behind with a really small screwdriver.



Above picture shows the new starter clutch outer with the new springs and caps installed, and that little pin on the top right too.



Now the rollers are installed.



It’s time to put that top part back on, remembering to line up that pin and the hole.



Now to put the three bolts back in, they need thread lock to prevent them dangerously working their way out again.



Make sure the threads on the bolts are clean and free of oil.

Apply the Threadlocker and just do the bolts up finger tight.

Put the starter clutch assembly back on the bike.

Tightened the bolts to 40Nm using a towel or cloth to stop the gears from moving.







Next install the centre bolt of the starter clutch, tighten it to 90Nm.

Almost done.

Now just put your new gasket on and replace the right hand engine cover.

My old gasket was baked on and some of it didn’t want to budge, so I soaked it in WD40 and carefully persuaded it off with this tool I picked up at Poundland:



The engine cover bolts should be tightened to 12Nm.

The longer two bolts locate with the two dowel pins.

Now, if you did the filter change you need 3.1 litres of oil so top it up warm up the bike and check your oil level is still ok.

Panels back on.

Job done!

Post a message if you require further assistance.

Thanks for the insight Gareth and just going to add something we all need to be aware of.
Following are the pics of the outer casing I picked up from my local Honda dealer yesterday.
You can see there is a difference between the old and new on the outside edge of the casing.
The old has multiple raised points where as the new casing only has two, on opposing sides.
Part numbers match perfectly and Honda spares guy tells me that the same part fits 87-97 VFR750.

With the new casing fitted the bike will not fire. My only conclusion is it has something to do with the pulse generator and new outer casing not working together.
Was told that the design of the new(very similar to VF1000 casing that I looked at secondhand) probably wouldn't fire the bike.

Hopefully Honda can find the older style casing as when I reassembled with the old cracked casing, she fired up straight away.

[daveyto]

Thanks for the insight Gareth and just going to add something we all need to be aware of.
Following are the pics of the outer casing I picked up from my local Honda dealer yesterday.
You can see there is a difference between the old and new on the outside edge of the casing.
The old has multiple raised points where as the new casing only has two, on opposing sides.
Part numbers match perfectly and Honda spares guy tells me that the same part fits 87-97 VFR750.

With the new casing fitted the bike will not fire. My only conclusion is it has something to do with the pulse generator and new outer casing not working together.
Was told that the design of the new(very similar to VF1000 casing that I looked at secondhand) probably wouldn't fire the bike.

Hopefully Honda can find the older style casing as when I reassembled with the old cracked casing, she fired up straight away.

I put the new casing in and my bike fired up just fine.

[sruss67]

The part numbers are all the same the difference is in the detail.
Years 87-89 have the outer casing with two raised sections where as 90-97 have multiple raised pieces evenly spaced around the outside casing.
Just have to make sure Honda send the correct part.
The listings here in Oz show the same number for all 87-97.

[tris1948]

Thanks for the insight Gareth and just going to add something we all need to be aware of.
Following are the pics of the outer casing I picked up from my local Honda dealer yesterday.
You can see there is a difference between the old and new on the outside edge of the casing.
The old has multiple raised points where as the new casing only has two, on opposing sides.
Part numbers match perfectly and Honda spares guy tells me that the same part fits 87-97 VFR750.

With the new casing fitted the bike will not fire. My only conclusion is it has something to do with the pulse generator and new outer casing not working together.
Was told that the design of the new(very similar to VF1000 casing that I looked at secondhand) probably wouldn't fire the bike.

Hopefully Honda can find the older style casing as when I reassembled with the old cracked casing, she fired up straight away.

Smmething strange going on here


check this from David Silver David Silver Spares - 28120ML7690

[daveyto]

The part numbers are all the same the difference is in the detail.
Years 87-89 have the outer casing with two raised sections where as 90-97 have multiple raised pieces evenly spaced around the outside casing.
Just have to make sure Honda send the correct part.
The listings here in Oz show the same number for all 87-97.

Its different here...I will get you the part number here. 87-97 may be the same but 84-97 certainly is not I have looked at it my self. They are different.

Many 87 -97 parts are similar..cross reference check your part out at bikebandit.com

[wgregt]

Pulled my 94 VFR750F apart tonight for the same damn issue. Odo @ exactly 50,000 miles even, but it's been an occasional (every 5th start or so) problem since probably 40k or so. I'm kinda glad there was an actual crack (only one) in the casing so I didn't do all this for nothing. You guys suggest swapping all the rollers/springs/caps as well, even with a new starter clutch?

What do you guys use to get rid of the old gasket, esp. the part on the bike? I started taking it off the cover with a straight razor blade, but very little stuck to the cover. This thing is thick too. Most of it stayed on the bike half. Any danger in using a straight razor blade?

[sruss67]

Pulled my 94 VFR750F apart tonight for the same damn issue. Odo @ exactly 50,000 miles even, but it's been an occasional (every 5th start or so) problem since probably 40k or so. I'm kinda glad there was an actual crack (only one) in the casing so I didn't do all this for nothing. You guys suggest swapping all the rollers/springs/caps as well, even with a new starter clutch?

What do you guys use to get rid of the old gasket, esp. the part on the bike? I started taking it off the cover with a straight razor blade, but very little stuck to the cover. This thing is thick too. Most of it stayed on the bike half. Any danger in using a straight razor blade?

I didn't replace anything other than the starter clutch when I did mine, fitted everything that came out back in and sealed her up with a new gasket.
As for getting the old gasket off, I used the razor blade and it comes off pretty easy.
Cheers

[wgregt]

I didn't replace anything other than the starter clutch when I did mine, fitted everything that came out back in and sealed her up with a new gasket.
Cheers

How many miles was on yours when you did the swap, and how many miles on it now? Any problems with it since you swapped out ONLY the clutch itself?

[sruss67]

How many miles was on yours when you did the swap, and how many miles on it now? Any problems with it since you swapped out ONLY the clutch itself?

Mine had about 67,000 kms and now about 70,000 kms with no problems what so ever.

[wgregt]

So fill me in on re-setting the timing when doing this swap. Doesn't pulling this off and putting it back on screw with the timing of starting it? Or does simply lining up the small pin (that you transfer from old to new part) and the hole take care of all of that, seeing as how it looks like the new complete clutch will only fit on the splines one way?

[sruss67]

So fill me in on re-setting the timing when doing this swap. Doesn't pulling this off and putting it back on screw with the timing of starting it? Or does simply lining up the small pin (that you transfer from old to new part) and the hole take care of all of that, seeing as how it looks like the new complete clutch will only fit on the splines one way?

I never changed anything regarding timing after replacing the starter clutch.
All I did was swap out the old starter clutch for new and she started first go.

[wgregt]

Well, after inspecting everything pretty closely, I think I'm just going to replace the starter and the springs. The rollers look fine with no wear, and I can't see how there could be wear/damage to the caps/brushes at all. The springs all are the same length and all seem to compress the same, but replacements are only $1.62 each here locally.

Do the caps wear out at all? Seems to me the weak/wearable part could only be the springs.

[wgregt]

Need help gang. I put a new starter clutch in yesterday, along with new springs. Not sure I needed them, but they were cheap, so I did it. Took the small pin from the old starter clutch, and put it in the new one, but man....it was soooo tight. It dropped right in and pushed out easily from the old clutch, but in order for it to get in the hole in the new clutch it needed some persuasion with a hammer. New gasket, refilled with oil and...


nothing when I tried to start it. Just a weak slow crank that really wasn't a crank at all. Battery is perfect, always on a tender.

I did notice when the rollers went back in that they were kind of a PITA to get in. In the old clutch, the clutch with the rollers in it could be slid over the 48 tooth gear that's behind it all (p/n 28110-MB0-010 ) and the rollers would stay in.

In the new clutch I had to kinda do it all @ once and slide it all together. The rollers would not stay in the clutch when slid over the 48 tooth sprocket. Not sure if it matters, but I noticed it.

I lined up the small pin with the hole int he clutch cover, and slid it back on the shaft correctly. It only goes back on one way. Everything else was tightened to spec.

Guess I need to drain the oil YET AGAIN and try and save this gasket if I can. Damn it.

(I'll be checking this posting from the garage so thanks for your quick thoughts...)

[wgregt]

Never mind. I got it figured out. Starter clutch reduction gear was in backwards. It fell off when I was taking the starter clutch off, and I must have put it back on backwards. I flipped it over, cover back on, oil back in, started up first try. Runs great now.

[sruss67]

Never mind. I got it figured out. Starter clutch reduction gear was in backwards. It fell off when I was taking the starter clutch off, and I must have put it back on backwards. I flipped it over, cover back on, oil back in, started up first try. Runs great now.

Woohoo and congrats on getting the bike running again

[Davey]

... embarrassed to say that even with pictures, I think I F'd this up. Mine was cracked bad, so I know that this was the problem. Unfortunately I took it apart to diagnose it, found the issue, shopped for parts a while, ordered them, they showed up and I waited a couple days to do it (winter in PA...) In that time I must have put it back on wrong.

It really sounds like the timing is off, like it cranks then halts and I even get some backfire occasionally.

I have manually advanced it to where the line in the T1 is lined up with the tick in the case and even held a wire in the 1st chamber (left rear right?) and verified it was at max height when we were lined up correctly....

Greg, does this sound like what you experienced with the reduction gear in backwards?

[wgregt]

Hey Davey-

I see you have messed with the timing. I didn't need to touch any timing issues or line up anything when I swapped mine. Removed RH cover & gasket, removed the 3 gold bolts and the one black center bolt, swapped clutch, and but the gasket & cover back on. Never touched anything related to timing, or lining up marks, or anything. I BELIEVE the small pin, swapped from clutch to clutch, takes care of all of that. Did you do the small dowel-like pin swap correctly? Put it back in the same hole on the new clutch?

When you pull the starter clutch, it only goes back on one way, due to the splines on the rod.

I accidentally knocked off the small reduction gear to the right of the clutch when installing it. It needs to go back in and have all of the teeth intersect with the teeth on the starter clutch.The smaller toothed gear is facing outwards towards you, not inwards towards the bike. Make sure all the teeth mesh with the starter clutch gearing, this is where I went wrong.

Fill me in and I'm sure we can get it solved.

[Davey]

Thanks for the quick response...

I actually bought a new dowel pin, rollers, and springs with the starter clutch. It only went in one way though, as I recall.

I verified last night that I was getting fuel, I cleaned my carbs again, I tested the spark, and I have a new battery. It just won't turn over.

I think I am going to drain the oil and take the case back off tonight to look at everything.

What did your bike do when that gear was reversed, anything? I recall removing mine temporarily also.