250-500cc WR 250/300 EZ Pull clutch

Well I think I got it! My poor 08 WR250 has less than 20hrs on it and has been accumulating dust. I jumped on the 125/144 band wagon, so it is time that I get it done the way it want it. One of my biggest gripes is the hard clutch pull and not starting in gear. I went with the thickest base gasket to drop the compression, in turn, I knew I would loose some performance and spent about 8hrs in the cylinder and powervalve block grinding away and polishing. I also matched the exhaust port with the pipe and installed a carb divider in the front of the TMX carb.

Now comes the clutch. I cut the clutch arm down by the case and added a 1/4 inch. Pull was great and seemed comparable with the pull on my 125. I also went in and under the clutch spring bolts and washers, then installed thin 6mm washers to relieve pressure on the discs. I'm thinking that this will make it start in gear? The other night I decided to see if I could get the clutch to pull easier yet?

I went back to the drawing board. Using my air grinder, I took the arm off the shaft. I re installed the shaft and measured to see what the longest arm, I could make without the cable hitting the oil vent plug. I made a new lever and welded it on the shaft. It just barely clears the oil vent plug. Now my clutch pulls easier than my 125'r.

Tonight I took the bike out for the first run. Gees does this thing rip! As PV Duke would say: Mrrrrrrrreeeeeeep! Ok, so what about the clutch? Well, guess what? It starts in gear! I even came back and took the shim washers out and it still starts in gear. I also moved the kick starter back a tooth and definately helps.

Let me spend some more time on it this weekend and I will post the pics of the arm and get you some measurements from center of shaft to center of cable holder rivet. I also had to get a new clutch cable because I found out that the old arm made it rub on the bottom of the reed intake casting. I noticed a wear spot in the cable and not taking chances on it breaking. With the new arm it looks like the cable is at a better angle and definately clears the casting.

motosportz has hydraulic clutchs. I added one to my 300 and I think its as light if not lighter than a 125 and it takes anout 15 minutes to install. Just another option anyway

I did some tricks to my 1980 CR250 to help out the clutch pull, backfired, if you run the bike hard and build some heat you will have a full pull of slack in the cable. Sure it isnt a jetting issue with your "start in gear"?? My CR125 wont start in gear if i have it leaned out. But my WR250 starts in gear no matter what. Started it in gear about 50 times the other night.

My GasGas EC200 has a really smooth hydraulic clutch and it should as Gassers are known to have silky clutches possibly from developing trials bikes. That being said my 09 WR250 has a stock cable clutch that is really close to the GasGas. I have done zero mods and can pull with one finger and often do in the tight stuff. It starts in gear if it's warmed up therefore I have no reason to mess with my clutch at all. There must be something amiss for you to feel the need to go to all that trouble.

Remove the clutch arm from the case, cut it in half and weld in a half inch of length, works great already have done 2 this year. First did this on my old YZ490's in the 80's

Great, post a pic of your arm/shaft. I'll post up the new lever tomorrow am! I don't think people realize how much easier it makes these pull.

I like guys that do home fabs and make there bikes work better , all bikes need some tweeking , I know your pain with WR clutch pull my 09 was awlful , I cheated bought recluse pro now the clutch pull is on par with a PW 50 . awsome !

I popped the MSR Raptor (same lever l think Woodchick) on the WR360 plus a Venhill teflon coated clutch cable, some adjustment at the clutch basket end and it's lighter than some hydro clutches!

I did the same thing as ohmygewd on my 360 before I had EFM build an auto clutch. It worked very well and the pull was pretty easy. Of course the EFM is the bomb.

Thought I'd show you the new lever I made. I only have $6 in the fab. From center of shaft to center of rivet for cable holder, it is 2 1/8". You will see it just barely misses the vent tube. I'll probably come back this winter and drill some holes in the arm to give it a factory mod look. Just can't believe the difference it makes. FYI, I borrowed someones magura to try and it still pulls easier. I might even throw on the Raptor lever/perch just to see how much further I can go. For some reason, this bike would not start in gear unless you adjusted the clutch to where it would slip. It always lunged when you kicked it in gear. Was a royal pain to start in neutral and then having to put it in gear. Tried several dead engine starts in gear last night and works great. Dropping the compression and moving the kicker back one spline also helped. Hope some of you find this helpful.

Darin

Dartyppty - You've got to tell me what's up with your clutch cover and shift lever. They Look great and the shift lever isn't even close to your cover... Did you bend it or buy a new one?

Got a tip from another Cafe Husky member to put the shifter in a vise down by the spline clamp. Then got my cutting torch out and Heated it up and bent it out. I use SEM black self etching primer on the shifter. Seems to hold up pretty good for several rides. I had a groove in my cover, so I sanded it out and polished all the covers. It has held up fine and I crash all the time. Motosportz, also sells shifters that clear alot better.

Another thing I just got done with. I took my torch and heated the whole pipe to burn off any signs of paint. Then wire wheeled the white chalky stuff off. Then came back and used the torch heat to put some blue streaks in it. While it was hot I used gear oil on it to kinda season it to give it that unfinished steel look. Now I am just going to keep WD40 on it.

What kind of paint did you use on the H on the cases? You did a good job, you kept it within the lines!

I use Duplicolor, Cardinal Red. In the little touch up bottles (For chips in your auto paint), which is a basecoat lacquer. You can get it at Autozone, etc.... I use the little touch up brush and paint the inside of the H. I brush on two coats. If you want it to dry fast, use a hair dryer. Then after it dries I use a touch up bottle of clear to go over it and put 1 coat on it. Real easy 15 min job.

Just make sure your H is clean. Use thinner or carb/parts cleaner so there is no grease and paint sticks.

I ordered a MSR Raptor lever/perch to try out Friday night. Will let you know how both work out.

Don't forget...plenty of silicone spray down the cable!!!