- This is Steve with Rocky Mountain ATV/MC,
and today I'm going to show you how
to replace the clutch on this Yamaha YFZ450.
Whether you're drag racing at the sand dunes,
out on the trails, or at the track racing,
your clutch takes some serious abuse.
Now, if you have symptoms like clutch slippage
or a chattery, grabby feel,
or you just don't feel that it's working right,
it's probably worth inspecting and/or replacing.
Now on this 2007 YFZ450, Yamaha recommends inspecting
and/or replacing your clutch plates every six months.
So today I'm going to show you how to do that on this machine.
Now the procedures that I show you
should work on all of your YFZ models,
but you should double check
with your OEM service manual to be sure.
To do this job, you'll need some basic hand tools,
a torque wrench, rags, rubber gloves, and safety glasses,
along with a clutch cover gasket.
Now we're installing the Tusk competition clutch kit
in this YFZ450.
You'll also need a copy of your OEM service manual
for more information, proper procedures, and specs.
Any opportunity you get to change your oil is always best.
Now I literally changed the oil on this like a week ago,
so it's kind of unnecessary.
So I went ahead and propped the machine up like this
so that I could replace the clutch
without having to drain the oil.
Now last night I also took the clutch plates out
and put 'em in a pan with fresh, brand new oil
so that they could soak overnight
before we did this install.
Now the first thing we need to do
is back off all of our clutch adjustment.
This would also be a good time
to go through and lube your cable.
If you need more information on that,
we have a great video that you
should check out on that.
Now the next thing we need to do
is remove our clutch cover bolts.
Now the brake lever is slightly in front of one of 'em,
so we're going to go ahead and push that down
and hold it out of the way with this screwdriver
so that we can get access to it.
Now we can go ahead and remove all
of our clutch cover bolts.
I'm going to break 'em loose at a quarter turn
in a crisscross pattern,
and then I'll go ahead and remove 'em all.
Now let's remove the clutch cover.
Now there's two dowel pins on this
that you need to be aware of,
so don't lose 'em or drop 'em.
Now let's go ahead and remove the pressure plate bolts
a quarter turn at a time,
and then we'll go ahead and remove 'em
all the way out in a crisscross pattern.
Now let's remove the pressure plate.
Now let's remove the push rod thrust plate.
Now there's a ball bearing that we need to get out of there.
Now it's really unnecessary to remove this,
but we're going to go ahead and remove it anyway
so that we can inspect it.
There's a thrust bearing right there
that you want to make sure moves freely.
And then obviously check the ball.
There's also a push rod in there that you can pull out
and inspect as well.
And while you have it apart, it's definitely worth doing.
Now let's remove the clutch pack.
Usually if you just grab the outer part
you can pull 'em all out.
But if you can't get 'em all,
you can use a pick or something to get the rest of 'em out.
Now let's remove the spring washer and seat plate.
They're also known as judder springs.
Now the reason I want to pull this out
in a complete pack as much as I can
is 'cause I want to keep 'em all together.
'Cause you definitely want to
keep the orientation of everything.
Then when you go ahead and inspect it
in re-installation, it makes it much easier.
Now that we've got all the clutch plates removed,
you want to inspect the clutch basket for grooving.
Now there's a little bit of grooving on this,
but it's pretty minimal, so we're going to go ahead
and continue on and replace all of our clutch plates.
But if it was pretty severe on the basket or the hub,
you'll definitely want to replace those.
Now when you're inspecting your fiber plates
and your steel plates,
you want to look for any sort of discoloration
and the overall amount of material that's still
on your fiber plate.
There's a couple measurements
in the OEM service manual that you can check,
but clutch kits are pretty inexpensive,
and if you have any sort of discoloration,
I'd just go ahead and replace it.
You'll always have an optimal working clutch,
and it's a preventive measure as well.
Now my last note on clutch plate inspection,
the very last plate, or the deepest one in your clutch pack
on this machine is slightly slimmer right here.
That's so that your spring washer and spring seat
can rest right inside that.
Now obviously you can here on the steel plate
that it rests on that and it's worn a groove there.
So that alone is another reason why you'd
want to just go ahead and replace it.
But, if your spring washer, or conical,
or judder spring, it flattens out,
or it's discolored or warped,
you're definitely going to want to replace that as well.
Now let's take a rag and some contact cleaner
and go ahead and clean off our parts.
Now let's take our clutch cover
and go ahead and remove the old gasket
and clean that as well.
Now let's begin our install by installing our seat washer,
and now our spring washer.
Now these are directional.
Some have words or markings on them somewhere
that will tell ya the direction they go.
Just be aware of that.
It's possible that some aftermarket clutch kits
require you to leave out the cushion ring and judder spring.
But refer to the provided information,
or manufacturer, for their recommendations.
Now let's take our first fiber plate.
Now on this one it's the thinner one of the whole bunch,
and so we need to put this one in first,
and then we can go ahead and alternate
between a steel and a fiber and a steel and a fiber.
Now, a note I have on the steel plates
is you want 'em all to face the same direction.
Now what I mean by that is on the outer edge,
if you were to feel the corner of it with your finger,
one side would be round and the other side
would be fairly sharp.
So you just want to make sure all the sharp edges
are facing one way, and the round edges are facing one way.
It doesn't really matter which way they go
just as long as they're all facing the same way.
Now let's install the push rod ball
and push rod thrust washer plate.
Next, let's reinstall the pressure plate.
Now we'll reinstall our bolts
with our heavy-duty Tusk springs in a crisscross pattern,
then we'll torque 'em to 5.8 food pounds.
Now let's install our dowel pins and our gasket.
And now our clutch cover.
And now let's install the clutch cover bolts
and torque them to 7.2 foot pounds
in a crisscross pattern.
Now let's remove the screwdriver.
Now this would be a good time
to clean any excess oil off of your machine
before you use your machine.
Now I need to adjust the clutch
so that we have about eight to 13 millimeters of free play.
Measure from the end of the lever.
And that's it, that's all there is
to replacing the clutch in your YFZ450.
Come check us out at rockymountainatvmc.com
for more parts, apparel, and accessories.
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This is Steve, I'll catch ya next time.