Hitchcocks Forum

Can anyone help!! I rode my bike last week and everything was fine. I went to start it this morning on the electric start and started ok, but a really loud sort of whining noise. I stopped immediately. To me it sounded like something had ceased up. I knew all oils were ok, but I checked anyway and all was fine. I removed sparkplug but still had noise when kicking over and electric start. I pulled in clutch and with kick start engine rotated easily, and with no noise, but without the clutch the engine was still noisy, even with sparkplug removed it was very hard to kickover and still had the noise. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

I can't see how by pulling in the clutch you can rotate the motor but that aside my guess is the sprag bearing has siezed and as the motor rotates it is spinning the starter motor. Pull the starter motor out and try kicking it over and see if the noise has gone. If so the primary case has to be removed and the sprag pulled out because if you leave it in it will continue to rotate and it will wear the housing out because the shaft is not supposed to rotate in the housing

Hi guys------ well, who's going to be brave and mention "that" word then ???( sounds-like}----- slag).....Of course it might not be......??..I've not worked on a UCE engine as such---this IS one of those types, I think ??,.. but I believe the starter-drive arrangement is similar to the earlier ones on the Bullet 65 etc....

-------- WELL-DONE !! Norm.......Yes, that reference to pulling the clutch in had me baffled a bit also..

The reason it's easy to kick over with the clutch in is simple, you are not turning over the engine at all as the clutch has disengaged the drive to the engine. Norm's explanation fits perfectly with the rest of the symptoms. Using a screwdriver as a stethescope you should be able to pin point the noise quite easily to that area.

2008? That could be one of the last of the old ones couldn't it?
I agree, sounds like the dreaded s***g

thank you all for your replies, yes the screwdriver trick suggests the noise is coming from that area, I didn't explain very well(drowning my sorrows at time) by pulling in clutch I was trying to rule out clutch or gearbox as I only have very basic knowledge of the engine, bearing this in mind on a scale of 1-10 how hard will this be to fix? or should I leave well alone, thanks again.

2 studs removes the starter then you know what is going on. If it is the sprag you will need a puller for the clutch and the rotor. Apart from that pretty straight forward

If it's anything like mine you will also require a 25mm socket to remove the engine sprocket nut behind the rotor. Be prepared for a struggle. Strange but no amount of shouting, bad language, tantrums and threats would shift it. Had to resort to an impact wrench in the end to teach it a lesson! Otherwise as Norm says fairly straightforward.

Interesting nut that one Frank, if it isn't tight it gives out the same noise as a failing big end for some reason