No Tension in Clutch

[JoePro]

I was riding on a highway only going around 55 mph and all of the sudden the bike jumped and I completely lost tension in the clutch. The bike stalled out and I tried starting the bike up and that allowed me to start in gear. I can continue to start the bike up in gear (second or third) but only when holding the clutch completely in, however the clutch will not allow me to shift into any other gear and will not let me idle causing the bike to shut off completely every time I have to stop. What do I need to do to fix this?

[reelrazor]

Probably broke the clutch pushrod (or welded the ball between them)

That's what I would check first.

[JoePro]

What's the best way to get access to the pushrod/ball?

[ragedigital]

What's the best way to get access to the pushrod/ball?

You have to pull off the front sprocket cover.

[JoePro]

What's the best way to get access to the pushrod/ball?

You have to pull off the front sprocket cover.

I've never done any bike maintenance before - is this something that would be better left to a professional, or could I find the broken part, order it and install if with no prior experience?

[ragedigital]

I've never done any bike maintenance before - is this something that would be better left to a professional, or could I find the broken part, order it and install if with no prior experience?

This is a forum of DIY people and rarely hire anyone to do any work on their bikes. That is the best way to learn the in's and out's of the motorcycle.

The sprocket cover is very easy to take off. I think there are 4-5 allen head bolts holding it on. You will see the clutch push rod behind it.

darrin

[fzrbrandon]

Just to add:

There are actually two pushrods (a large one and a smaller flanged one). The larger one is accessible from the left side after pulling the front sprocket cover (as Darrin mentioned). The smaller one resides behind the clutch pressure plate which is accessible from the right side after pulling the clutch cover. Accessing the smaller one is a little more involved but still very easy. Just make sure you put the pressure plate back on in the right position (look for a pair of alignment arrows). The parts in question here are found on this fiche page:

http://www.cyclepartswarehouse.com/fich ... 8&fveh=839

Specifically, look at #9, #14, and #15

At the most, it should only take 30 minutes or so to do this inspection.

[JoePro]

Okay, so upon removing the sprocket cover, I noticed that push rod (#2, I believe?) was sheered, which explains the issues I was having.
I plan on buying a new rod ASAP with the fastest shipping possible. I have no idea how to change the push rod and to make matters worse, one of the previous owners seems to have rounded out the heads of the screws which attach the "ball screw hang assembly" (according to BikeBandit and the website previously provided)to the sprocket cover, preventing me from removing the sheered/threaded piece of the rod. The screw covered by the black rubber piece on the cover seems to be attached to the push rod...is that supposed to be that way?
Someone had previously mentioned that the ball could have been welded to the rod due to heat - if that's the case, would be what caused the sheer to occur? What parts might I need to purchase? Any idea how to prevent this in the future? In addition, should I bother getting a Haynes manual or would the forums be sufficient to figure out how to replace the rod/anything that's currently messed up?

Sorry for being such a noob and asking all of these questions, but I'm learning and attempting to figure out how to do all this stuff on my own. I'm more of a DIY kinda guy.