Suzuki T350 Clutch Bushes

[NEIL]

Hi everyone, hope you can help (Neil from Durban, South Africa), am working on a 70 T350, the bush on the clutch basket and the one that fits over the counter shaft have seized, I have managed to get then both out/off and have cleaned up the areas where they "picked up" during the seize. Some questions though
1. Should the bush on the counter shaft rotate freely on the counter shaft or should this be a "stationary" press fit
2, Should the clutch basket with it's reinstalled bush be able to spin freely on the bush mentioned in 1. above

Not sure if this makes sense, the manual for the T350 does not cover this but my T500 manual says "push the bush over the counter shaft" which would seem to indicate a fairly loose fit. But my thinking is that if both bushes are able to rotate, then you would have two rotating bushes one over the other, it would seem to make more sense to have them both stationary, ie the one pressed into the basket and the one pressed over the counter shaft. This way, as the clutch basket rotated one bush would spin over the other ?bushes would

Any Help Appreciated

Regards
Neil

[Suzsmokeyallan]

Neil welcome to the board, I hope we can help you in all your Suzuki related queries.
The T350 owners will have to chime in here, but as far as I know they should spin freely against each other. The T500 is made this way and so the T350 should follow the same rule.
I do not know of any two stroke Suzuki engine from this period era that has any fixed bushes on the clutch shaft basket side, they all slide on and spin freely.
Its this same bush that you need to reduce its width on the T500 to take out the excessive clutch basket lateral free-play that causes the rattle at idle.

[NEIL]

Thanks for the response, I have been visiting the board for some time but have never posted. Its a great board and have learned a lot.

In relation to the bush, maybe I over complicated the question, the bush you refer too (the one that causes the clutch rattle), must this be an "easy push fit with fingers" onto the shaft or should you have to press/drive it on. If it is an easy push fit it would then mean that it will be able to spin on the counter shaft ?

Sorry to trouble you guys with this but I really want to get this right. When they seized it was a devil of a job to get the one off the counter shaft and the one out the clutch basket to re-align the oilway

Cheers and thanks
Neil

[Suzsmokeyallan]

No, it should just slide on freely by hand with a snug fit to the shaft, as in no rocking. If yours is still "biting" on the shaft use a small dab of fine valve lapping compound SPARINGLY and some WD40 as a lube mix to clean the two surfaces up by putting it onto the shaft and turning the bush slowly onto the shaft. After a turn or two wipe it off clean and test it to make sure its not getting too much clearance. Redo this procedure where you can see its tight on the bushing or until its spinning free as it should be.
If the bush is scored badly you will need to get another one, however the shaft is case hardened so it should come clean but will loose its sheen with the applied mix, thats if its not scored beyond repair.
Let me know how you make out on this repair.

[H2RICK]

Welcome to the board, Neil. Please post some pics of your bike. You MAY have the only T350 in all of Africa !!!

As to the clutch thing......here are 3 pages of the appropriate service bulletin that Allan posts about above. BTW, ignore that oil recommendation at the bottom of the last page. IMO, engine oil is NOT what you should be using in a stroker tansmission. (Hopefully this remark of mine will not touch off another transmission lubrication controversy)
Print these pages off and then read them AT LEAST THREE TIMES (preferably with the clutch bits to hand) to make sure you understand completely what the bulletin is telling you.

[NEIL]

Thanks a million guys, will try all of this over the weekend and let you know how it went. The T350 is REALLY ROUGH at the moment so may post photo of my GT380 first (that looks a little better). Found the T350 recently and have been trying to get it going before stripping it for restoration. Motor is running fairly well (top end quite noisy though), when I tried to take it for it's first ride I found the clutch issue so no ride as yet, that might happen over the weekend, lets hope.

I must admit that I have not seen another of these (T350) around in South Africa (but there probably are some), don't think too many survived in these parts

Cheers
Neil