Hi everyone, first time poster, long time reader. I love this site, so perhaps you can help me.

 I bought an 86 lt250r about a year ago, for very little, as it was a former race bike, and everything on it was beat. I am finally to the point where Ive taken most of the death traps off and replaced them, lol. Things mostly to do with the chassis, new bearings, more bearings, and more bearings and so on. Anyways Im about to put on the upper ball joints and take it for a ride finally, and start it up. It starts first kick always and runs great so far, only thing is, is that when I rev it up, and it comes back down, it starts to make a funny noise, like the flywheel is loose or something. So I take off the cover and check it for play, and it wants to move in and out, not up or down or side to side. It moves along with the threaded part (is that my crank?) in and out maybe a quarter inch or so. Could this be causing the odd noise thats so hard to explain, and what are the causes of this? Thanks again.

It moves along with the threaded part (is that my crank?) in and out maybe a quarter inch or so.

Yes that is your crank snout, don't damage it.

if it moves together then your flywheel is not loose on the crank, it'd also be back firing as the timing would be off so that's not it.

Maybe video the noise and post it up on youtube and post a link to it here.

Well, after finally putting it all together enough to ride it, I found that it only happens in neutral with the clutch disengaged, pull it in, and the sound goes away, is this common? I wouldnt think it would rattle too much with it being a wet clutch and all.

Clutch feels great! Everything about the way its running is awesome, starts first kick, lots of power, etc. Thats why I really am hoping its normal, and I can get away with not tearing it apart.

Everything seemed to look ok, but I have an untrained eye. I will drain it and pop the cover back off, and see if anythings loose, am I right in thinking I dont want to start it when its out of oil with the cover off? Seems like common sense.

Here is a decent video showing a worn clutch basket.

Ok, that I am somewhat caught up on chassis problems, I am looking at this. So I pulled the cover off, and you'll never guess what I found.


Since it is still working properly, and doesnt look as bad as the guy's in the video above, can I just grind down the tiny teeth with a dremel tool?
 Also, the inner hub is tight, and doesnt move, just the basket and gear move together. Need to get a bigger socket to take it off, then is there a bearing thats shot back there? Im learning to love bearings with this thing.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9omowPyQJKac21lcjFBajlRdmM

Here is a link to my google drive it has the 85-86 and the 87+ books. I even think I have the LTZ400 book on there still. (might be worth a sticky) you can download those from there as well.

I wouldn't shave the basket. Just because it wont be a fix for very long. the reason those got worn into the basket in the first place is because the plates wiggle around in the basket and wear those into it. by cutting more wiggle space into the basket you would be compounding upon the problem. best fix is a new basket. That is what I ended up doing with my 90. think I paid $300 for a new OEM basket.

There should be a crush washer around that nut. If its tight it shouldn't be that. More then likely the noise is your clutch plates rattling within that clutch basket. unless there is something obviously loose, which if there was, you would have bigger problems then a rattling sound.

A decent way to check would be to put in one of the clutch plates and see if you can rotate it back and forth within the basket. This is most likely your noise.

If you do need to tear into the motor more these are great tools if you don't have the special basket holder tool (sorry for the stupid long link) I think when I pulled mine I used this lil pro motion tool to hold it all in place and a breaker bar. That nut gets torqued down pretty good so it should be tight. DO NOT try to hold the basket with a screw driver or bar... It will snap pretty easily. (I've done this to)

http://www.motosport.com/product?psreferrer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F&pssource=true&segment=badger&key=Motion-Pro-Gear-Jammer&cc=us&adpos=1o1&creative=93575775025&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&product_id=MP-TOOL-038&gclid=CjwKEAjwqJ67BRCzzJ7Hy-LYlFYSJABwp9PGbn5oh--Xm83rrErB2K0vDkAsydtb_UePD8itWTOHiBoCRyzw_wcB

Well, no luck on any of those things helping, I tried adjusting it, and by the time they stopped rattling, the clutch wouldnt engage at all. In the meantime, Im relatively certain there is something else to work on, theres always something else to work on, lol.