Mech

Well the shift clutch is slipping, and since it's not being operated by the clutch actuator mechanism(the bit with the three balls), then it must be something in it's assembly. First thing would be to have a look at how the clutch plates look, looking in through the slots in the clutch basket. Perhaps you'll see that all the plates look loose, or perhaps you'll see that only the outer most one seems clamped, which might give a clue about what is wrong. Possibly that outer plate and the shudder spring are seating badly.. I'd try to see what it was before pulling it to bits. Then, I'm not sure it possible but I'd try to undo the four bolts and get that bearing plate out off the outside. If that could be got off it would free up the plates and you might be able to wriggle the spring or outer clutch plate into it's right place.. or something. To get that plate out you have to loosen all four bolts a bit at a time and that might be tricky with the centrifugal in the way. Be careful undoing those bolts because if you loosen three off and leave the last one with spring tension on it still, it can snap the pillar the springs fit onto off down at the bottom where it is attached to the plate in the back there.. serious.. they break off easy. Have a go at that and see if you can't get things into a better place.. and hopefully not have to pull the centrifugal again.

Good man Ej. It must be getting mighty frustrating by now, especially with the stiff neck, but hang in there. We'll get this thing fixed.. Even if it does take a grandson. Or two. Yeah that's how I think the adjustment must be meant to be. It won't be the problem at the moment because doing it the way the book says would be sure to have the clutch release mechanism well away from the clutch release bearing. When you get the cover off the first thing to do is turn the centrifugal clutch drum and see if it turns the shift clutch and shaft, then put it into gear and see if turning the drum turns the wheels. It should. If it doesn't then you'll see the outer clutch basket of the shift clutch turning but the inner bit won't be turning, which means the clutch plates are slipping . If it does try to turn the wheels then it must be putting the cover on that's causing the problem, and the only thing I can think of that would do that is if the release mechanism isn't sitting right.. Hopefully that's all it is. Good luck with the work, and the Doc.

Don't know if this helps.. If you let us know which particular model(there are two auto), I'll have a better look and see what I can figure, but Gw is right, there is a start relay and a neutral relay.. 2005 wiringdiagrams.pdf

Yeah they've been using them since the early seventies.. Lots of heavy machinery use centrifugal filters.. They are really efficient and have long service intervals.

And a quick look in the manual says it is so.. Can you believe it !

It's probably as Geezer said and has a centrifugal filter on the crank.

Yup, photos might be useful. I'd got the impression it was all good just before the cover went on though.. I was thinking the clutch mechanism might be misplaced.. not that I know how it can be. I also suspect the instructions for adjusting the clutch might be wrong.. I know it's what the book says, but there's no mention of the lock nut being left hand thread.. Which means they are saying to back it out to the case, then in a quarter turn. If that's how it's meant to be then they could just make it so it's a fixed distance from the case.. It won't be the problem here, but I think the adjuster needs screwing in till it touches then out a 1/4..

When you get that cover off Ej, don't dismantle anything else till we've had a talk about what's in there.. I'm getting worried about the threads on the shafts.. And the problem might not need them undoing again.

The engine turns the centrifugal clutch hub till the revs are high enough for the shoes to start turning the centrifugal clutches drum, that drum with it's gear turns the shift clutch which is mounted on the end of the gearboxes input shaft. Earlier on you had the clutches and the gearbox all working.. it had resistance to turning the wheels when it was pushed forwards due to the sprag/one-way clutch, and the wheels turned easier when they were turned backwards.. That means that at that stage everything was working. There was a solid drive through the shift clutch at that stage. Every higher gear had less resistance so it was getting all the gears. It's still getting all the gears. Either the centrifugal clutch is playing up now, which is very unlikely, or the shift clutch is playing up. The shift clutch should be locked up solid except when the shift lever is being moved and it's operating the clutch operating mechanism which is made up of two plates and three balls. As long as that clutch adjustment felt free, with no resistance at the place where you adjusted it to, then the shift clutch should be locked up and the wheels should be trying to turn the engine in forwards gears when you try to turn them. Since there is no wheels trying to turn the engine, and there's no engine trying to turn the wheels, I'd have to surmise that the shift clutch needs re-visiting.

If it's less than about 1/4 throttle then it's in the idle circuit.. probably just the adjustment. You really need to adjust the idle speed and mixture hot and running.

They say that arctic cat use suzuki engines, and a lot of their air-boxes look like suzuki too.. Just saying !

Make sure you're adjusting the idle mixture with the throttle backed off as fas as possible. Adjusting the idle mixture with the idle speed too high gives that bad takeoff/flat spot.

Have you adjusted the shift clutch ? There's an adjuster on the front cover..

Good one. Always check the simple things first.

Actually.. haha.. I wasn't thinking straight.. The timing light isn't going to confirm the ignition timing. Check the throttle cable.

Have you tried a new spark-plug ? Even though it sparks outside the engine, it may fail under compression. You should check all the earth connections, from battery to frame and from battery to the engine. Did anything serious happen that caused it to have the recon ?

Ok.. Sorry about that panic.. My bad. That had been my initial impression, that you were confirming the wheels had resistance when it was in gear. All good. This place gets confusing sometimes.. But your feed back has been very good I gotta say Ej. That was my mistake. Yes it sounds like the shift clutch is slipping. It probably needs adjusting after being disturbed. And that way of checking the power supply won't do Ej. You should/would get 12 volts at the end of that lead, but you'd get 12 volts there even if there was a bad connection or the control unit wasn't letting enough power through. The gauge uses so little power that a bad connection would let enough power through to run the gauge when the motor is disconnected, but when there's a heavy load on the circuit, and not enough current can get through a bad connection, then the motor uses it all up and the voltage drops. You have to check the voltage with the shift motor connected. You can perhaps back-probe the connector, that's use two pins pushed in the back of the connector plug where the wires go in, or use two pins to pierce the wires as near the motor as possible. Use a bit of silicon or vaseline to seal the holes after.

I don't think that would be it because it would only push on the clutch release thingy and not jamb things up. I don't think. Can't think what would do it though. I've been looking in the parts diagrams and the manual.. I see in the honda manual that that nut is only torqued to 80.. It could be that the non-genuine manual has other wrong directions..

And Ej, if you are pulling that cover off again, don't just rip it off, loosen all the bolts one turn free first and tap the cover so it only moves forwards about one mill, then check if the wheels turn in gear, if they do, then something in there is only about one mill out of place, likely a shim or washer. If it doesn't come free after the one mill then pull it off by five mills and check, then pull it right off.. It's possible that one of those washers could be enough to do it, even if it takes five mills to come right. A big washer where a small one should be could rest on a shoulder or something instead of siting down inside it.. Hang in there buddy.. you've done so much already..

If the genuine honda manual isn't in the manuals section let me know and I'll upload it. And yeah, we used to be told "check, recheck, and then check it again".

Between #128 and #131 something has changed surely.. At #128 you thought it was all good.. right ? The cover was on.. Tyres turned in gear, gears changed manually.. At #131 the tyres are not turning.. If it really has locked the wheels when it's in gear then the cover needs to come off again. I put you wrong.. I thought you meant there was resistance to turning the wheels in #134, which was meaning it was getting the gears and not false neutrals.. Gw was onto it..

In the picture here part #24 is 18mm, #25 is 27x40, #26 is 22x45x0.8, and #27 is 20mm Do you think you could have got them muddled ?

And you've got the photo to prove it !

#131.. At that stage the wheels should have been turning easy one way, and trying to turn the engine the other way.. I'd assumed you meant the wheels had resistance to turning, which would mean it was going into gear.. but if the tyres really wouldn't turn, not even in a high gear, then there's still something happening wrong when you put the front cover on.... It the shaft the shift clutch is on is jambing against the front cover then the tyres won't turn in gear, and the shift will have trouble shifting up or down unless you rock the tyres to get the gears to turn enough to slip out of one gear and into the next.. Perhaps you need to recheck whether the tyres are totally locked when it's in gear.. We might be jumping the gun if there's still a problem inside the case.

In the manual it says you can run 12v into the motor in place.. I'd have thought that might try and wind the shift too far without the gear and angle sensors in place, but they don't seem to think so.. You could try that. I'd try it with the wheels off the ground and the engine running.. that will allow the gears to shift. And.. are you sure about the tyres not turning ? Not at all when in gear ? They should turn one way easy and try to rotate the engine the other way.. like they did when you first got it back together.