New member needs help...what did this used to be?

[Odetobob]

Hey all.
Well. I hit the first issue that felt like I needed to ask the pros about.

I'm working on what I believe to be a 95 Warrior 350 (The VIN has a couple of digits that I can't make out enough to verify).
So...I heard a clunking coming from the flywheel side whenever I'd start the bike and thought maybe the starter clutch was going out. Then I had a no spark issue and the stator tested open on a couple of the leads. I pulled the case covering the flywheel and caught the oil in a pan. The stator had a wire that had come fully disconnected from one of the pieces. I replaced the stator and got my spark back. I didn't see much wear on the gear teeth I could see without pulling the flywheel so I decided to strain the oil and see how much metal was in it. This is what I found in the pan:

Now I'm no mechanic...but I'm sure that's not a good sign.
Can someone with a wealth of knowledge help me figure out what I'm dealing with here?
I truly appreciate the help,
-Bob

 

[Odetobob]

Oh. Also...before I strained the oil, I found a washer in the bottom of the case after the oil drained out. I thought it had come off the shaft that holds the idler gearing in place when that popped out with the case, but maybe it's part of the same issue (in case that helps someone identify my busted chunk.

 

[YAMAHAULER]

Hey all.
Well. I hit the first issue that felt like I needed to ask the pros about.

I'm working on what I believe to be a 95 Warrior 350 (The VIN has a couple of digits that I can't make out enough to verify).
So...I heard a clunking coming from the flywheel side whenever I'd start the bike and thought maybe the starter clutch was going out. Then I had a no spark issue and the stator tested open on a couple of the leads. I pulled the case covering the flywheel and caught the oil in a pan. The stator had a wire that had come fully disconnected from one of the pieces. I replaced the stator and got my spark back. I didn't see much wear on the gear teeth I could see without pulling the flywheel so I decided to strain the oil and see how much metal was in it. This is what I found in the pan:
View attachment 4841
Now I'm no mechanic...but I'm sure that's not a good sign.
Can someone with a wealth of knowledge help me figure out what I'm dealing with here?
I truly appreciate the help,
-Bob

Well I can tell you that curclip is from the piston there is 1 on each side of the piston that hold the piston pin in most likely previous owner did a top end rebuild and dropped 1 down in the cases and never bothered to fish it out as for the aluminum peices not sure
The washer is most likely for the idler gear the 90+ idler gear break down has the single C-clip

 

[Odetobob]

2 out of 3 ain't bad!
The washer seems to have an obvious home. Thanks for the photo.
The circlip makes sense.
On closer inspection of the aluminum chunks, all three have what looks like a machined side that almost resembles a sprocket (but obviously too flat) and a stamped circle on one of their smaller ends and then a broken rough darker side...in case that info sparks someone's memory or in case someone has an open case to glance at.
Am I destined to pull the whole engine and crack the cases here? Would a borescope through the oil drain or through the hole under the flywheel get me anywhere? I'm grasping for hope here, as I've never done a complete teardown of an engine before and it's a bit intimidating, to be honest. But without knowing where this kind of damage came from, seems like a bad idea to fix something like a starter clutch and get it back up and running, right?
Thanks for the help
Bob

 

[YAMAHAULER]

Ahh those are pieces of the fingers from the clutch basket it must have imploded at one time

 

[YAMAHAULER]

When they get grooved like that the basket is garbage and if not replaced will cause issues with shifting and eventually break apart as in your case

 

[Odetobob]

Yessir. That's exactly what those are! Thank you so much for the help.
I was planning on pulling that side cover anyway and inspecting the clutch while I had the oil out of it. Hopefully it was a previous sloppy clutch replacement that left the metal in there, but I'll keep an eye out for those indentations if the basket has all it's arms intact.
If you don't mind one more question, am I correct that if I have the stator cover (and stator assembly) off and I spin the flywheel one direction and see the idler gears turning and then I can spin it the opposite direction with no gearing turning but some amount of drag on the flywheel, that I'm due up for a starter clutch bearing? and if the teeth seem okay on the bearing sprocket, is it just the one-way bearing that needs swapping out?

Thanks again for the follow-up. I appreciate you putting the clutch basket puzzle together for me.
-Bob

 

[YAMAHAULER]

The one way bearing should free spin the one direction and lock up the other direction and turn the idler gears. Usually if the one way is bad it will either free spin both directions or be locked up tight both directions.
And when ever you need to replace the one way bearing you definitely need to get a new flywheel gear because its not the teeth that wear when the bearing goes its the surface on the center of the gear that sits inside the one way bearing that the one way cogs grab that gets wore out.
9 times out of 10 guys that replace only the one way and reuse the flywheel gear end up having the one way bearing failing shortly after

 

[Odetobob]

Yep. Got it. That makes sense. Thanks again for all the help and advice.

 

[Odetobob]

Hey Yamahauler (Or anyone else),
I thought I'd post this here since it pertained to the last reply...
I've finally gotten the warrior up on its feet and wanted to get an expert's insight into this clacking noise



Obviously related to the starter mechanisms...but I was pretty sure the starter clutch was behaving fine after testing the clutch by hand, but is that what this noise is? Seems too loud to be normal starting noises (but also this is the first warrior I've cranked).
Thanks for the help.
-Bob

 

[YAMAHAULER]

Did you put the washer back on the starter idler gear shaft between the gear and curclip

 

[Odetobob]

Sorry it took a minute to get back to you. I had to find a sunny day to drain the oil. I did have the washer installed behind the curclip. I was hoping maybe the whole shaft was in backwards or something, but it seems that it’ll only go in one way and still let the case bolt back on.
Does it sound like play in the gears to your ears?
thanks for taking a listen!