Removing the clutch on Puch Maxi and Kreidler: holder, puller, taper

Workshop guideUpdated 2026-09-13ELDI / Racing Planet editorial team

On a moped the clutch is the component beginners get stuck on most often. Not because it is complicated, but because it sits on a taper and turns with the nut as you undo it. Anyone who then reaches for a screwdriver and a hammer damages gears, shaft and clutch basket.

Using the Puch Maxi and the Kreidler Florett as examples, this guide shows how to hold the clutch, undo the nut, pull the hub off the taper with the puller and what to check before reassembly.

Where the clutch sits: Puch Maxi and Kreidler

The Puch Maxi has a centrifugal clutch. It sits behind the clutch cover on a taper on the shaft and is held by a nut. As you pull away, flyweights push the linings outwards against the drum and the drive closes by itself. To remove it, you have to undo the nut and pull the hub off the taper.

The Kreidler Florett and the Flory have a hand operated multiplate clutch running in oil. It sits in the clutch cover and is driven through the primary drive. Here too a nut holds the clutch on the shaft, and here too the hub sits on a taper. The difference from the Maxi: the clutch consists of a pack of friction and steel plates pressed together by springs.

In both cases the same applies: the nut only holds the clutch in position. The torque is transmitted by the taper through friction. A taper will not release by pulling on it by hand, nor by levering at the edge, only through a central axial force.

Why the hub will not come off without a puller

The tapered faces of shaft and hub are ground so that they wedge together fully under the nut. The longer the machine is ridden, the tighter the fit becomes. Lever behind the clutch and you tilt the hub on the taper. It then jams even harder, and the leverage goes into the shaft, the bearings behind it and the casing.

A hammer blow on the end of the shaft upsets the thread and drives through into the bearings. On the Puch Maxi the gearbox sits behind the shaft, and its bearings will not take blows. The clutch puller Puch Maxi screws into the hub and presses centrally on the end of the shaft with a hardened pressure pin. The pin protects the shaft because it feeds the force in at the centre and does not widen the centring bore.

Holding it: holding tool or piston support block

As you undo the clutch nut, the clutch turns with it. You need something to lock it. Two ways are clean.

The clutch holding tool Kreidler engages in the clutch and braces itself without loading teeth or linings. On Florett, Flory and related models it locks the clutch directly at the component. The force from the spanner goes into the tool and not into the primary drive.

The piston support block Kreidler works from the other side of the engine. With the cylinder off, you place the block between piston and casing and lock the crankshaft with it. The block is shaped so that it supports the piston below the rings and does not touch the piston rings. That lets you undo the clutch nut on the crankshaft without any tool engaging in the clutch. It is the right choice when the cylinder is off anyway, for instance during an engine rebuild.

What is not clean: a screwdriver in the teeth of the primary drive, a rag between the gears or an engaged gear. The screwdriver breaks tooth edges out, the rag is unpredictable, and the gear feeds the breakaway torque through the gearbox gears.

Puch Maxi: removing the clutch step by step

1. Remove the clutch cover

   Unbolt the cover, keep the gasket safe. If the clutch runs in oil, drain the oil first. Clean the cover and the sealing face.

2. Hold the clutch

   Lock the clutch with a suitable holder. Check in the workshop manual for your machine whether the nut has a right hand or a left hand thread before you apply any force.

3. Undo the nut

   Bend the lock back or remove it, undo the nut with a ring spanner or a socket. Put the nut and the washer to one side.

4. Screw the puller in

   Screw the clutch puller into the thread in the hub by hand until it beds. The thread has to engage over its full length. Check that the pressure pin sits centrally on the end of the shaft.

5. Tighten the spindle

   Hold the puller and tighten the spindle evenly. The taper releases with a crack. If it does not release, leave the tension on and give the spindle head a short tap.

6. Take the clutch off

   Unscrew the puller, lift the clutch off the shaft. Watch out for the Woodruff key or locating parts and keep them safe. Check the taper and the hub for scoring.

Kreidler: removing the clutch step by step

1. Drain the oil and remove the cover

   Drain the gearbox oil, unbolt the clutch cover. The cover sits on dowels and has to come off squarely. Check the gasket.

2. Release the springs and the pressure plate

   Undo the clutch spring screws crosswise in several passes so that the pressure plate does not tilt. Lay the springs, the pressure plate and the plate pack out in the order they come out.

3. Fit the holding tool

   Set the clutch holding tool into the clutch and brace it. Alternatively, with the cylinder off, insert the piston support block and lock the crankshaft.

4. Undo the clutch nut

   Bend the locking tab back, undo the nut in the direction given in the manual. Replace the locking tab washer, do not reuse it.

5. Pull the hub off the taper

   Screw the correct puller as specified in the workshop manual into the hub and pull the hub centrally off the taper. Never lever.

6. Check the basket and the hub

   Check the clutch basket for the plates having hammered grooves into it. Deep notches make the plates hang up, and the clutch no longer separates cleanly.

Checking the clutch: linings, springs, traces of oil

With the clutch out, check every part before you reassemble. Measure the lining thickness with a vernier caliper and compare it with the wear limit given in the workshop manual. Linings that have a glazed shine or smell burnt are due for replacement even if the measurement is still within limits.

On a multiplate clutch, lay the steel plates on a flat surface and use a feeler gauge to check whether they are warped. Warped plates make the clutch snatch and drag. Measure the length of the springs and compare them with each other. A spring that is shorter has fatigued and is replaced with the whole set, never on its own.

On a centrifugal clutch, check the inside of the drum for scoring and blue temper colours. The flyweights must move freely and sit in their pivots without play. Traces of oil on linings that should run dry point to a leaking shaft seal. Replace it now, while the clutch is off.

Refitting: taper, torque, locking

The taper and the hub go together dry and free of grease. Clean both faces with brake cleaner and check that no scoring or rust pitting spoils the fit. Fit the clutch, watch out for the Woodruff key or locating parts and press it onto the taper by hand.

The clutch nut is tightened to the torque given in the workshop manual. Too little and the hub works on the taper until the thread or the key gives way. Too much and the shaft is overloaded. The torque calculator converts the units, and the table of tightening torques gives guide figures for thread sizes. Fit a new locking tab washer and fold the tab over.

Soak the friction plates of a multiplate clutch in fresh gearbox oil before fitting. Tighten the spring screws crosswise in several passes. Finally fit the cover with a new gasket, fill with oil and set the clutch free play at the lever as given in the manual. You will find more drivetrain tools through the tool finder, and how to change the front sprocket on the other side is covered in the guide changing the front sprocket on a moped.