freewheel clutch seized

never had my older models apart that far. sorry, can't help you.

Did the same thing on my 99 fe600 it is quite a big job to remove and replace the early starter sprague clutches req separating the cases .
An easy fix is to put the bike in a high gear and roll the bike backwards with the reduction gear jammed with a screwdriver i think i cant remember but taffy told me how to do this many years ago as i have not had a berg for close on 3 years now hope this helps .

Cheers doug

Mine on the '98 locked up the same a few years back. The battery was getting low and barely spinning the engine. It kicked back against the electric starter & the sprague locked - I assume it went over-centre.

We were just getting ready to go for a ride so I just pulled out the starter intermediate gear - in behind the 3-bolt plate on the RHS - and went out for the day using the kickstart. After we got back I pulled the plate off again to have another look & the sprague had come good again!! I guess the rotatonal vibration of the engine shook it loose??

All I did was put the intermediate gear back in, charged up the battery & it has been OK ever since - although I'm kinda expecting it to happen again sometime. A 4mm allen key will remove the intermediate gear anytime in about 5 minutes so I always make sure I carry one.

I have re-tensioned the flyweight spring on the decompressor since then and the electric start seems to work reliably now. Have never had the engine out to check the sprague.

Since you already have the balancer shaft out, all I can suggest is more torque to get it to go back over-centre again. Maybe warming the sprague outer drum part of the shaft (not too hot or it will bugger it) with the starter gear cooled should help relieve some of the tension when you spanner it. Have you tried rotating it in both directions?