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Clutch issues?

  • Thread starter Thread starter AlTheKiller
  • Start date Start date
A

AlTheKiller

Guest
When I press in the clutch and drop the bike into gear it starts wanting to pull right away even with the clutch still pulled in. When I first got the bike it did not do this but after this past winter of working on it, it's now having this issue. I have some royal purple sae 90 in it and I've tried adjusting the cable to no luck. Maybe I jut haven't adjusted it enough? Maybe it just needs to get warmed up and ridden to get the new fluid worked into the clutches?

Any suggestions or help is much appreciated.
 
sedelen said:
Surely you don't have a 90 weight oil in your crankcase? If you do it could be your clutch is dragging.
Click to expand...
That is why I asked. It is a G model, so he might have been referring to the drive system. IDK, the statement was a bit confusing.
 
I've got 15-40 in the crankcase, 75-90 in the secondary gear (I was thinking the clutches were in here but it's just for the drive shaft stuff) and 75-140 in the final.

Sorry for the confusion. Still learning.
 
The clutch discs are behind the right cover where the cable connects to the clutch arm, so they are in 15W-40, which is a good thing.
How much free play is in your clutch lever on the bars? Should be just a little (takes a bit to figure it out).
All in all, your clutch is dragging and it should not be doing that. Even when cold.
 
Super slight amount of play in it. I'll see if I can get some video. Any reason why they would drag now and not a couple months ago? I know I had it sitting for a while, while I was working on it but I wouldn't think that would be the cause.
 
19303faf.mp4


http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg165/AlTheKiller12/19303faf.mp4

When I move over to the right side and the lever isn't moving, I'm only pulling the hand lever with the free play amount first seen in the video.
 
Your lever at the bars has no play left, so it cannot be the adjustment. How new is the cable? I have seen cables stretch over time and need replacing.
Also, you may not have touched it, but your lever arm on the clutch cover appears incorrect, it should be rotated counter clockwise a notch or two. It should be parallel with the frame of the bike, or pointing straight forward instead of angled out a bit.
 
No idea how new the cable is. For all I know it's 30 years old and I haven't moved the lever arm on the cover. I'll take a look and adjust of it is not straight.

For adjusting the lever, is it as simple as lossening it, pulling it up and turning it counter clock wise a tooth or two?
 
Last edited:
AlTheKiller said:
I've got 15-40 in the crankcase, 75-90 in the secondary gear (I was thinking the clutches were in here but it's just for the drive shaft stuff) and 75-140 in the final.

Sorry for the confusion. Still learning.
Click to expand...

Use the same oil in the final that you have in the secondary. That heavy stuff is just going to get hot.

This dragging clutch is pretty common on the shafties, even with a perfectly adjusted cable. I read about it here quite often. On my 850, I even tried adjusting the cable so it never fully engaged. I just got used to not being able to select N when I wasn't moving but the engine was running. The drag was noticeably worse when the engine was cold. Then one day I had the clutch apart (I don't remember why, maybe new fibers), and when I put it back together, the drag was pretty much gone. My best guess is I put the plates back in some way that allowed the stack of plates to open more freely. I can get N when sitting still now.

So, I'd start with the cable. If the drag is still excessive, you'll have to look into the clutch basket itself.
 
Thanks for the tip with the final drive oil and the info on the clutches. I'll have to wait till Friday to play with it more. About to leave work and tomorrow is my day off.
 
AlTheKiller said:
No idea how new the cable is. For all I know it's 30 years old and I haven't moved the lever arm on the cover. I'll take a look and adjust of it is not straight.

For adjusting the lever, is it as simple as lossening it, pulling it up and turning it counter clock wise a tooth or two?
Click to expand...

Try the screw adjusters at either end of the cable first. If you can't get slack in the cable with those, then you'll need to move the lever. If there's tension on the cable, it'll be a bear getting it off. Use some large pliers to actuate the clutch until you get enough slack to take the pin out of the arm. Once you have the pin out, you can loosen the arm, lift it off, and put it back on in another position. When it's all together correctly, there should be just a little slack. Something like 1-2mm measured at the perch on the handlebar. The service manual should have a picture of this.

I'm going to disagree with the Kid on the position of the lever. Some of the shafties do correctly have the lever pointing off-axis to the bike. The lever should be perpendicular to the cable when the lever is halfway through its travel or a little more. I can't view your video here, so I can't verify the setup on your bike myself. He may mean that for your bike it should be parallel to the direction of motion, which could be right. But not in general.
 
Dogma said:
....I'm going to disagree with the Kid on the position of the lever. Some of the shafties do correctly have the lever pointing off-axis to the bike. The lever should be perpendicular to the cable when the lever is halfway through its travel or a little more. I can't view your video here, so I can't verify the setup on your bike myself. He may mean that for your bike it should be parallel to the direction of motion, which could be right. But not in general.
Click to expand...
That is O.K. Dale. You know my devotion to shafties, right?
I was going by my GS, and even the lever is in the opposite direction, so my results may well be invalid.
 
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