This has worked for me and a few others. This route uses the stock long special cable.
Per toomanyxs1b's exhaustive cable testing; bends in the cable are your ENEMY. Note the caps, this is a big deal. One sharp bend can fuggle your clutch action. The Yamaha worm gear was never an elegant solution, add poor clutch cable routing and you will always be fighting your clutch. But get a smooth cable route, do some other maintenance 101 and she can be a pussy cat with light pull and clean action.
Yamaha changed cable routing several times through the years. There is no one correct cable route, changing bars often means changing the cable route to match them. My route includes "Almost" straightening the elbow. see here for one way to do that. I place the elbow in the vee of a piece of angle iron and use a piece of aluminum bar and hammer to do it, the trick is straighten, but not kink.
So here is one routing that works on a stock special with short bars. I'll start at the engine end.
I like the outside the carb and side cover (if you have one) route .
The elbow has been straightened quite a bit.
Depending on your tank it's crowded by the fuel line, really follow the pics for how it all lays out.
Cable goes UNDER the frame tube and on top of the engine on the RH side.
I twist the tach cable bracket a bit and run the clutch cable through it.
then inside the fork leg and up on the RH side of the iggy switch, crossing behind the switch and over to the the lever.
This seems fussy but smooth clutch action makes it worth the effort!
I'll toss on clutch cable maintenance 101
LUBE the cable! Remove cable from lever and perch, use some electric tape, wind on the cable end to make a small funnel, add oil, work the cable up and down, repeat till the cable runs smooth and easy.
If you are starting with a cable that is really bound up, TOSS it and buy new. if there is rust down inside the cable, lube won't fix it. Trust me I have seen plenty of cables beyond hope and replaced them.
Straighten the elbow. Note the stock elbow has a thin black plastic liner tube in it with a small flange that keeps it in place, if the tube drops out of the elbow and is sitting down inside the engine cover you will always have hard clutch action!
Remove and lube the lever pivot bolt. Check that the hole in the lever is not worn out, this is pretty common, no one bothered to lube the pivot. The aluminum lever gets ground oval, that reduces how far the clutch moves and adds a bunch of effort to the pull.
Here's a detailed thread on that. with a fix. Note the o-ring that should be in there to keep the lube in!
search key words; route routing clutch bind hot adjust adjustment slack tight slip drag handlebar handle bar bars handlebars bend bent bends worm screw nut ball tight tank rust oil lube cable nylon rod seal
Per toomanyxs1b's exhaustive cable testing; bends in the cable are your ENEMY. Note the caps, this is a big deal. One sharp bend can fuggle your clutch action. The Yamaha worm gear was never an elegant solution, add poor clutch cable routing and you will always be fighting your clutch. But get a smooth cable route, do some other maintenance 101 and she can be a pussy cat with light pull and clean action.
Yamaha changed cable routing several times through the years. There is no one correct cable route, changing bars often means changing the cable route to match them. My route includes "Almost" straightening the elbow. see here for one way to do that. I place the elbow in the vee of a piece of angle iron and use a piece of aluminum bar and hammer to do it, the trick is straighten, but not kink.
So here is one routing that works on a stock special with short bars. I'll start at the engine end.
I like the outside the carb and side cover (if you have one) route .
The elbow has been straightened quite a bit.
Depending on your tank it's crowded by the fuel line, really follow the pics for how it all lays out.
Cable goes UNDER the frame tube and on top of the engine on the RH side.
I twist the tach cable bracket a bit and run the clutch cable through it.
then inside the fork leg and up on the RH side of the iggy switch, crossing behind the switch and over to the the lever.
This seems fussy but smooth clutch action makes it worth the effort!
I'll toss on clutch cable maintenance 101
LUBE the cable! Remove cable from lever and perch, use some electric tape, wind on the cable end to make a small funnel, add oil, work the cable up and down, repeat till the cable runs smooth and easy.
If you are starting with a cable that is really bound up, TOSS it and buy new. if there is rust down inside the cable, lube won't fix it. Trust me I have seen plenty of cables beyond hope and replaced them.
Straighten the elbow. Note the stock elbow has a thin black plastic liner tube in it with a small flange that keeps it in place, if the tube drops out of the elbow and is sitting down inside the engine cover you will always have hard clutch action!
Remove and lube the lever pivot bolt. Check that the hole in the lever is not worn out, this is pretty common, no one bothered to lube the pivot. The aluminum lever gets ground oval, that reduces how far the clutch moves and adds a bunch of effort to the pull.
Here's a detailed thread on that. with a fix. Note the o-ring that should be in there to keep the lube in!
search key words; route routing clutch bind hot adjust adjustment slack tight slip drag handlebar handle bar bars handlebars bend bent bends worm screw nut ball tight tank rust oil lube cable nylon rod seal
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