Clutch Adjustment Woes

[MaxPete]

Ahhhhh...I'd missed that little tidbit. Thx!

 

[Hitndahedfred]

I have a 75 XS650 that I purchased about six months ago. About 7,500 miles on the bike. Bike runs great but suffers from the typical clutch adjustment issues. To be able to get enough disengagement to find neutral, now has no free play so some slippage . Adjust the free play and now can't find neutral . Thinking that perhaps a new cable, and actuator might improve my travel some, I ordered parts.
This morning I took the side cover off , replaced the actuator with a new Mikes XS unit, and replaced the cable with a new lubed up Motion Pro cable. Now same problem,,,, even worse! Requires twice the effort at the lever, and can't get enough travel no matter how I adjust. Start the bike, and put it into gear and the bike is wanting to crawl forward. Needless to say frustrating!!!!!!!!!!
I have one of the Pit Bike Hydraulic kits and the instructions from Hughs Hand built on how to install , at the ready. If this will fix my problem I'm all in,,,, however if I end up with the same outcome,,,,, I will set fire to the bike out of revenge.
Any advice, or insight is appreciated.

========================================================================
Before doing anything that anyone suggests.
Have you reset everything to nil?
I mean,,
have you threaded in your perch adjustment?
have you released the adjustment on the sideplate to free/no pressure?
I went through this issue with mine and in reality the clutch is fairly easy to dial in once you adjust it correctly.
There are many GOOD threads here on this.
But you MUST start with everything "backed out" to do it correctly.

 

[mrmach5]

Thanks for the clarification Twins,,,,, I'm all set now. I have almost as many sets of those calipers, as I do reading glasses! Great for quick work that does not require close tolerances. If this works out well, I might do my 74 TX650 as well, it does not suffer from the difficulty in finding neutral, but hard lever effort, although it is not near as bad as this 75 XS.
Thanks again

 

[mrmach5]

Yes, I am familiar with the adjustment process, and started from nil. Just could not get a happy medium. Then my attempt to fix it with a new Mikes XS actuator only worsened it due to the design that netted me less mechanical advantage than I had to start with. I'll let you all know how this works out, however won't have a chance to work on it till next weekend.

 

[5twins]

The stiff lever pull is usually related to cable routing and lack of cable lubrication. You don't want any sharp bends in the cable and you have to keep it oiled well. I used to use motor oil and oil mine once a year. This year I tried STP and I must say, it seems to be working great. Getting that thick stuff into the cable can be an issue though, unless you have one of these .....

 

[mrmach5]

I will make sure the cable is good and lubed up,,,, however the actuator mounting surface could be one of my culprits as well according to all the info on the tech page correct? When I mounted the actuator (previous to reading the tech article ) I tighten the screws pretty tight and probably did not check for binding.

 

[5twins]

Yes, that could be a factor as well.

 

[mrmach5]

The 1L9 XS400 actuator arrived and installed it this afternoon as per Twins directions. . Lubed up the cable with motor oil and I'm back in business. Good clutch travel, able to get neutral , and lots less effort at the lever.
Thanks for all the info and help!!

 

[MaxPete]

Doherty Hydraulic Cable Luber - gotta get me one of those!!!

 

[5twins]

I had to send off to England for it, not easy to find here on this side of the pond. Beware of inferior quality copies. Get the actual branded "Doherty" if you can.

 

[MaxPete]

Thx - great info!