hard clutch pull

[Mikey]

A few days ago I took out my 75 just to get it out and run it a bit
As soon as I took off I noticed that the clutch lever was pretty tough to pull I could do it but it was a big change since I last went for a ride
I thought well maybe the cable had gone bad ( I doubted it would happen that quickly but...)
Lubed up a new Motion Pro cable and installed it and same thing I had the tank off and the cable seems to be routed correctly
Could a clutch basket spring or 2 have broke ?
Since it needs an oil change right sides coming open ( I also added the additional clutch plate last year too)
I also noticed when I was putting the left side back on it seemed that the bolts went in slightly harder than any of them have in the past
Time to take a look and see what surprises I find
First off time to go help out a friend ( he's the friend who lost all 10 toes and 3 fingers to flesh eating bacteria)
He needs hand rails installed in their new house to be able to get around safer
But when I get back it's time for the old parts replacer to figure it out I think this shouldn't be beyond my comfort zone as I've had the clutch basket out a few times
Lets see what I find

 

[gggGary]

Pics, blanket it with pics!

 

[5twins]

Did you clean and grease the worm and the clutch lever pilot? They're both part of the operating process.

 

[5twins]

Another thing to look at is the hole in the cover where the worm mounts. Pretty much all I've seen have a ridge around the hole. This holds the mounting ears up off the cover .....

If you tighten the worm mounting screws much past snug, that can pull the ears down to the cover and distort the worm. That can cause binding. I "polish" the ridge away using small Roloc discs .....

 

[YamadudeXS650C]

If it was "all of a sudden", then perhaps the plastic worm cracked. Inadequate greasing of the worm can cause this.


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[YamadudeXS650C]

....also, check to see if something went wrong at the clutch lever pivot point on the handlebar.

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[grizld1]

Don't know what it is, but it isn't the primary gear damper springs. Those have no effect on pressure plate movement in a stationary motor.

 

[Mikey]

Did you clean and grease the worm and the clutch lever pilot? They're both part of the operating process.

Yep that was all cleaned up and regreased

 

[Mikey]

....also, check to see if something went wrong at the clutch lever pivot point on the handlebar.

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Yeah it's something that just came up
I'm going to start at the clutch perch and open up the left side again

 

[Mikey]

If it was "all of a sudden", then perhaps the plastic worm cracked. Inadequate greasing of the worm can cause this.


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I have to look closer to the perch and whats going on on the left side first everything was well cleaned and greased but I'll take a look at the worm gear

 

[Mikey]

Another thing to look at is the hole in the cover where the worm mounts. Pretty much all I've seen have a ridge around the hole. This holds the mounting ears up off the cover .....

View attachment 220973

If you tighten the worm mounting screws much past snug, that can pull the ears down to the cover and distort the worm. That can cause binding. I "polish" the ridge away using small Roloc discs .....

View attachment 220974

View attachment 220975

As long as I'm in there these suggestions will give me things to check until I find out what changed or just plain wore out

 

[GLJ]

As long as I'm in there these suggestions will give me things to check until I find out what changed or just plain wore out

In my case it's my left hand.

 

[bosco659]

Mikey, did you figure anything out yet?

 

[Mikey]

Not yet people sometimes want to keep me busier than I want
Hopefully this afternoon

 

[5twins]

If you do find the nylon worm part is bad, I suggest replacing it with a nice used one. The assembly that Mike's sells has a different angle on the swirls. This gives a little easier lever pull but at the expense of not as much pushrod travel or clutch plate separation. And also because of this, you can't mix and match any of the new parts with originals, they won't screw together.

If you'd like to get a couple spare nylon worm parts, you needn't limit yourself to searching for just 650 ones. This part was used on several other models, notably the XS360, 400 and 500 .....

https://www.partzilla.com/product/y...?ref=8e57f4c772a5cf9e21585bf1f084074551846d34

And if you'd like to "upgrade" the whole assembly, search for the "1L9" assembly from an XS400. The "how and why" details on this mod are here in post #65 .....

https://www.xs650.com/threads/200-special.51454/page-4

 

[gggGary]

Try routing the cable "loose" with free flowing bends only, see if pull changes.....

 

[Mikey]

Ok here's what I found so far
Took the left side case off and inspected worm gear assembly and all looked good no cracks on the nylon part no burs on where the assembly attaches to the case and everything had been greased but I cleaned it all up and regreased it all put it all back together

 

[Mikey]

Then I was wondering why the bottom of the case didn't want to go in easy and found the wire loom under the PMA unit needed to be pushed in

 

[Mikey]

And then I took off the left side airbox and re routed the clutch cable to find the best routing for the cable I then put the left side cover on loosely and the clutch pulled very easy
I then noticed that when i would pull the clutch lever in it would push the case out a little and when I had the case bolts tightened up, back to tough clutch pull again

 

[Mikey]

Heres the gap I left between the cover and the engine
This is where the lever would still pull easy yet
I also did the 8 clutch set up but I never seemed to have a problem with that