Yet Another Clutch Mod. Thread

[Bushyeyed1]

I mean who doesn't like one forearm bigger than the other, lol. Nice job on the modification!

 

[Jim]

I mean who doesn't like one forearm bigger than the other, lol. Nice job on the modification!

Right... symmetry is highly overrated. The forearms of my youth would laugh at the idea of an "easy" clutch pull.

Me in the first gulf war (1991)

 

[Mailman]

Right... symmetry is highly overrated. The forearms of my youth would laugh at the idea of an "easy" clutch pull.

Me in the first gulf war (1991)
View attachment 165634

Haha! No grey in that mustache! Ah...the good old days!

 

[billy icon]

very cool JIM. I thought my life long mechanics hands where worn haha, I had a chick ask me how iold I was a week ago I said guees, she said let me see your hands... she guessed 10 years over, thats what we get for working for a living,
'
so Im not going to spoil it yet, but in my engine build thread I will show what "conversion" ive been doing with all the xs bikes I build, and it makes the clutch sooooo easy and smooth to pul you cant even belive it, its a suprise, stay tuned

 

[billy icon]

camel spiders?

 

[Jim]

camel spiders?

... and scorpions and foot long centipedes...
To this day I still shake my boots out before I put 'em on.

 

[Jim]

so Im not going to spoil it yet, but in my engine build thread I will show what "conversion" ive been doing with all the xs bikes I build, and it makes the clutch sooooo easy and smooth to pul you cant even belive it, its a suprise, stay tuned

In school we had a name for girls like you.

 

[wannabridin]

Yeah... comment #1009.

Ah nice, thanks for the details from the past!

 

[Jim]

I got the springtime wake-up chores done.... well, mostly. Good enough to give it a test anyway. After warming it up for a few minutes, I dropped it into first and got a definite thunk instead of it's normal click. I played with the adjusters on the perch and the actuator and finally got it to the point where it would go into and out of gear fairly easy... but not as easy as it used to do. Toodled 'round the hood for about 30 min. Back roads... lots of stop and go... got it nice and hot and it stayed about the same. Played with adjustment some more and got it to the point where neutral was fairly easy to find... again, not as easy as it used to be... but tolerable. Here's the problem though, adjustment is on a hairs edge. Any movement one way or the other will cause either slipping or drag... there's no margin on either side. I'm guessin that adjustment would be a constant, almost daily battle.
So.... on to V.2. I'll TIG the hole closed and re-drill it at 45mm. That's still 10mm better than the existing 35mm length.
As far as riding and shifting, it was almost effortless. Like a hot knife thru butter.

 

[MaxPete]

I got the springtime wake-up chores done.... well, mostly. Good enough to give it a test anyway. After warming it up for a few minutes, I dropped it into first and got a definite thunk instead of it's normal click. I played with the adjusters on the perch and the actuator and finally got it to the point where it would go into and out of gear fairly easy... but not as easy as it used to do. Toodled 'round the hood for about 30 min. Back roads... lots of stop and go... got it nice and hot and it stayed about the same. Played with adjustment some more and got it to the point where neutral was fairly easy to find... again, not as easy as it used to be... but tolerable. Here's the problem though, adjustment is on a hairs edge. Any movement one way or the other will cause either slipping or drag... there's no margin on either side. I'm guessin that adjustment would be a constant, almost daily battle.
So.... on to V.2. I'll TIG the hole closed and re-drill it at 45MM. That's still 10MM better than the existing 35MM length.
As far as riding and shifting, it was almost effortless. Like a hot knife thru butter.

Interesting - and good info. Glad you are getting out on the bike a bit Jim.

Pete

 

[billy icon]

In school we had a name for girls like you.

lol who me? I almost want to show you guys my conversion just so no one wasted anymore time and effort fiddling with these things, I do think all the mods to the worm drive are good and the different length on the actuator helps too, but my first time doing my "MOD" was out of necessity and the parts I had, and I only did it like I said to get to have a clutch with what I had, and the first pull I was amazed, and getting a good clean easy to find neutral was easier from then on too... I can spoil the fun..but I think when this one gets built the photos showing how I do it will be more better

 

[5twins]

Well, pictures will certainly be better than your writing, your posts are very hard to read and understand. Quit teasing us and show us "the goods" already.

 

[billy icon]

is it that bad for real, I know i have horrible grammar? but are they really hard to understand,? I will work on it, sorry I usually write these at the end of the work day when Im tired, and I look back on them the NeXT day and ask myself who wrote that a 5 year old Chinese kid. spell corrector helps with the spelling but isn't nothing gonna help my grammar, hopefully i can make up for the retardation with some funny moments and a bit of knowlege

and that's the thing is I don't have one apart to show you , but I will dismantle the one I did last time and show you guys how I went about it,

 

[Jim]

So... time for an update. Pulled the clutch actuator back out and filled the 50mm hole in. I don't remember who or where it was brought up, but there was a discussion recently about welding holes closed in relatively thin steel. I shared a trick an old welder showed me, so here's a pic of it. Clamp the sheet to a chunk of brass or copper. In this case, an old regulator valve body made of brass. fill the hole, grind it flat... flip it over and do it again. The piece never melts away 'cause the brass draws some of the heat off, and steel rod won't stick to the brass.

Re-drilled the hole at 45mm and put it all back together.

Pull is almost as easy as the 50mm length. Haven't tested it yet... unseasonably crappy weather... and more coming. Soon as I get to ride it I'll do an update.

 

[Mailman]

Nice work! I’m betting you’re gonna like it!

 

[2XSive]

Awesome tip Jim. I filed that one away in my memory bank. Looking good Jim!

 

[5twins]

I've changed the cotter pins to hitch pins in many spots on the bike, the worm being one of them .....

 

[Mailman]

I've changed the cotter pins to hitch pins in many spots on the bike, the worm being one of them .....

Ive been meaning to do exactly that. There are so many locations that you have to pull that cotter pin for maintenance, I go through a lot of them!

 

[Jim]

So... looks like my last post was back in May 2020... oops... forgot all about this thread. Thanks for the memory jog @Mailman

I've run the bike two season now with the last configuration tried (comment #34)... that's the 45mm arm. Very happy with it. Pull is light (for our XS') and no clutch slip or drag. There is a lot of lever there, so the initial adjustment is a bit finicky, but once I got it dialed in it works just fine and doesn't change much, hot or cold. Shifting, including neutral is easy with no clunkiness. I'd attribute that more to the excellent Motion Pro cable than anything.

Still waiting on @billy icon to spill the beans on his super duper clutch actuator.

Two years is a looong tease.

Coming this spring, my next try at improving the clutch for us old arthritis challenged folk...

I'm happy with the current pull force, but it's almost a full lever. Very little left over on either end of engaged/disengaged. I'm hoping to cut that in half while keeping the light pull. The Enfield actuator uses ball bearings. Should be much smoother than the plastic worm setup. Stay tuned.

 

[AUTOMAN]

So... looks like my last post was back in May 2020... oops... forgot all about this thread. Thanks for the memory jog @Mailman

I've run the bike two season now with the last configuration tried (comment #34)... that's the 45mm arm. Very happy with it. Pull is light (for our XS') and no clutch slip or drag. There is a lot of lever there, so the initial adjustment is a bit finicky, but once I got it dialed in it works just fine and doesn't change much, hot or cold. Shifting, including neutral is easy with no clunkiness. I'd attribute that more to the excellent Motion Pro cable than anything.

Still waiting on @billy icon to spill the beans on his super duper clutch actuator. View attachment 207399
Two years is a looong tease.

Coming this spring, my next try at improving the clutch for us old arthritis challenged folk...


View attachment 207400


I'm happy with the current pull force, but it's almost a full lever. Very little left over on either end of engaged/disengaged. I'm hoping to cut that in half while keeping the light pull. The Enfield actuator uses ball bearings. Should be much smoother than the plastic worm setup. Stay tuned.

You boys look in tech section?
8# 11# 15# vs. 29# 45# is the accept or reject limits?

cliff