| Author | Message | ||
     Msgvb |
Hey guys, I was out riding this weekend, practicing some slow speed maneuvers in an abandoned parking lot (wheelies - cough, cough), and at the end of said practice session, I noticed my clutch lever had tightened up to the point that the lever is fully extended. it's actually a stretch to reach it. it's as if the cable has been over adjusted to the tight side. it's been fine for a year, and was fine all day until what, I realize now, was probably a brutal clutch drag session. the clutch does not engage until the lever is nearly all the way out now, and will shift with very minimal pull on the lever. it does not seem to be slipping, either. loosening cable tension would prob fix it, but I don't want to loosen it without understanding what happened, since it may "right" itself and then be too slack. I am trying to understand what could have happened. how likely is it that the clutch is toast on a bike with less than 4k miles, and typically babied except for this and some spirited runs? any ideas on what could cause it to go from a nice feel to super tight all of a sudden? (Message edited by msgvb on February 21, 2011) | ||
| Glitch |
Go ahead and adjust it, if that fixes it you just found the problem. It was out of adjustment. | ||
| Dhays1775 |
in my humble opinion, the dragging on the clutch is what caused it to engage earlier in the lever pull. just adjust it out some and you should be alright. all it did was move where the clutch engages and disengages. no big deal, especially if there is no drag from the clutch. i had an issue a while back where i would wind the bike through the rpms, and half way through third gear, it would shoot up to about 5500 rpms, then slowly slide back down until the clutch caught back up to the gears. all i did was tighten up the cable and no problems since. should be an easy issue to fix. and should only take about 10 minutes at most. | ||
| Trojan |
You will probably find that the adjuster mid way down the cable (covered by the rubber 'bellows') has managed to adjust itself during your wheelie session. If the locking nut is not secure it will gradually turn and do exactly what you have experienced. Just adjust it back to where you like it and make sure the locking nut is tight  | ||
| Tiltcylinder |
You need to adjust the actual clutch, not just the cable. See: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/384 2/228616.html?1282149354. Now is the time, the heavy use put some wear in it. If you don't adjust it down by the clutch, it's just going to end up slipping. | ||
| Ducxl |
I have a hard time believing his clutch just "went out of adjustment". Is it possible the "ramp assembly" broke away(OR is breaking away) from the primary cover? | ||
| Msgvb |
thanks for all the feedback so far, fellas. I'll have a closer look this evening and post back with my findings, and whether there's anything unusual. will have a look through the FSM on the clutch adjustment and will check the ramp. | ||
| Msgvb |
alright fellas, check it out. see anything amiss in this photo?  the cable adjuster lock nut had come loose. was able to adjust the cable and it's back to normal. ever seen this before? weird. odd thing is that even though the lock nut was loose, it was actually finger tight against the upper portion of the adjuster. | ||
| Slaughter |
See it often when locknut isn't secured. Use proper torque - not necessary to loc-tite. Glad that clutch issues are USUALLY simple adjustments! |
