81 kz650 H1 clutch/adjustment/cable/plates issues

Hi I picked up an 82 kz650 H1. the clutch cable was broken. I purshased a new one but I can seem to make it work.

I have never worked on a clutch before so bare with me.
but thanks in advance for any assistance.

basically when I take the left cover off the bike, I see the Push rod there, where I assume the Clutch slave cylinder would push in to it then release tension on the other side for the Tension plates. But I can't even push that rod in with my hand ( how hard should it be to push it in) it seems to bottom out when it hits the lifter(for pressure plate) on the other side .

I am able to pull out the rod, all looks fine. I greases it , tried again. no go

I even opened up the clutch casing and cleaned all the clutch plates. No go.

Maybe i should not be able to push in the rod by hand?
please advise.( i just figured if i can't do it with my hand how can the slave cylinder do it?

I also think I have an issue with the cable adjustment screw/nut .

You can't push the rod with your fingers. There's probably a couple hundred pounds or more of pressure there needed to push the rod. If you look at the clutch lever, you'll see it's pulled in 3" to 1/4" of cable movement more or less, then there's you're worm drive reduction down at the engine that reduces the ratio even more. So 3" of lever travel reduces to 1/8" to 1/16" as a guess at the actual clutch pack. So you pull the clutch lever it's still a pretty healthy pull. You can mutiply that many times at the pushrod itself.

how did you clean clutch plates?...they should be oily...got the manual for bike?....there is a specific
sequence for properly adj clutch....i dont know if the smaller bikes are the same, but adj at clutch cover first after closing up midway adj all the way and lever adj most of the way....at clutch cover undo lock nut and unscrew the screw a few turns and then tighten till its tight and back off 1/2 turn..tighten locknut.....then go to mid-adj and open it up till the slack is gone and adj knob at lever till ya got about an 1/8 th freeplay...like is said this is for the 900-1000...yours may differ.....i dont think you are gonna be able to push that rod by hand...mechanical levers and cables make it possible...hope this helps....keith

It requires a pretty significant force to disengage the clutch via the pushrod. It is more likely a cable adjustment. You are mentioning a slave cylinder, but I think it should be a ball & ramp mechanism, like this:



What kind of bars are on your bike? Is it an LTD model? If a previous owner has swapped in lower bars, you're going to end up with the wrong clutch cable if you ordered it by bike type. I think when I replaced mine, I had to go with a dirtbike cable or something.

here is the diagram of the clutch system on my bike.

I', getting more and more convinced my problem is the clutch adjustment..

if I out the left clutch cover on just to see If when I sqeeze he clutch hands the Lifter on the other sides moves..
nothing not even a budge.

I will post some pics in a few minutes

here is the diagram of the clutch system on my bike.

I'm getting more and more convinced my problem is the clutch adjustment..



I will post some pics in a few minutes

i m having trouble with the translating...:laugh:

more pics...
can anyone tell me the correct sequence to get the slack out of the clutch cable?

I did all of the above 3 times on my1982 kz 550 h1 and now it won't engage at all. Anyone know what might cause that? All gears just like neutral.

I did all of the above 3 times on my1982 kz 550 h1 and now it won't engage at all. Anyone know what might cause that? All gears just like neutral.

In what direction are you turning the clutch release adjusting screw. On some 80s models it should be counter-clockwise first until hard to turn, then clockwise 1/4 or 1/2 turn. It's kind of counterintuitive. My 81 KZ650-CSR is counterclockwise first, then 1/4 turn cw.

Nathanb wrote: I did all of the above 3 times on my1982 kz 550 h1 and now it won't engage at all. Anyone know what might cause that? All gears just like neutral.

Here is the factory service manual. See what it recommends.

www.kzrider.com/modules/ServiceManuals/Kz400500550_79to83.pdf