Clutch not fully disengaging

Just some random thoughts and guessing.

Perhaps pushrod is sticking inside its corridor. Could remove, clean, lube and replace the pushrod, being careful not to lose the small ball bearing.

Or maybe the interior part of the clutch cable is frayed or damaged within the sheath so as to be "stretching" a little when the handlebar lever is squeezed.

Or maybe the threads on the adjustment screw or lock nut are partially stripped or worn, whereby the adjustment position is failing to hold.

Or maybe the cover itself is damaged or flexing outward when the handlebar lever is squeezed, whereby the adjustment screw is prevented from pushing inward the entire distance as designed. This could also result from a loose or thread-damaged case screw or the female threads it screws into.

Is clutch basket properly assembled? Warped or damaged plates? Uneven spring tension? Housing sticking on drive shaft?

Good Luck!

Ok, try this for I just replaced my clutch plates & springs and the first time through it would not fully disengage as well.... The cable pull was extremely tight (almost two hands required to pull in).... So obviously something was binding up...

NOTE: Since I just had replaced my clutch plates and springs, possible something such as the springs were binding... I loosened, removed, inserted back in, and torqued in the spring bolts via the manuals specified procedure....

Cable Adjustments:
Totally loosen 100% all slack in the cable via the hand control nut and middle cable adjuster.

Then with the cover plate nut & screw.... Loosen the nut and back the screw out 3-4 turns...

Then pop (pull in and release) the handle bar clutch lever a couple of times....

Then screw in the cover plate screw just till you just feel it make contact with the clutch push rod... Lock the nut down...

Then with the mid adjuster, adjust where all slack is removed leaving ~ 1/4" at the thumb screw at the hand lever...

Then with the clutch hand lever knurled nut and thumbscrew, adjust where the remaining slack is removed leaving ~ 1/16 to 1/8" at the thumb screw...

Pull in and pop a couple of times...
Leave in gear and just tap the starter motor...
Does it lurch forward? Adjust accordingly.

Put into neutral, start the motor.
While holding the front break, pull in the clutch and shift into first.....

Lurch forward? Adjust accordingly, if not... should be good to go. Release the lever just a tad, you should feel the bike wanting to move forward...

Lock the mid adjuster two end nuts.


Ok, maybe you have something else going on but this is the exact procedure I followed the second time in my cable adjustments and smooth as silk once again...

OMR

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm going to start investigating them as soon as I get time.

How far is the clutch lever normally supposed to travel before the clutch is fully disengaged?

Also, I have been over this adjusting procedure so many times, but maybe I am doing the same thing over and over again. To verify, to completely loosen the cable I want to have all 3 mid-cable nuts as close together as possible, and the same goes for the hand lever nuts, right? The farther apart they are the less slack the cable has?

That's my understanding too. The adjusters are used to take up the slack as clutch plates wear/cable stretches to the point that the mechanism is re-adjusted and the process starts over again.

I thought I should update this thread in case someone else with the problem comes across it.

I ended up making too many changes at once, so I don't know what really solved my problem.

I changed the 4 bolts for the engine cover with new bolts and washers. As I said above, it looked like the old ones were getting pretty worn and possibly stretched.

I also changed the oil, which I guess I should have done way before. The old stuff was pretty thick. This could have been causing a problem at the plates.

I also readjusted the cable slack. I followed the same procedure as I always did.

I am not sure if I mentioned the following in my previous messages. My test for the clutch not disengaging was to put the bike into first gear (while not running). I would then try to push the bike to ensure it was in gear; the bike wouldn't move. Then I would pull the clutch lever all the way in to disengage the clutch and attempt to push the bike. It was difficult to move the bike, so I assumed it was only slipping.

After making the above changes, I decided to start the bike and really see what was going on. The clutch works fine. Additionally, I realized I did not have to pull the clutch in nearly as far as I was. I think something may in fact be wrong with the lever, though I have not disassembled it to investigate. That will happen when I get new handlebars.

Hopefully this helps out someone else who stumbles upon this message. I know I kept finding messages about the same problem but without a conclusion.

Thanks to those of you who gave me suggestions or ideas on this problem.

kz750saskatoon wrote:

I hope the OP doesn't mind me hijacking this thread with my own clutch problem. It is similar to what he is experiencing.

Last October, my clutch cable snapped. I ordered a new cable and installed it. Cable is the correct length, I will explain why below. I adjusted it per the Clymer's manual (had a friend do it too to see if I was misinterpreting the instructions). Problem seemed to be that the clutch would not disengage completely.

From some advice here, I removed the throw-out mechanism, completely disassembled it, cleaned it, greased everything that needed to be greased, and put it back together. Reinstalled the cable, re-did adjustments, and still the same result. Clutch does not disengage completely.

After becoming very familiar with the throw-out mechanism, I left the case adjuster cover off to see what was happening to it as I pulled the clutch lever. I can see that it is rotating. However, it does not rotate enough. It only travels about half of its possible lateral distance (into/away from the engine body).

On the handlebars, the clutch lever hits the handgrip so I can not pull the cable anymore. It seems like if the lever could pull the cable more, the throw-out mechanism would rotate completely and the clutch would disengage.

The cable is the correct length, I believe because when I have it adjusted, a millimeter or so of pulling the lever starts the throw-out mechanism to start rotating.

The handlebars do not appear bent or otherwise disfigured. They are the stock (as far as I know) handlebars. They look similar to the bars seen on this bike, just my grips are different (linked for giant picture): chopsueycycles.com/images/dscf0761.jpg

So I am stumped. I am almost sure my problem is somewhere between the lever and the throw-out mechanism. I am open to any suggestions. I have a couple pictures of the handlebars and levers I can upload after work if that will help.

Thanks in advance!

Had the same problem last year as you did, make sure that the throwout is installed properly. my problem was that the breakover point was not in the proper location, it was on top and was supposed to be on bottom or just the opposite, whichever it was, changing the breakover point fixed the problem