Weird clutch cable issue

Hi everyone.

I'm almost there with my GT550 (early sort of Z550) project, and I want to actually test ride the bike now, but I have one major issue left. I thought this one would be an easy one to figure out, but I can't make head nor tail of it.

I have an issue with my clutch cable (I think).

Symptoms: Very, very stiff clutch pull (you need to be a strong man to manage it with one hand). Pulling it causes the business end of the cable (where it's supposed to attach to the clutch) to move just a few millimetres. Clutch cable has not responded to my attempts to adjust it.

How do I know it's not a stuck clutch? I pulled the clutch cover off and freed off the plates individually, and soaked them in fresh motorcycle oil before putting it all back together. When the clutch engagement rod is pulled with a spanner (with cable disconnected), it moves and you can feel the springs. It's a light clutch.

What makes me suspect the clutch cable? The disconnected clutch cable (from the clutch side) is still just as hard to pull with the clutch lever, even though the clutch isn't providing the resistance.

This is proving a headache because I can't get my head around this weird clutch cable. It seems to be in 3 parts:
1) One cable goes from the clutch lever to a cassette mechanism. There is a normal adjustment point at the clutch lever and a nut you can undo which is at the mechanism. I don't know what that nut does.
2) Another cable goes from the cassette mechanism all the way around the front of the engine and down to the side-stand. At the side-stand there is a nut-type adjuster for this cable. When you slacken it, the clutch lever gets looser BUT the side-stand doesn't flick back up (as it's also connected to the side-stand spring). Now, while the clutch lever gets looser in the hand, pulling it still doesn't cause the third cable to really move at all. Onto the third cable..
3) The third cable is the shortest of the them all, going from the cassette to the clutch engagement pinion rod.

I can't make sense of how this works. It isn't described in my Haynes, but it might be in the factory manual (which I don't have).

I find this contraption bizarre. I've tried many things, trying to work out how it works, but haven't removed it. 3 possibilities:
1) A frayed wire or dirt inside one of the cables or the cassette mechanism, requiring one or all 3 cables to need replacement.
2) It's way out of adjustment at one or more of the several points (at clutch lever or cassette or at the clutch side or at the side stand), and in combo, these prevent it working.
3) The whole thing is just set up wrong.

Problem:
Searched for this weird cable arrangement online, with a view to replacing it, but according to our UK big parts store (Wemoto) the replacement cable for my exact model and year of bike is a normal, simple clutch cable, not a 3-part arrangement. Plus I can't see anything like what I have on Ebay and the like.

Ideal solution:
Buying a replacement cable, ditching the weird arrangement.

My proposed plan:
Remove it and fit a temporary simple single cable (direct from clutch lever to the clutch), with nothing attached to the side-stand but the spring, to see if it works any better.

Any pointers or advice please?

Many thanks

Photos might help, especially of the cassette mechanism > not sure what you mean. I would compare the bike to various other KZ550 shaft models at Partzilla to see if your clutch & engine covers etc are the same, then make any appropriate changes. Is the side stand "cable" a control cable or is it just wiring to a side stand switch?


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No worries, solved it, thanks anyway!

I had all of today to finally iron out all the niggles like this one. I just wasn't thinking it through when I approached it.

Basically, the clutch engagement rod needed to be pulled a little more, and the cable wasn't transmitting the force from my hand. Couldn't figure it out. After posting this Q, I read up on lost ball bearings and such. I wanted to be sure I hadn't lost any ball bearing that was supposed to be seated inside the slot in the rod.
I then went to the bike, disconnected the cable and pulled the rod and inspected it. Seemed in order. Then I thought, may as well remove the cable completely and examine it to see how it worked. The clutch-pulling cable, I found, was fine, not frayed or bunged up, and it operates independently from the side-stand cable.

I figured it out: the side-stand cable is just a nanny gimmick to stop you riding the bike away in second, third, fourth, etc. with the side stand down... It's unnecessary and has no bearing on the clutch.
I also discovered that there's a secondary cable adjuster next to the cassette. I adjusted this, and found I could shorten the clutch-side cable considerably more (it was all the way in, so the cable was at its max length). I did this, refitted the cable, adjusted it at the lever, and all was well.
The clutch operates perfectly.

Okay. I'd still be interested in some pics >> the cassette mechanism & 3rd cable have piqued my curiosity.



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No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationFound it online. It's one of these:



The cable that's wrapped in steel spring is the one that snakes around the front of the engine and goes to the side-stand, where it can be adjusted for tension.
The black box part is the cassette mechanism device to which all 3 cables are connected. This device has a long nut on one end, which can be wound out or in to shorten the active clutch cable. The long nut is followed by a locking nut.

Looks to me like that is a cumbersome version of a side stand safety switch. If so, it’s purpose is to prevent riding away with the side stand deployed by preventing the clutch from disengaging so you cannot shift into gear .
Rube Goldberg is alive and well.

The topic title should have been Issue with Weird clutch cable. :laugh:

I found an old topic afterwards yesterday in which someone mentioned that type of clutch side stand cable. weird.


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