Some of y'all might know that I've been trying to adapt a rocker clutch pedal to a hydraulic master cylinder and Rivera hydraulic transmission side cover. It hasn't been the easiest job, so far.

First try was when I bought a V-Twin (aka Taiwan Tedd) rocker clutch kit for a Softail. It was pretty poorly designed and even more poorly made. The bracket to mount the pedal assembly had some missing holes. The bracket to align and hold the cable didn't. I modified both and got it working. I made my own hand shifter. I rode it for a about 6 months and a weld on the clutch pedal broke. Forty miles from the house. 10 PM. I made it home by running stop signs and a light or two, and banging it into gear with a little throttle jockeying. Fixed the busted weld, and went back riding. Finally the cable adjuster broke in the middle of the threaded portion. A new cable was backordered, so I went back to the hand clutch.

Second try was the decision to go hydraulic. I'd seen many suicide clutch setups, and a few were hydraulic. Met a couple guys online, Buck of Goblin Millworx & FabKevin, who wanted to try and prototype the unit. I supplied the rocker pedal and a master cylinder, and he and another guy fabbed a bracket and the linkage. I put it on the bike, but couldn't operate it as it required way too much force. Additionally, it operated backwards from an original rocker, which is toe down for clutch engaged & heel down for disengaged. Sent it back for some modifications, including a smaller bore master cylinder.

Third try was done last night. He sent a Performance Machine high $$ master cylinder, and extended the mounting forward to give me more leverage. I installed it, bled the system, and still couldn't operate it. Couldn't use the the extended mount as it allowed the brake line and speedo cable to hit the master cylinder. It wouldn't have mattered as I've come to the conclusion the angle of the leg, ankle, and foot won't allow me to develop the required force to work the thing safely. Oh, and the Taiwan Tedd rocker pedal's shaft is getting rounded where it goes through the operating arm.

So we're now ready to go for the fourth try. Buck wants to extend and raise the foot pedal to give more leverage. I recommended reversing the operation of the pedal to allow the heel to engage the clutch as per an original rocker setup. The leverage of the leg/ankle/foot allows for a stronger application that way. Buck has also made some new rocker pedal shafts and is having them properly hardened. We'll see what works out.

I'm off to the shop to swap back to the hand clutch/foot shift setup. And maybe sand the chrome on my oil tank so I can paint it. (Less chrome!!!!)

 

Skip could you post some pics? It sounds to me you need to go a different route, and yeah I'm just giving you thought you might already have considered, but some type of air or electric assist pressure push/pull cylinder that when triggered by the rocker pedal (via contact switch or relay) would push the hydraulic cylinder plunger or cable and take the foot pressure needed out of the picture. Also I have found the standard clutch is easier with the easy clutch than the hydraulic. I'm sure you could make some linkage that would also add to the leverage affect needed to push or pull with the assist cylinder.

Just some thoughts while sitting here listening to the rain and it sounds like an interesting project that when you get it worked out would be really cool.

John TN

By the way the chrome tank looks really good on the bike. Of course, I like chrome.

 

John, my original idea was to simply replace the cable operation and all its problems with the hydraulic, but keep it as simple as possible. Of course, nothing like this ever ends up being simple. If I use an electric/air assist I'll lose the capability to "feather" the clutch, unless I design something pretty complicated. I'm hoping Buck will reverse the action as I think that will fix the problem.

Also thought about using a cable from the rocker pedal to operate the master cylinder, with a lever pushing on the plunger. The added length of the lever would multiply the force applied to the rocker pedal. That still gets away from doing it as simply as possible, though. If I can't get what I want with the rocker pedal setup, I'll build a suicide clutch pedal. Can't get much simpler than that!

Appreciate the thoughts and ideas. Thanks.

 

Man, sounds like you have undergone some major surgery there, can you post some pics? i'd be interested to see some of the progress, or designs you have had going on.