Another thought to add what this man said the early transitional clutch packs came with a hub that had 4 long fingers holding the steel plates aligned , those had a habit of snapping off at the base one at a time . That would give the symptoms you've got too .

 

And don't forget the clutch finger thingie too, although in my experience, when they go, the clutch starts grabbing a little bit and then won't release at all a very short time later. If you have an 84-86 5 speed, you need a spare clutch finger thingie in your saddlebag.

 

Well talk about timing. Just got in from a ride and I need to pull my derby cover off to tighten up my clutch hub to the drum. I hope I don't have a fractured hub but this is the second time for the clutch hub bolts in about 1,000 miles and that ain't right!!!

I'll redo them this time by cleaning the bolts before putting some locktite on them and a little cleaner for the area the bolts thread into and hope to seat them for good this time.

I actually took up a little slack in the cable earlier today and it slowly got to the point shifting was tough. I knew I was in trouble at the last light on the way home, when with the clutch lever pulled, the bike crept forward.

I'll get on it early in the morning and be out on it in no time ..... if I'm lucky ... lol

I just had my 5 speed transmission rebuilt so the whole primary was apart. I guess just torquing them didn't work.

 

Well i found the issue....the pushrod and rod end on the clutch side siezed together and made the rod end grind and machine itself away from the adjuster bolt, grinded all the way down to the main shaft. I think i got it fixed, i milled out another rod end and took for a test ride, clutch seems to be fine, it grabs in the same spot every time now. I dont feel more and more play in the lever as before. Thanks guys for all ur input.

 

Wow that's different.

What telling sign(s) did you note when you determined this was happening?

I haven't been out to the garage yet today to check / repair mine ... more later

 

Did you harden the ends?? The stock ones have a hardened ends. The problem you had is usually caused by not enough freeplay in the clutch causing the ends to rotate against each other. Hope this helps.

 

Be warned that's the most common problem next to the the broken fingers I've run into on the early clutch's like that , they are real touchy about over adjustment & being a bit tight .

 

Very sorry to hijack the thread (now) but everyone responding here seems to know a bit more than me when it comes to this issue. And the OP has solved his similar issue. How could I possibly know that the push rods are the issue? What's it take to know if they are worn short?

OK I went out and checked my clutch hub bolts through the derby cover. None were loose but I backed them off one at a time, cleaned them and locktited them back in. I set the cable, pulled the lever and it was dead on. Didn't even get a mile when the cable starting showing signs of slack and before I got 3 miles the clutch lever would collapse all the way to the bars and NOT release the clutch.

It wasn't pretty getting her home without a clutch. Hope I didn't f-up the trans or any bearings. Jeez I had to roll the bike and still it banged hard into first and tough to get up a few gears and back down just to get home.

Before I had gone for several days noting the clutch lever had a little slop. I had adjusted it and road about 30 miles when it started the issue of too much slack.

When I adjusted it up everything seemed to go as normal as can be. So I had been able to put a clutch adjustment on it and in a very short time it was completely loose again. And yes I tightened it all back down properly.

I have a recently new cable on it, a new cable bracket, a just rebuilt tranny, and I know the clutch hub bolts are seated, tight, and sealed there.

Guess it's pull the primary, or pull the tranny side cover to see if the new throwout bearing has crapped?

It just doesn't make sense that I could be in perfect adjustment and have it go out of adjustment (internally somewhere) so quickly.

BTW there is no signs of clutch assembly problems that I noted through the derby cover when I re-did the bolts. And they were tight, and they tightened back down so no stripped threads. And the clutch is holding 100 percent. Also, I had measured the plates and discs and know they were in tolerance, by a good amount.

Where to start? Sliding out the pushrods for a measurement? Opening up the side cover of the tranny to look at the throw-out bearing? (which was replaced during the tranny rebuild 4 weeks ago) Or do I need to pull the primary apart and be looking for a replacement clutch assembly. (any suggestions of where to look for a replacement ...mainly because I heard the original parts don't exist new any more).

Thanks

 

Looks like you've done your homework on the clutch side...Removing the R/H trans cover won't take much time and while in there you can check the throw-out bearing and the R/H pushrod cup for any wear...That's also a good place to find, if any, unwanted debris.

 

Won't have to measure them you'll see it quick HD used the funky 3 piece setup only for a few years on those early style clutch's . While they work great when they decide to go it's right now and all takes is a little too much adjustment pressure meaning too little free play at the handle .