Recently within the last few weeks my clutch seems to drag more and more to the point its almost impossible to downshift, upshift is fine. Stopping at a light the bike wants to roll forward and i have to apply the brake to stop it. I adjusted the cluch behind the derby cover and at the cable, took it for a test ride and it was fine, clutch was starting to bite towards the full release of the lever. Went out later to the store and its back to how it was before, hard to downshift and lots of play in the lever. No matter how much slack i take out of the lever, it seems to come back within every ride. I checked the clutch adjuster nut behind the derby cover and its tight. Any suggestions? Its a 84 FLHTC evo/5spd.

 

Could be fraying cable or pushrod wearing out.

 

I'd say the pushrod is eating itself , the early ones had a habit of doing that if the adjustment got a little tight . Those are are a 3 piece pushrod too , it's probably the short part in the clutch pack .

 

Isn't there a small throwout bearing on the end of the pushrod on that model? ( I can't rememnber if that applies to early 5 speeds.) But your smptoms seem to match.

 

Update...i pulled the derby cover, pulled the small pushrod end and all seems fine, i dont see any indication of it machining itself down, on the throwout bearing side i dont know yet as i dont have a gasket on hand to replace if i pull the cover off. But clutch release seems fine and the bike doesnt lurch or grab hard when letting out clutch, which tends to make me believe the pilot bearing is fine. Checked the cable at both ends and no fraying, could it fray inside the cable lining out of sight? Would a warped clutch plate cause a constant drag?

 

Warped clutch plate could give you the symptoms you decsribed, except you shouldn't be able to adjust it out and then have it come back again. It is either the throw out bearing or and this is rare, the friction material coming loose from the plate. Hope this helps.

 

Yes and yes.

When you remove the cover on the right side to inspect the throwout bearing, also take a good look at the clutch release lever.

If you don`t find any problems there, it may be as you suspect, warped plates and/or disks. When you inspect the clutch, also look at the outer shell and the hub for any gouges or burrs that could cause the plates or disks to hang up.

 

Thanks, im gonna go dig into the cluch and take a look. Ill update.

 

I just replaced a throwout bearing 3-weeks ago...It went out with no warning at a stoplight...I spent nearly an hour fishing out broken needle bearings and other debris...Installed new bearing/washers/snap ring and set the clutch freeplay adjuster on the inner clutch hub to 1/2-turn out (It was set to 1/4-turn out which may be what ate up the bearing)..Stock adjustment is 1/2 to 1-turn out...I had also been torquing the locknut down WAY too far...Stock specs say 6-10 ft lbs on the adjuster locknut...

 

One thought would be if the clutch hub is coming unbolted from the clutch drum. 5 speed = 4 bolts that should be attached with locktite. This would give you that loose, out of adjustment feel, and get worse as the bolts back out more and more.

However a loose clutch hub would make it difficult to have the clutch grab at all, unless it's allowed enough space to cause the clutch discs to become damaged and jammed up, locking the clutch and being difficult to disengage.

Be certain to come back and let us know what fix worked.

Last time I had an issue like that it was from an old cable stretching as it started breaking the strands. If the break is inside the insulation it will drag bad. Test it unconnected.