Tony.....
I am not understanding what you are describing here.
Are you saying the washer (#9) is positioned in the open hole?
This washer should 'seat' inside the recess on the inside of the primary cover.
The washer is the bearing surface for the release ramp (#8) and keeps the ramp from riding against the aluminum cover.
As a side note........that washer does not look quite right to me. Measure the OD of the copper washer and then measure the ID of the recess in the cover and compare. They should be the same dimension.
Both the washer (#9) and the ramp (#8) should be staked into the cover.
Just the fact that they are not tells me: either you have removed them in your disassembly, or the washer and ramp were not staked in place when you first took it apart. If the ramp just fell out of the primary cover when you first pulled off the cover, then someone put it together improperly.
This makes me very suspious of the copper looking washer being the correct one.
This could go along well with that mysterious dowell someone put into your case. They did not know what they were doing, or tried to make do on a fix......pg

 

Aha!! See I'm not crazy,lol!!! Man I was losin' my mind. I thought I had really flipped,man. I know how to read the manuel and I haven't ever had this kinda trouble outta my 93' softy ~ but again I've never owned a 35 year old bike either.I can make the adjustment and the clutch feels fine But as soon as I hitsecond or third gear the clutch lever goes limp , then I look at the adjustment and the whole thing (thescrew & the nut) is loose.Now when you say the ramp & the washer should be "STAKED" to the cover what exactly do you mean?And no I didn't take the ramp apart it was like this when I took it apart.

Now , a while back right after I got it I took the bike to a place to havea new front tire put on it ~~I wanted a tubeless and they put a tubed tire on ~~ well I'm not real happy but people say they do good work. So, I'm wondering I didn't have a bit of trouble out of the transmission until after they changed the tire. Now I know one has nothing to do with the other but I've heard of places trying to make a dollar by doing crap like this what do you think?
And there is really no way for me to tell if they did something like this or not ~~ maybe I'm just paranoid.

 

Tony...
That is the problem. See page 135 (4-7) of your manual......the first paragraph at the top of the page.
Then keep reading about how to do this under the next paragraphs titled INSPECTING AND REPAIRING CLUTCH CABLE RELEASE MECHANISM AND CLUTCH CABLE (fig. 4-3) on the same pg 135.
I have attached a hand drawn shetch for you to show the 'staking' area I am talking about. No photos show up in the manual of this. Excuse my artwork, but it should show you where to stake. You should see these marks on your cover, now that you know where to look.
I also believe the copper washer is not correct. I would get the proper washer from J&P or a shop. It is important that the proper washer be used for the clutch to work correctly.
Just how did this happen? I have no idea except it was done by someone at some time in the past.
I do not think the shop who did the tube and tire replacement had anything to do with this primary clutch problem.
I think rather it just happened to cause the problem at a coincidental time. Also, if you have a spoked wheel on the bike, then it is impossible to install a tubeless tire because the air will leak out of the spoke nipple holes. If you have a cast wheel though, the shop should have installed a tubeless tire as you instructed.
Let me know if you need more info or have further questions......pg


[IMG]local://upfiles/8331/C3231EBEF7FB4321BD8BA9895FF8BD6C.jpg[/IMG]

 

That copper washer looks just alike what you are missing from starter axle...

 

Very good call my friend!! Your right I thought the same thing when I took it off today. It fit perfect. Ireally wish I could figure out why they put that stupid dowel in there. That is the only part that is still grating on my last nerve. Aw well ~~ it's running great at this point. Pinion will be glad to know I've been out for 5 hours this afternoon ridin just got in!! Had to make one adjustment and bam perfect ~~ it's a wonder the damn thing was running in the shape it was in ~~ I can't get over it ~~ but the drag is gone and she floats into neutral easily now. Again I can't thank all of you guys enough!!! I got the washer I needed from Lowe's of all places ~~ in the nut & bolt section they carry "machine bushings" which the opening sizes very ,very close(within a couple of MM of what is called for) so I was pleased. I got the exact sizing from J&P as you said Pinion ~~ very happy to have her running ~~ what a great bike ~~ fun as hell from red light to red light ~ and after replacing the throttle control ~~ she is a dream. And I just got an e-mail from the last place to work on her , Richmond,IN~H-D and it would turn out from the records they have on the bike and all the records this guy has the bike has less than 10000 original miles on it ~~ I feel like a kid on christmas morning ~~ I've been riding bikes since I was about 8 and Igotta tell you that I have never been happier with any bike I've ever owned (this is my 4th street bike, all harley's) my dad told me I would hate riding a Sportster ~~ But I gotta tell you thatthere is something about pulling up to a redlight on abike that is almost as old as you are and having people look atit and go "cooool". You know I really don't get that on my 93'Big Twin ~ which by the way I haven't ridin since I got the 72' ~~ But , to touch on another post I saw on here ~~ the first street bike I remember seeing our being around was a 69' Sportster when I was like 5 or 6 ~~ a friend of the families had it and it had a longer front end but the rest was stock ~~ it had Invader rims and cool paint job on the tank ~~ I was hooked ~~ then a couple of years later my dad had a 56' Pan ~~ chopped like 10 over springer and rigid ~~ which I thought was be all end all at the time ~~ but I never forgot the sporty ~~ and everytime I bought a bike since then I thought about that Sporty ~~ and I always bought a Big Twin outta peer pressure I guess ~~ don't know what else to call it ~~the Sportster to me is just a very cool scooter no matter how you cut it ~~after I change the oil and filter and clean her up I'm taking her to WV next weekend gonna trek from Knoxville,TN to Bluefield,WV ~~ should be a cold but fun ride!! Tony in Knoxville,TN

 

Good to hear you are riding the Sporty Tony! Long battle, but you got it fixed.
Weird circumstances, but you were able to muddle through it.
Good point from sepix......I would have never thought the copper washer belonged on the starter shaft.
my dad told me I would hate riding a Sportster ~~ But I gotta tell you thatthere is something about pulling up to a redlight on abike that is almost as old as you are and having people look atit and go "cooool". You know I really don't get that on my 93'Big Twin ~
You don't have to tell me about that. I also have a 2003 Dyna and I can ride it into a crowd of a thousand bikes and draw not a second glance. Heck, it's just another Dyna to add to the bunch.
Things get much different if I'm aboard my Sporty. It is older than most of the guys who stop and stare at it. Yep, while the big twins are nice bikes, an old Sportster is in a class by itself. A rolling legend in my view.
So enjoy the ride and keep us up to date............pg

 

I have a dumb question... My '85 has a magnetic drain plug, could that dowel thing be something like that? It's driving me crazy.

 

I might be tempted to say it could be a magnetic piece off the plug except it looked much too rough to me to be that.
A magnetic plug would have a nice square shiney end on it. However, if Tony was to tell us that the dowell is magnetic, then I would quickly change my mind on that.......pg

 

Yeah... what parts I have "opened", looks familiar and it's important that we share experties...

 

Nope it was way to long to be the magnetic piece. And its well I think made from a lead type alloy , very soft metal ~~ I've been carrying the thing around in my pocket and asking everybody I know who works on scooter's and everybody does the same thing ~~ Duh I dunno ~~ Even thetech at the Richmond,IN shop who supposedly did the work on the tranny the last time it was ever worked on 10 years ago said the same thing ~~ But if he stuck a 1" long hunk of metal into a tranny that didn't belong there I doubt he would tell me about it. Right?