Hello all, not new to the forum, but this is my first post! Anyway, I have a 2011 wide glide with about 6600 miles on it. I've only put about 1000 miles on it in the 2 months I've had it, but I was out riding yesterday and i was doing a few top speed runs and on third run I was at maybe 100 mph and my clutch lever touched the back of my fingers like it was half pulled in so I let off and pushed it back out and stayed at 55 mph and about 2 or 3 minutes later it was back to normal! It never acted like it was slipping or anything but is this normal?

 

Welcome to the forum.

No...that's not normal. I'd do an adjustment, per the sticky at the top of this forum. Make sure the diaphragm bolts are torqued to spec. Make sure the cable slack adjustment ferrule is snugged properly after adjusting.

 

In full agreement with TriGeezer

Begin with a correct adjustment of both the clutch pack and the clutch cable freeplay. I've used the technique described in the sticky posted in this forum but I've had better luck following the SM procedure. If you don't have the Service Manual follow post #10 in THIS thread, it will walk you through the entire task.

At 6600 miles on my Wide Glide I had already easily done a dozen clutch pack and cable freeplay adjustments. A couple of hints to help you out: The friction zone engagement at the lever can be moved by the adjustment of the clutch pushrod, the pushrod screw adjusts the point at which the cable begins to pull the clutch out of engagement.

The service manual calls for 1/2 to 1 turn counter clockwise from light seat of the pushrod. A 1/8 to 1/4 turn of the adjusting screw reduces your friction zone and the clutch lever is almost all the way out from the grip before the clutch engages, a 1/2 turn is fine for most riders and with a 3/4 to 1 full turn the clutch lever releases close to the grip. I run a near 1 turn counter clockwise out from light seat as I practice slow speed drills and want the friction zone closer to the grip but over one turn and I don't have complete separation of the discs.

Use the cable adjuster to increase or decrease cable freeplay at the clutch lever bracket. Too much freeplay and clutch may drag and too tight the clutch can slip. If free play between the end of the cable ferrule and clutch lever bracket is more than 1/8" at the handlebar, the clutch may not fully disengage. I use a nickle to set the cable freeplay; if I can slide a nickle between the cable ferrule and the bracket my cable adjustment is correct.

If you have not as of yet lubricated your clutch cable I'd also recommend you to that as well.

Be sure you stop by the Dyna forum and say howdy...

This video on YouTube will give you a good overview of what to expect

 

Helical cut gears cause an axial thrust condition, meaning the main shaft and the counter shaft are forced away from each other.
We learned this when we designed our DD6 transmission. We also learned that trying to retain your shaft bearings in the bearing door with snap rings was futile.So we used a steel plate to retain the door bearings.
Harley is still using snap rings which means the shafts are still moving.

When your mainshaft moves so does your clutch so you will get movement in the handle.
The movement you are describing seems excessive even for the axial thrust condition, but not out of the realm of possibility.

 

Thanks for the quick feedback! I will definitely do the adjustment, I've done an adjustment on my dads 05 heritage but his had about 12000 miles on it! I've never seen or heard of this happening but I'll do the adjustment and go from there! Again thanks for the help!!!

 

Well I did the adjustment this morning when I got home from! I pulled the inspection plate off and found that the adjustment screw jam nut had backed all the way off, so I drained the oil and pulled primary cover and it was laying under the chain! I guess I got lucky because the nut had no marks on it and there was no metal in the oil or in the case! Something else I noticed was the compensator, I thought in 2011 HD went with the SE compensator as a factory part, the one on my bike looks the same as the one on my dads 05 softail!