hello all,
bike: 2007 HD road king classic. 96ci. 58k miles.

issue:
after riding pretty hard a few weeks ago. i noticed my clutch lever coming out of adjustment. naturally i assumed a re-adjustment at the basket and cable was the problem. however after multiple variations of adjustment at the basket and cable i realized the problem is not going away. I've tried just about every method of clutch adjustments I could think of or find on the internet.

the bike shifts smooth, clutch works great (barnet extra plate kit "witch calls for the dampener seat and spring to be removed" with 6 spring conversion kit) but in my opinion the clutch is not the issue here but I'm no mechanic and am only at a hobby level of turning wrenches.

what its started doing:
in 1st and 5th gear the clutch lever feels normal, however 2nd through 6th the cable has a large amount of slack allowing the lever to be pulled about 1/2 way to the bar before reaching the friction zone. the clutch still engages/disengages just fine but its like the adjustment falls out out of wack only in 2nd through 6th (excluding 5th). however again when the bike is decelerating in any gear. the lever pulls tight again.

a few days later i pulled the bike out, went for a ride. a few miles in i heard a crackling sound coming from the motor/trans/primary area "not while shifting, but in gear. hard to tell were the sound come from exactly, but it sounded like teeth breaking off a gear and getting bounced around before settling at the bottom.

upon pulling the trans plug i found a unusual amount of metal shavings (maybe twice as much, couldn't really feel any big chunks though). so I'm thinking at this point the trans has to be pulled now. however I'm not sure if the problem originated in the trans. i definitely don't want to pull it out if i don't have to. and i definitely don't want to do a re-build or put a new one in with out figuring out were the slack problem originated from. ball and ramp assembly or clutch push rob assembly or trans?

Q: could the slack in the cable be due a problem with the ball and ramp or push rod assembly? if so how could that effect the gears in the trans? (even with the slack the clutch engages/disengages. feels like it shifts fine)
Q: could the slack in the clutch be from a bearing inside the trans going out. perhaps causing the main shaft to move around? (I'm told the 6 speed had straight and angled gears) sounds like that could be the reason why 1st and 5th did not have slack.

any information on the subject would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to gather up as much information on this as i can before i start the tear down

 

The mainshaft bearing in the trap door is either going bad or the race has come loose in the trapdoor. Don't drive it, if the mainshaft moves far enough you can start to break things.

 

sounds like that may have already happened. I think that requires some special tool to pull out?

 

Yes. The service manual will discuss the required tools. The primary will have to be removed to pull the transmission.