The clutch was grabbing a bit on my FXE. Coming to a stop would require a blip of the throttle with the clutch handle fully squeezed, otherwise the clutch didn't seem to want to let loose. The blip would cause the clutch to let loose and all would be OK.

So I made my first ever attempt at adjusting the clutch.

Loosening the adjusting nut on the cable was a non starter, it was frozen. But I figured I could still adjust the clutch by pulling the derby cover, loosening the lock nut and setting up the clutch without dealing with the frozen lock nut on the cable adjustment.

So I cranked the adjustment in and out a few times to make sure I didn't get a false read from binding threads. The YouTube video I watched suggested turning the adjusting rod until there was resistance, then backing it off 1/8 or 1/4 turn to make sure there was a touch of slack in the clutch cable. I went a little tighter, backing off only a tiny bit, as I figured the more travel the better.

Thought I'd go for a ride this evening and check the newly-adjusted cutch out. Grabbed a hand full of lever, slipped into first and bam! Clunked into gear and killed the motor. Now I have no clutch. So next weekend I'll try to figure out why. Another learning experience on the path to ShovelHead wisdom.

 

You need to service your clutch. Pull the steel plates and fibers and clean them. Check the fingers for grooves and clean/grease them lightly. You might even grease your inner primary bearing assuming you are running the stock dry clutch. I would also address the adjusting nut and clean/grease the clutch lever too.

Your clutch will work great when you're done servicing it.
carl

 

Thanks Carl. The bike has 19,000 miles and I'm reasonably sure the stock clutch. Sounds like the primary cover needs to come off? I figure if I'm going to expend the effort and time to pull the clutch, I may as well just replace it. I'm guessing I would order a new clutch pack? Any thoughts on who makes good quality replacement clutch disks?

 

the red alto clutch disc work well and the Kevlar is real good clutch but more money your steels would be ok to re use even if scratched

the original paper discs get oil soaked over the years and NO amount of cleaning is going to fix them

 

Thanks for the heads-up on the stock discs, John. Kevlars are on order.

 

I put a set of Barnett clutch discs in mine. I really like them. You'll have to pull the outer primary cover to do the job too.

carl

 

Thanks Carl! I looked at Barnett but wasn't 100% certain they fit my stock clutch components based on description on J&P's site. John liked the Alto line so I ordered the Alto kevlar discs which just arrived today.

I have the Cometic primary gasket kit and new clutch discs.

Is there anything else I need to have ready in advance, or I am I ready to pull the primary cover?

 

You should have every thing you need. Unless you go in and find something else wrong.

carl

 

just pull the spring disc off - we use a washer between the adjustment nut and the spring disc and keep it together then undo the 3 nuts, then pull the discs and steel plates out clean and re assemble set to springs spec - your done

 

For my '75 FXE, the clutch pack shipped with an additional metal disc and rivets, which I don't appear to need for a simple disc swap, as the only thing that came out were clutch plates and metal discs.

Looking at the schematic, behind the clutch basket is a large roller bearing.

At 19,000 miles, do I need to pull the hubs/primary chain and perform any maintenance on the ring/bearings?

After adjusting the clutch, I noticed that the plate doesn't lift evenly. The lower right 5 o'clock position doesn't lift as far as the rest of the plate. Is that normal? It's a three-stud housing.