Hoping for some help here.

1979 Shovelhead FXE, previously with wafer style clutch throw out bearing in the kicker cover. The wafer bearing failed, and for the repair I decided to convert to the old style witch hat/cone throw out bearing using the V-Twin kit on J&P (J&P Part #: 631-528 / Mftr Part #: 18-3609).

I’m using all parts that came with the kit, including the new pushrod and starter clutch gear. Fortunately the cone bearing seats fully in my kicker cover flush with the clutch finger, as others have described having to grind the inside of the cover out to make it fit.

However— with everything installed, the cone bearing contacts the kickstarter gear without traveling far enough to fully push the pushrod.

I found this out when the clutch release lever wouldn’t swing far enough toward the front of the bike to hook on the clutch cable.





Here you can see where the cone bearing is hitting the diverter on the underside f the kickstarter gear. The clutch release lever isn’t even close to reaching the proper clearance from the top of the cowpie when installed.

What am I not getting here?

 

You have a poor made clutch foot on the TOB - take the bearing off turn the clutch shaft and look at the under side of the foot its made wrong it should be flat the one you have is way too thick it might have a ball kind of thing against the cover holding it in full engagement

 

Thanks for the reply @johnjzjz

Yeah... the clutch finger angle being wrong is the only thing I could imagine causing this.

Here's an old style clutch finger from ebay (below), is this what I need?



It's almost hard to imagine that the difference between this and the newer style finger (below) would create the amount of clearance that I'm missing. Do I also need an old clutch release lever shaft, or maybe also an old clutch release lever too? Or would just swapping the fingers do the trick?

I have two of these newer clutch fingers, maybe I should try grinding down one of them to make the right angle?

 

I should also mention that in the first picture, I am purposely rotating the clutch release lever until the throw out bearing contacts the kickstarter gear. I was trying to demonstrate what it does when the cover is assembled on the bike and the release lever is pushed forward. The bearing is able to be fully seated in the cover when the clutch release lever is all the way back.

This makes me skeptical that the clearance issue is from extra material on the kicker-cover side of the clutch finger (rounded on the new version, vs flat on the old version).

My problem is the throw out bearing hitting the kickstarter gear when the release lever is moved forward-- this prevents the release lever from swinging far enough forward toward the top of the cowpie, let alone contact it. I'm also pretty sure this contact with the kicker gear will be a clearance issue when trying to engage the pushrod.




The manual calls for 13/16' clearance from the cowpie to account for when the clutch lever is pulled-- I can't even get it that close when fully engaging the release lever.

 

I do Not personally believe you gain anything just by going to the Imported throw out that resembles the old style Bell shaped Throwout...
take one of them Chiwanese look-alikes apart and tell me what is in there!!! The one I took apart was the little Wafer throwout that O.E went to... Yay

 

If the finger is too fat then the bearing starts it's journey too far in towards the kickstart ratchet....so that may be the issue.

 

Is it possible that the throw wont be as long once there is a pushrod in the bearing and the clutch is adjusted, therefore the bearing wont come close to the gear? Without being installed on the transmission what limits the range of the clutch arm?

 

Appreciate the replies. My thoughts on the clutch finger-- the modern finger allows the bearing to seat in the cover as far back as it needs to go. The clearance issue is happening when the release arm is pulled and the finger lifts up.

This is why I don't think the flat-versus-rounded back of the finger is the issue here. The problem is that the bearing can't travel far enough forward to let the clutch release arm also swing forward far enough.

I threw a replacement wafer kit in there and test rode today. Took all of 5 minutes before the adjustment screw started to eat the clutch pushrod again. Back to the drawing board.

 

Unfortunately my issue with the old style bearing was originally discovered with the bike reassembled. Could not disengage the clutch because the bearing was stopping on the kickstart gear. In addition to this, the clutch release arm wouldn't move forward far enough for proper clearances per the manual (or even far enough to reach the clutch cable with full slack.

 

Figured it out. Right side is the clutch finger that came out of the bike when the original wafer bearing failed. Left side is the clutch finger that came with the Drag Specialties throw out bearing kit.

The original (right) got chewed up after the bearing failed— but what’s important to notice is the square cut-out for the clutch release rod to go through.

On the old one, it’s at an angle. On the new one, it’s in line 90° with the base of the finger. This is why I couldn’t get full rotation forward with the clutch release arm.