So when I adjusted my clutch last time, for whatever reason I had a hard time getting it right with the standard adjustment procedure. Instead I did the thing where you slack the cable til it touches the grip, then tighten the adjuster screw in the basket until the lever starts to pull away from the grip, and then take the slack out of cable. I have 3/32 of play at the cable ferrule or whatever it's called. The clutch seems fine. Neutral is easy, shifts smoothly, doesn't seem to slip or anything. Odd thing though is that the cable adjuster is right at the end of the threads like if I would need to take any more play out if it, I wouldn't be able to. Kinda makes me go, Hmmmm.
The only other odd thing and this is hard to describe happens occasionally when I get on it fairly hard from a stop and then shift into second gear. The rpms don't race up like it's slipping, but there's a weird feeling like there's a slight lag or something. Almost like the rear tire is spinning, but it's not. It's very subtle, and it only happens sometimes. Never really noticed it until I had new tires put on with Ride On in them. Is it possible that my drive belt adjustment is out of whack after the tire change and causing some sort of something. Am I feeling the Ride On sloshing around? Could my clutch situation be responsible?
The tires are brand new American Elites running 40 rear/36front. Bike is an 04 Road King with stock clutch and cable. 30,000 miles. Any ideas?

 

Unfortunately no input for you, but someone else recently posted about running out of cable adjustment after adjusting the clutch, and I ran into the same lack of cable adjustment on my new to me '11 flhtk.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...ice-again.html

 

Same thing happened to me. I redid the adjustment procedure....but only slacked the cable enough that I had enough play that I was sure it wasn't putting any pressure on the clutch pack. I dont know why...but when I put a bunch of slack in the cable...I didn't have enough adjustment on the threads.

YMMV....

 

I have had the same experience. This is what I've done. When adjusting the clutch pack I run the adjustment screw in until it meets resistance and then back it out 5/8 of a turn. It seems the more play you put in the clutch pack the further out you have to adjust your cable. I have found this adjustment to help with that. I can then adjust the cable without running out of threads.

 

Seems like it would be the other way around, doesn't it?

 

Yeah...that's why it drove me nuts.

 

I've always thought the key was to slack the cable until the lever is halfway to the grip (not all the way) then tighten the adjuster screw in the basket until the lever starts to move.

Even doing it this way I've had to repeat the procedure once or twice before I got everything where I wanted it.

 

Finding myself with a couple hours free this afternoon, and the weather being crap, I decided to take another shot at the clutch adjustment, to see if I could get mine better. I think I did, though the only testing has been a little back and forth in the garage so far (due to the crap weather).

I got everything opened up, and put a smaller amount of slack in the cable than I did last time. Loosened up the lock nut on the clutch adjustment screw, and discovered only about 1/4 turn to 'friction' backed it off another quarter turn (to half turn back from the contact point), snugged the lock nut hand tight. Pulled the lever a few times to set the ramp, and then tried to adjust the slack back out of the lever. Ran out of adustment with tons of slack left. Crap.
Figured at this point I had nothing to lose, so tried something - tightened the clutch adjustment screw to the point of contact, then pulled the lever a couple times. Some slack was taken up. Added some more slack to the cable (building in a little 'slack removal room' in the process). Checked the clutch adjustment screw - it wasn't up against tension any more. tightened it up to the tension point, then pulled the lever a couple times, and then added a little more slack at the cable adjuster. I repeated this process a few times, until the cable adjuster was about 2/3 of the way to 'max slack', and there was enough slack at the lever to get it most of the way to the grip before it was applying any actuation to the clutch.

At this point, I proceeded to adjust the clutch screw to the point of tension, then back off 1/2 turn, and tighten down the lock nut. Pulled the lever a few more times, then tried taking slack out. Voila! had enough adjustment to get plenty of tension on the cable - got my free play at the perch down to a dime's width, and at least some adjustment room left (didn't run it any tighter to see exactly how much).

I realize this isn't the approved procedure in the manual - but it seems to have worked for me. Will wait on final judgement until I can do a test ride, but neutral seems considerably easier to find than it was prior. Clutch doesn't feel like it's dragging at all when in gear and disengaged.

Does this make any sense to those more knowledgeable about how this clutch works?

 

You had your ball and ramp out of whack by loosening the cable so much and taking the slack out at the basket. Seems like you got it back in line. Good job.

 

Sounds to me like you may have stumbled onto something. Thanks for taking the time. I'm gonna have to try that.