Clutch Cable Adjustment Problem
I said an inch of free play at the lever.
Look at the clutch lever. Note the distance from the pivot point to the cable connection. Then note the distance from the pivot point to the end of the lever. The ratio between the two is the amount of leverage that is engineered into the design.
Ball-parking that ratio visually I'd estimate it to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 5:1. Therefore 1" of lever travel would be equal to only about .2" of clearance or play at the ferrule.
Make sense?
Look at the clutch lever. Note the distance from the pivot point to the cable connection. Then note the distance from the pivot point to the end of the lever. The ratio between the two is the amount of leverage that is engineered into the design.
Ball-parking that ratio visually I'd estimate it to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 5:1. Therefore 1" of lever travel would be equal to only about .2" of clearance or play at the ferrule.
Make sense?
Look at the clutch lever. Note the distance from the pivot point to the cable connection. Then note the distance from the pivot point to the end of the lever. The ratio between the two is the amount of leverage that is engineered into the design.
Ball-parking that ratio visually I'd estimate it to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 5:1. Therefore 1" of lever travel would be equal to only about .2" of clearance or play at the ferrule.
Make sense?
My rationale is this... The end result, or the desired result, is lever positioning and adequate free-play. So if lever positioning and adequate free-play is the desired result then it makes sense (to me) to make the measurement directly at the lever. Doing so is much more precise than the indirect method of measuring ferrule clearance.
What I will say is that increasing the ferrule clearance will result in additional lever free-play. The actual amount of increase will be determined by the ratio I described earlier.
In any case, you MUST have some free-play in the lever or else the clutch will never fully engage and slippage may occur. The amount of free-play can be a personal preference but there has to be some.
Last edited by 2black1s; Nov 3, 2017 at 11:46 PM.
(1) turn the cable adjuster clockwise all the way to make as much slack as possible
in the cable. The handle should easily rest against the grip
(2) remove the clutch inspection cover.
(3) loosen the jam nut a few turns counter clockwise.
(4) move the clutch handle against the grip.
(5) Use a hex wrench and slowly turn the clutch adjuster screw clockwise until it lightly seats then back the adjuster screw out (ccw) 1/4 turn.
(6) move the clutch handle fully back and forth away from the grip two or three times. Leave it back against the grip.
(7) Turn the adjuster screw cw until it lightly seats.
(8) If it needed more than 1/4 turn to seat repeat steps 5 thru 7 until it seats in 1/4 turn.
(9) after the final seating back out the screw 1/2 to 1 full turn ccw. 1/2 turn moves clutch engagement away from the grip. 1 full turn moves engagement closer to the grip for better control.
(10) tighten the jam nut being very careful not to disturb the position of the screw. (11) adjust the cable slack using the cable adjuster.
Step (6) moves the inner ramp to the full clutch disengagement position. That's where it should be when the clutch adjustment screw lightly seats.
The Best of Harley-Davidson for Lifelong Riders
Look at the clutch lever. Note the distance from the pivot point to the cable connection. Then note the distance from the pivot point to the end of the lever. The ratio between the two is the amount of leverage that is engineered into the design.
Ball-parking that ratio visually I'd estimate it to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 5:1. Therefore 1" of lever travel would be equal to only about .2" of clearance or play at the ferrule.
Make sense?
And no small hands here either
(1) turn the cable adjuster clockwise all the way to make as much slack as possible
in the cable. The handle should easily rest against the grip
(2) remove the clutch inspection cover.
(3) loosen the jam nut a few turns counter clockwise.
(4) move the clutch handle against the grip.
(5) Use a hex wrench and slowly turn the clutch adjuster screw clockwise until it lightly seats then back the adjuster screw out (ccw) 1/4 turn.
(6) move the clutch handle fully back and forth away from the grip two or three times. Leave it back against the grip.
(7) Turn the adjuster screw cw until it lightly seats.
(8) If it needed more than 1/4 turn to seat repeat steps 5 thru 7 until it seats in 1/4 turn.
(9) after the final seating back out the screw 1/2 to 1 full turn ccw. 1/2 turn moves clutch engagement away from the grip. 1 full turn moves engagement closer to the grip for better control.
(10) tighten the jam nut being very careful not to disturb the position of the screw. (11) adjust the cable slack using the cable adjuster.
Step (6) moves the inner ramp to the full clutch disengagement position. That's where it should be when the clutch adjustment screw lightly seats.






