Yes, I did the 1000 mile service myself, including adjusting the clutch basket and cable. I must not have seen, or more than likely ignored, the part where it said to lube the cable. I'll buy the lube, and give it a try tonight. Thanks all.

 

Well I purchased a bottle of Dry-Slide and lubed the clutch cable very well. Unfortunately, it's no smoother now than it was before. It's still jerky and not very smooth. Hmmm...???

 

I agree to lube the cable to check but I have another thing to look at.

How thick are your gloves? I find that the clutches are so easy to pull on the new bikes that with thick gloves on, it's hard to feel the feedback when releasing the clutch. My clutch feels similar sometimes. I determined it was just lack of feed back and not being able to feel the clutch lever due to the gloves and it was just me not releasing smoothly.

 

My '07 had a strange feel to the clutch. Felt like the clutch wanted to slip, or was weak, about half way to fully engaged. Once engaged everything was fine, but it never felt right from a standing stop to full engagement. Felt the same from new, after dealer service (yeah, they lubed the cable), & after I serviced it.

Over the last few months while I was gatherin' parts I caught a lot a flack, but last week I finished installin' a hydraulic clutch. I was more concerned about gettin' enough clearance when disengaged, & how quick it would begin engagement comin' off the grip. It started engagement pretty close to the grip, but after a couple of hours ridin' it self-adjusted to a comfortable engagement point just short of half way out. The surprising feature is the weak/slip feeling vanished! The hydraulic is a smooth easy pull/release, & engagement is positive but not abrupt. Right now it's as smooth as any clutch I've ever used, & no more lubing or adjusting. If Harley would install hydraulic clutches on all their bikes we will have seen the last of cables.

 

I put a squirt of drislide in mine after every washing

 

You can try this to isolate the problem......Remove cable from lever and feed cable end up thru forks under headlight.....then stab long phillips screwdriver thru hole in cable.....have friend hold front brake while you pull cable thru housing a few cycles....use two hands on screwdriver in a T fashion an kinda do a curl like in the gym so the cable is pointing down at a 45 thru the forks and toward the tranny......you will be able to operate clutch that way and be able to feel for any binding in the release mechanism.....it there is binding, it's probably a problem with the ball release inside the right cover.(warranty).

I hope you are not in the habit of sitting for long periods in traffic with clutch disengaged.

 

The factory does not put very much lube (if any) into the cable housing. If the dealer took the time to re lube it when they delivered the bike, that would surprise me even more. Remember, the dealer wants you back into his shop as soon and as many times as possible in order to drive revenue stream. It is a business and they drive profit by increasing service.
I lube my cable about once a month. I am always amazed at how smooth it then feels. I have used auto transmission fluid, 3-1 oil. 30 wt oil, Dryslide, WD40. goose grease, hog lard (bacon fat) and everything else you could conceive of over the last 40 years. For my money I have the best results with the stuff you use to lubricate the chain on a chainsaw, chain lube. It is extremely sticky, slippery and does not drain out the bottom of the cable very much. I pour a little bit into a hypodermic syringe which you can buy at Tractor Supply, or other places that sell farm stuff or diabetic supplies. A three pack costs under $5.00 and you can use them for lots of things that need to be lubricated. I would not recommend you go out and buy a gallon jug of chain lube at Walmart just because you need a teaspoon full. Instead, ask around your buddies and someone is bound to own a chainsaw. If you live in downtown Manhattan, you might have a problem locating a friend with a chainsaw though.

 

Can you elaborate on this a little? I believe I have excluded the cable and lever as cause of the problems, which only leaves something in the actual clutch assembly itself as the culprit (perhaps the ball release that you mentioned). I absolutely HATE taking my vehicles to dealerships for work, even warranty work. And I LOVE working on things myself. I do have the service manual at home, but haven't had a chance to review the clutch mechanism part yet. Can anyone give a brief description of what I'd be looking at to solve the problem, granted the problem is the ball or related part? I'll look at the SM when I get home tonight, but just want to know what I'd be faced with.

 

The cable operates a disc that rotates. As the disc rotates it rides on three ball bearings that fit into ramped slots. The rotating disc rolls the ***** up their ramps and causes the rotating motion to be converted to an axial motion...the push-pull axial motion is transmitted thru the tranny via a long thin rod that actually operates the clutch release.

The rotating disc is a cast item that has then been machined.....It is very likely that the casting is flawed and contained an inclusion that collapsed or flaked off in use causing one of the ***** to hang up as it rotates.

To expose the dics and ***** you have to first remove the complete exhaust system and then the right side tranny cover......if you were to do those things and in fact find a problem then the dealer might balk at providing the parts because it is afterall under warranty and he needs to see the actual bike to charge parts and labor against it.......Dealers charge HD for warranty repairs, so they actually prefer to fix it....If he were to replace defective parts, you would still need to buy tranny oil, tranny gasket and two exhaust gaskets-35 bucks out of your pocket....plus it there is an internal tranny problem, you don't want to go in there incase of future tranny failure......Those trannys have been known to freeze up and need total replacement which can cost seversal thousand if you survive the dump.

Take the bike in and compare it to one on the showroom....if the new bike operates smoothly compared to yours, then you can show them the difference and they will be more likely to correct it.

 

You can make a simple cable-luber from a piece of clear plastic hose and a hose clamp. Get a short (3-6") piece of hose that will barely slide over the eye of the cable and tighten the hose down on the cable housing with the hose clamp. Put a small quantity of oil in the clear hose and push it through with air. Turn the air pressure down to around 5 psi. Those oil injector tools will not work on an HD clutch cable because of the enormity if the cable eve. Reinstall the cable with a little light grease on the lever pivot and you're done. After the first time you'll be able to do it in around 15 min. without rushing. Personally I also like DrySlide but have never found a good way of getting it into the cable.