i have a 2003 Road King Classic that about 3months ago i put a new drive belt on. did fine until about 3weeks ago, coming home from work the clutch got alot of slack in the lever, and got hard to put in and take out of gear. so i adjusted it worked fine for about ten miles and went out again, so i trailered it back home printed up adjustment instructions and did it again. took it around the block and it was out alot quicker this time? any idea what might be going on here?

 

the jam nut isn't working loose on the adjuster ( on the clutch basket, not the cable adjuster).

when you are adjusting, you work the lever a few times to set the ball in the ramp?

Mike

 

the last time i took the derby off the nut was loose, i have not messed with it as of yet.
when i did adjust i pulled the lever to set the ball and snug it up, i found the instructions on adjusting this so i not sure want is going on?

 

How many miles on the bike? Any significant engine mods? History of a bunch of burn-outs? Any funny sounds from the primary or tranny? Does the cluth fully engage when you release the lever? Any other funky symptoms?

Given your description, it doesn't sound like the clutch is slipping. If nothing else is giving you funky symptoms it could just be an adjustment issue or the cable is just REALLY stretched out and beyond service life.

Couple ideas, assuming the belt replacement job was done correctly:
How much threading is left on the clutch adjustment linkage....under the rubber cover in between the front frame downtubes? Should be roughly in the middle. If it's almost at the end, the cable probably needs to be replaced.

Inside the tranny cover, where the clutch cable goes in, the cable has a little "ball" at the end of it that goes into a throw-out lever of sorts. It's possible that when you're doing your adjustment that the "ball" isn't fully seated in the cup. If it's hanging up on something else when you're doing your adjustment then falls into place during a short ride then you'll be out of adjustment becasue it just slacked up again.

Clutch adjustment nut in the primary loosening could be it.

Last one, and this might hurt if something bad happened....drain your tranny fluid...looking for metal shards or chunks.

It's hard to diagnose with limited information on a BB. Lots of unknows. You might just need to get someone to take a look at it for an up-close perspective.

 

Sounds like your not tightening down the jam nut on the clutch pack to me

 

how tight do you tighten that nut?

 

This is the answer right here. After loosening the jam nut and adjusting the center shaft out 1/2 to 3/4 turns, run the jam nut up and tighten it down with a socket and ratchet. Bump the ratchet with your hand to get it tight. Don't run it up finger tight only.

If it is still loosening up then its possible the nut is stripped or more likely the allen headed center shaft threads are stripped.

 

Same problem happened to me, fortunately at the end of a 300mi mtn pass ride instead of at the beginning.

All the above is helpful...I feared having to replace the clutch. Too bad I just changed out the Red Line