I just finished installing all of my new cables for my ape hangers and the clutch won't disengage. I've adjusted it every which way from tuesday but it just won't work. The pull of the lever seems quite tight in any adjusted configuration. Has anyone had this happen to them or have any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm at my wits end, I don't know what else to try. Please help.

I'm not familiar with the '04 but my immediate qestion is, did you adjust the clutch at the derby cover? Sounds like it's outta whack.

Like Will said, do you know how to properly adjust the cable at top and bottom?

Yeah I've been adjusting all night at both ends, I'm at a complete loss, it should be working perfectly, but it's not. I only hope this sounds familiar to someone because I've examined this thing backwards and forward all night and it looks perfect but the clutch pull is garbage and my clutch won't disengage.

As Will said, when re-assembling, you have to readjust the clutch. I just put new cables on mine, and went by the manual for replacement procedure.
If the bike is really cold, and not running you have to rock it back and forth a little to feel it disengage.
The hard pull thing bothers me a little, did you get everything back in place correctly?
My best

Without trying to offend anyone, I was tempted to ask if you have a manual. Working on your scoot without one is asking for a problem.

Yeah. I have a manual, that's why I'm puzzled. This blows! I've taken it apart and inspected it and put it together like 6 times and I get the same results everytime. Hard squeeze, no disengage.

Did you leave the ramp assembly intact while you had it apart? That's about the only thing I can think of that might be whacked to cause the problem you're describing.

Yeah I left it together, I took it out a couple times as well, gave a twist, kicked out nice and smooth. Thanks for your input... if anyone else has any ideas, throw 'em at me. Thanks again guys.

PM stevo. He'll know what to do.

OK..Saint


Take the derby cover off so you can see the clutch actuator..

Pull the clutch lever in (ya might have to get someone else to do it) and look at the actuator....

Is it moving to the left????

is the clutch spring compressing????


There's a large ciclip that holds the inner clutch actuator into the clutch itself...if that ciclip has come off then you cannot compress the clutch spring and therefore no clutch dissengagement

I had a problem with my 04 and the ferel end up at the clutch lever wasn't seated correctly.

This does sound weird, if you just changed the cable. I'm sure you double checked your cable to make sure it is working smoothly when not hooked up.

OK..Saint


Take the derby cover off so you can see the clutch actuator..

Pull the clutch lever in (ya might have to get someone else to do it) and look at the actuator....

Is it moving to the left????

is the clutch spring compressing????


There's a large ciclip that holds the inner clutch actuator into the clutch itself...if that ciclip has come off then you cannot compress the clutch spring and therefore no clutch dissengagement


Yes to both of your questions. The large c-clip is in place. The clutch is disengaging not enough. The other thing that is odd is how hard it is to squeeze the clutch lever. I was turning it over in my apartment last night to see how much it was grabbing and feels like slightly more contact than a normal start on a really cold day.

This does sound weird, if you just changed the cable. I'm sure you double checked your cable to make sure it is working smoothly when not hooked up.


I thought about that also, I took her all apart again and the cable seems fine.

I'm not sure....

I don't see a lot of these sort of problems as I do aminly engine work and then put it all together...

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head (if everything is in the correctly) is that the adjustment is out....

Is if you have it too far out on the adjustment sometimes it can bind when you pull the lever in and the lever will ramp up and go hard before it gets to the handlebar.

Try differing amounts of clearance and see what makes it worse or better..

The adjustment screw is very much a feel thing and it's often difficult to get it right...

Try adjusting it out 1/2 a turn instead of 1/4
and then try it at less than 1/8

As I find I have to screw it in and out a few times to settle it and get a feel for each clutch

Alll things the same before the bar change, I'm still going with the adjustment. Take it step by step and be sure you leave nothing out.

Make sure you run the clutch cable so that it can operate smoothly. I recently installed one of those billet clutch cable clamps so I could run my clutch cable close to the front downtube of the frame. I realized that if I put a large radius bend in the cable (tried clamping the cable near the top of the downtube) the clutch wouldn't engage properly because the cable would bind up withing the outter sheath. The same thing will happen to throttle cables if you don't route them propertly. Try reinstalling the cable without securing it to anything (bars, frame, etc.) and see how it works with the cable going from the hand control directly to the clutch ramp.

saint, I took my primary cover off this winter to have it powdercoated. I got it back and put everything back together adjusted clutch and cable per service manual. When I had the bike in gear and would pull the clutch in and move the bike back and forth it would feel like the clutch wasn't releasing. I gone through the same thing as you and saw that the clutch was going through the full range of motion through the derby cover and it was releasing. So i did some searches and found other people were haveing similar issues on there '04 sportsters also. They said it would learch when pulling the clutch in and starting the bike in gear (clutch drag). Apperently this is common with these bikes. My bike has sat for almost 4 months also, so I think the oil draining off the friction disks is also causing excessive drag. It is a wet clutch setup and the clutch depends on an oil film for proper slipping between friction disks when the clutch is released. Try starting the bike up in neuteral and letting the oil get on the disks and see if that helps with your situation. I always started my bike in neuteral so I don't know if there was any previous clutch drag.

I had a similar problem I think to the clutch drag thing, I was changing the grips to a thicker set, not so thick that it would require adjusting the clutch I thought. I proceeded and noticed it was lurching a bit when i'd start it in gear with the clutch fully engaged, so I played with the adjustment...forever. Could never get it to quit the lurch. It was real subltle, just a tiny pull when trying to start. So i put the stock grips back on and Everything was cool. Now I was only using the nut halfway up the cable to do the adjustments. Maybe I should have tried to adjust it elsewhere, but that was before I got my manual in, so I didnt want to mess with the clutch more than that.

A buddy of mind did the exact same thing, and he said once he got it started and rode aroudn a bit it quit that little pullinig. I did not feel comfortable doing that. To me if the problem was clutch drag putting the stock grips one would not have fixed it, but it did. So I dunno. I'm kind of lost on the issue. I havent looked at adjusting the clutch anywhere but on the middle of the cable since i got my manual, and if just runnning it a bit would have fixed that little jump, I wish I would have known, but like I said, I'm not totally convinced that is a fix.

I'm no motorcycle mechanic, which is why I come here =)

I had a similar problem I think to the clutch drag thing, I was changing the grips to a thicker set, not so thick that it would require adjusting the clutch I thought. I proceeded and noticed it was lurching a bit when i'd start it in gear with the clutch fully engaged, so I played with the adjustment...forever. Could never get it to quit the lurch. It was real subltle, just a tiny pull when trying to start. So i put the stock grips back on and Everything was cool. Now I was only using the nut halfway up the cable to do the adjustments. Maybe I should have tried to adjust it elsewhere, but that was before I got my manual in, so I didnt want to mess with the clutch more than that.

A buddy of mind did the exact same thing, and he said once he got it started and rode aroudn a bit it quit that little pullinig. I did not feel comfortable doing that. To me if the problem was clutch drag putting the stock grips one would not have fixed it, but it did. So I dunno. I'm kind of lost on the issue. I havent looked at adjusting the clutch anywhere but on the middle of the cable since i got my manual, and if just runnning it a bit would have fixed that little jump, I wish I would have known, but like I said, I'm not totally convinced that is a fix.

I'm no motorcycle mechanic, which is why I come here =)

Hey GHead remember this: your not adjusting the clutch halfway up the cable, your adjusting the clutch cable . If your clutch needs adjusting, then that won't fix the problem. You need to adjust your clutch with the screw behind the derby cover. This can be a little tricky if you've never done it before. Everything you need to know is in the manual, but you kinda need a feel for it to get it right. Give it a shot :clap

Hey GHead remember this: your not adjusting the clutch halfway up the cable, your adjusting the clutch cable . If your clutch needs adjusting, then that won't fix the problem. You need to adjust your clutch with the screw behind the derby cover. This can be a little tricky if you've never done it before. Everything you need to know is in the manual, but you kinda need a feel for it to get it right. Give it a shot :clap

Ah...that makes perfect sense considering what I remember from that experiance. It is kind of like turning on the lights when you put it that way.

Just came back from a local dealer I share my wealth with. I talked to the service guy about your troubles he said " If all is well inside the derby cover, the the problem has to be to tight a bend in the cable. or the cable itself is faulty."
Hope this helps.

I brought her to the dealer last night. Hopefully it's a quick fix today, I'll let you know what they come up with.

Well, I just got off the phone with the service department. It was the adjustment. I guess there's no substitute for a good mechanic, but damn it if I didn't try every possible combination. They also said the primary chain had alot of slop in it, don't know how that happened.

Thanks again guys!

I give you credit for admitting it, Saint. Look out, you might take some lumps. :D I'm sure glad that's all it was.

Glad to hear it worked out without any real problems.
My Best

Glad you got her put back together. I'm not mechanically inclined, but at times I like to tinker. Given the problems you've had, I'm making a note to myself......"Don't screw with clutch".

-Sting

Glad to hear it worked out without any real problems.
My Best
Hey Radar,

Elmira, eh? I grew up in Millerton, just the other side of the stateline from you. Out of curiousity, is Bernie-Murry's still in business (it was near where Penn Ave and Main came together)? They had the best damn wings I've ever had. I also miss Pudgies, believe it or not. You know that party pizzas are unique to the Northeast? You ask for a party pizza anyplace else and they look at you like your nuts.

-Sting

Sting, still there. Never tried it, but I will now.
Thanks for the tip. Just moved here in Sep '03 from Alaska.
I grew up in Lansing, just North of Ithaca.
My Best

....
I grew up in Lansing, just North of Ithaca.
My Best


Odd, in Michigan, Lansing is south of Ithica.


:D

My clutch did this when I first got the bike. I would have to push it forward then pop into gear to go without stalling the moment I hit the shifter. Come to find out, the previous owner filled the side right up to the fill screw. I got the book, found the levelling screw, drained out the extra quart or so of oil in there, then it worked fine. Just like new. Having it overfilled really made a huge difference. Could not even stop without stalling it due to the clutch doing about no good for it...

Well, I just got off the phone with the service department. It was the adjustment. I guess there's no substitute for a good mechanic, but damn it if I didn't try every possible combination. They also said the primary chain had alot of slop in it, don't know how that happened.


Just to raise a point here guys......

There is NO substitute for an experianced tech

Much as we can try to help in here, we can't actually do it hands on and therefore some things are just going to get lost thru the translation.....

The other thing is with a lot of inexperianced people tryin to help it can often make things worse.


Any area that requires an experiance "feel" , such as primary clutch adjustment or carb tuning or bottom end and head work (especially porting) is better done by someone who knows what they're doin.........

Find a good indy and work with him ..... do some stuff yourself and take it to him once a year for a full check over....that way it's the best of both worlds.

Yeah I've been adjusting all night at both ends, I'm at a complete loss, it should be working perfectly, but it's not. I only hope this sounds familiar to someone because I've examined this thing backwards and forward all night and it looks perfect but the clutch pull is garbage and my clutch won't disengage.

I have SOOOO been here.....lol