Long story short, I need to replace my new braided clutch cable. Over the early spring, I had my indie mechanic put on 16" apes, braided lines etc. When I ordered the parts, they sent me+8 where I really only needed +6.I was able to return all except the clutch cable, out of stock. To not lose ridingtime, he made the 8+ work. NowI have the right cable and would really like to avoid another trip/downtime with the mechanic, and would prefer the experience of doing it myself.Its seems pretty straight forward to replace the clutch cable since I have the current cable to reference and I read a few of the do it yourself threads on ape hanger jobs. Maybe someone hear can walk me thru this with a little detail. Certainly don't want to screw anything up to save a little time and money. How drain tranni? does it just drip out when I take off the cover? can this be done with her on the kickstand? or need to be on lift? Connection in tranni? How to properly adjust? what is recommended to refill? How much? Its a Magnum chromite II cable and '05 WG if that matters. What mistakes should I avoid. Maybe I'm too long winded and I'm asking too much, but there seems to be some very knowledgable people here. Or maybe it's a pretty straight forward job and I'm making it more complicated. Thanks.

 

It will take you less time to change the cable tahn it did to type your post, It is pretty easy and straight forward. I just pulled my tranny side cover last week. It was done with the bike on its kickstand and a 2 x 4 under the kickstand.

Get a new side transmission cover gasket and one quart of tranny fluid.

First, drain tranny fluid through drain hole in bottom of pan.

While its draining, remove old cable from lever and from any frame clamps.

Remove the six bolts from the transmission side cover.

This is the inside of the cover when removed (Pictures stolen from thebestofIndica)


Rotate the cable end and you will see how it separates from the seat. The cable housing then unscrews from the cover.

Install the new cable in reverse of the above steps.

Adjust it so you just take any slack out of the lever.

Replace drain plug and refill tranny with 32 ounces tranny fluid.

Hope this answers your questions.

 

Thanks jmpancoast, i appreciate your time, both to respond and read my initial post. I'm sure there are others with interest to this answer.

 

Good info. Doing the same this week with the handlebar change.

MikeyB

 

seriously consider getting the service manual - its the best $50 bucks you will spend on your bike (specially if you are motivated to do stuff like this yourself). You can get them from your dealer, or online. There are probably places you can get it for under MSRP. You can also get it here.
http://www.repairmanual.com/motorcycles/0/24

I like this place becuase its got just about every sm you can imagine - but its not a discount site.

Having sm would arm you with the knowledge that the bolts on the cover should be tightend to 84-103 INCH lbs of tq.
Also, my sm says you have to take the retaining ring out to remove the cable from that lever thing inside the assembly... if thats true, you seriously need to get a pair of circlip plier for inside clips. That is one stubborn retaining ring without the proper tool.
I don't know - its early, so reading the steps isn't on my list of fun things to do right now.... but when I replaced my cable, I had to take that clip out to get the cable to detach from the assembly inside that cover. When you do that, there are several loose ball bearings that will go all over the place if you are not carful (they are big ones)