I recently changed my primary and trans fluid. Rode the bike (2000 Roadking) for the first time after fluid change and this season. Bike seemed fine while riding most of the day, I did notice the bike pulling a bit while in first with clutch engaged at one gas stop, but never noticed itagain. I have since adjusted the clutch and cable but with no luck. I have tried the adjustment screw from 1 turn to 1/2 turn and different amounts of freeplay at cable. I get the same result with every adjustment. I bought the bike used and it came with mini apes and a braided cable. The cable had a 1/4 inch of play for the first 2 years and worked fine, but I have tried to go back to the same freeplay but clutch still does't engage. How can I tell if the cable is the correct length and could the length be a problem all of a sudden? Are there any other reasons for a clutch not to engage? Any ideas before I open my wallet to the mechanic.

 

I'll take a stab at this.
When you say it won't engage, you mean that since you adjusted the clutch the bike now doesn't move when you let out the clutch, like it's in neutral??
Prior to that you say you felt it creep forward with the clutch pulled in in first gear?

I recently swapped out the clutch cable on my RK. When I was done I fired up the bike, and upon releasing the clutch lever the bike remained like the tranny was in neutral. After thinking a bit, I decided that told me the adjusting nut down at the clutch basket was in too far (in too far clockwise) holding the clutch disengaged without the lever pulled in at all.
I guess the best way to explain this is...... (first make sure the locknut on the turnbuckle of the mid-cable 'adjuster' is backed off, with the adjuster wound up towards it giving you a lot of free-play at the lever)
After backing off the locknut behind the derby cover, wind the adjusting screw all the way out counter- clockwise. (it will offer up very little resistance) When you start turning it back in clockwise, it moves very easily. At some point, it becomes a little bit more difficult.(soft stop) This is the point at which you stop, and then back it back out 1/2 to 1 turn. If you were to choose to continue turning it in clockwise instead of stopping, the resistance would become even greater than before. The trick is to know the difference between the two levels of resistance. In my case, I had the adjuster turned in waaaay too far past the 'soft stop' and confused the amount of resistance I was feeling. I was waay beyond where I was supposed to be. This left the clutch disengaged even with the lever out. I suspect you're in too far as well.
Once you are wound back to where you ought to be from the soft stop and have retightened the locknut on the adjuster, reset the freeplay at the ferrule of the cable at the lever end to about 1/8" by backing out the mid-cable turnbuckle again. Then reset the locknut on this adjuster and you should be ready to go.
I hope this makes some sense, and is of help.

CN

 

I don't wanna be the next newbie dumbass that thought he was smart enough to work on his own bike but I'm having this issue... I've taken the derby cover off more times than I can count, I've backed off the cable adjuster so it was all the way in, loosened the adjuster screw in the basket all the way actually taking the lock nut off and screwing it in with my fingers until I feel it make contact with the push rod then back it off 1 turn (I've tried anywhere between a 1/2 turn and 1-1/2 turns) then adjust the lever with the cable adjuster... Start up my 03 fxdwg put it into first, N light goes out and I let the clutch out and I go nowhere.. A few times it grabbed a little but not enough to even get out of the garage...

I have a couple q's but first lemme explain why I attempted adjusting the clutch when it was working just fine....

The starter clutch went on me and I got stuck the other night late night with no hills and I couldn't push it fast enough by myself to pop it so I just pushed it home as I was less than a mile away on flat ground pretty much all the way.... What a work out with apes...

Got her home, pulled the starter and primary cover... I noticed the primary chain block was toasted so I figured I should change it, as well as all 3 oils for it... For whatever reason I thought I was gonna have to pull the clutch basket in order to get the rest of the jack shaft gear out in order to reinstall the starter, I should have to check it out but I decided to take 1 shot at putting it together with the basket in place even though I started pulling the clutch apart, all I had to do was break out the impact gun and unscrew than main nuts holding the basket and compensator sprocket... But I got the starter engagement gear and all that to go together without pulling the basket and compensator... Whew... Dodged a bullet there... So that was the end of the night for me, I decided to finish up the next day seeing the starter was in and everything looked good...

That night I went online and got the assembly order of the clutch parts and adjustment procedure which I thought I understood fine.. I'm a mechanic, not a bike mechanic but enough of a mechanic to do a a starter clutch and medial things that I can't allow myself to be robbed by a dealership to do..

Now the q?'s

Is it possible to install the pushrod the wrong way? I took the adjuster nut and pushrod and attempted to look at the surfaces to see which ends mated with which... I actually pulled the cover where the clutch cable goes into and took the oil slinger out and took the ball ramp apart and checked all that to make sure it was right..

The only thing I haven't done is pulled the primary cover back off and checked the plates for proper installation but I had the manual pages for the clutch plate assemble order and did my best to not eff that up...

The little cut-outs/notches on the friction plates... Are those supposed to be in any special orientation? I installed the metal plates with the "round" side facing out...

I think I need to just bite the bullet and pull the primary and pull the clutch apart and see what I did wrong... The clutch was good prior to this, no slip and the bike obviously moved and the clutch wasnt an issue...


I've tried the "by the book adjustment" and the "easy clutch adjustment" both at least a dozen times...

Is there anything in the clutch plate installation order that could prevent the clutch from engaged/disengaging no matter the adjustment?

I'm getting my *** kicked on this...

 

whitey, it is poor form to hijack someone else`s thread...

douglase3 posted his question, so his question is the only one that should be answered.

You need to start your own thread. It is just too confusing to keep track of more than one issue in a single thread.

An overfilled primary can cause some issues. With the bike upright, check the level of the primary lube, it should just touch the outside of the clutch shell.

Numb has you covered on clutch adjustment, good advice.

Don`t get fixated on the clutch cable play at the lever, the important thing is setting the adjuster screw properly at the clutch, once that is set you adjust the cable for about 1/8" freeplay at the lever.

You have your terminology mixed up:

You engage the clutch when you release the lever.

You disengage the clutch when you pull the lever in.

 

I apologize, I thought the op had his issues worked out, I thought it would be stupid to start another thread and pollute the forum/site with more of the same questions and problems asked over and over again, I was having the exact same problem except it was from a newb mistake and my definition of concaved side facing away or in or whatever it was...

The way the manual stated it and my thinking led me to believe the outer concaved spring/diaphram needed to be installed so the concaved side went in all nice and snug and easily... my brain didn't realize the actual tension to keep the clutch engaged was why that piece was there...

As soon as I did that and went through it making sure the first plates were in properly I was able to set the clutch on the first shot.. I knew something was off but it took some thinking to figure it out.

Thanks again and I apologize...

 

I'm having your exact issue on my 07 Road King after doing the inner primary seal. Only difference is I have a barnett coil spring conversion kit . I still that curved damper spring that's inside the basket followed by friction and steel plates.

What exactly did you do to fix your issue ? I installed that curved ring first .

The manual looks like it says install the narrow friction plate First and then the damper spring?

 

Is this a double hijack? OP Douglass3 try 1/4 turn out on the clutch adjuster and a dime's width at the lever and thenr eport back. After doing this see if the bike moves when you put it in 1st gear and start it with the clutch lever held in.

 

Hijack (aka error post in this case) was removed. All is good.

 

Here's a tip that might help you find that "soft stop" point Comfortably Numb referred to in Post #2.
As you are slowly turning that adjusting screw back in ( clock-wise) looking for the "Soft stop", put the allen wrench into the adjusting screw so as to keep it pretty close to horizontal and when you make a small tightening adjustment, let the wrench go. It should free fall. Tighten a little more....when you reach the point where there's sufficient resistance to juuuuusssst keep the allen wrench in place...hold it there and tighten the lock nut.