Good evening all. Before I rip everything apart again, I figured I'd voice my problem on a forum in hopes of being pointed in the right direction. I have a '20 Road King Special that had an unfortunate engine failure at 40k miles. I built a replacement engine and all is well with that. But after the engine install, the clutch lever won't pull all the way to the bar. It will disengage the engine, but just barely, and I have to really muscle it to activate the clutch switch to start in gear. As well, the clutch slips in any gear if I give it more than ~50% throttle. I did not remove the clutch actuator during the overhaul, but of course clutch came out and I replaced the clutch pushrod with a Macomb County Choppers fat rod at the same time, but the clutch feels the same with the original pushrod. What gives? Any help appreciated!

Clutch lever won't pull further than this point.

Pic for attention! Motorcycle Grand Tour of Texas stop

 

Welcome to the HDFORUM.

Only back off cable a little.

Usually the issue is the threads on the fine thread adjuster are rolled slightly from tightening the lock nut to tight.

Screw the adjuster in well past no play, back off and approach the no play while leavering the lever.

This will ensure ***** are in place on right side of transmission and you actually find no play.

Now do your back off.

Lock it. And then adjust cable so you just have a 1/16 of play checking at both locks of bars.

 

I probably should have mentioned. 2020 models are hydraulic clutch. No clutch adjustment is possible on hydraulic models.

 

Reinstall the OEM clutch pushrod.

 

I did... Clutch lever and rideability remains the same.

 

Blead it.

 

Sorry, I now see you did say that in your original post.

Are you using a factory service manual?

Have you measured the clutch release plate movement?

 

My bad. I was looking at your hand on lever and not seeing the big picture, a fluid reservoir.

Just guessing but either needs bleed or there is an issue at the slave actuator. Apparently holding clutch in. When you lever, it's pushing clutch in to it's limit.

Not sure how air in system can do that. Was any changes made to it other then installing Macomb County Choppers tapered push rod (for oil control) ? Will item 15 go in the wrong direction??

Sure hope you get back on this one. Stick around Shawn, enjoy your ride here too and only as a suggestion by me as a USER like you to post a hello over in the newmember welcome area.

Beautiful shot of your bike.

 

Wasn't there a recall on the master clutch cylinder a few years back? Maybe the replacement wasn't done and it's causing the clutch to act up? Just spitballing, here....

 

Clutch is fixed ladies and gents! One of the clutch friction disks was installed out of order, forcing the clutch partially open at rest. Reinstalled correctly the second time and clutch operation is normal.

Thank you for spitballing with me!