Hello everyone,

I have a 2012 Road Glide Ultra and I just installed 16" apes. I installed the apes after I was riding the bike and the clutch cable broke on me and it gave me a reason to upgrade my bars.

I have been having a hard time with adjusting the clutch and making it where it will ride. Adjusting the cable itself has been tough because I obviously increased the length for the new apes, but I think the cable can be too long because I run out of the adjusting threads. I have tried adjusting the internal clutch in the primary, but I have little experience with this.

I loosened the nut and then backed off the threaded bolt. Then I threaded the bolt back till it felt as if it started touching. Then I backed it off half a turn and then tighten the bolt. After I do this, I then adjust the clutch cable and it just isn't enough for me to be able to engage the clutch. Now if I take the internal threaded bolt and turn it till it is finger tight and the tighten the bolt, I am able to adjust the cable to where it is able to engage, but when I took it for a test drive, I noticed a few gears that felt like they were slipping. This didn't happen at all before my clutch cable broke.

The only thing I can think of is that the gentleman who sold me the cable might have sold me too long of a cable, because he felt unsure of the length and the cable does seem to have a lot of length to work with. The other thing I think it might be is a worn out clutch. Can anyone help me narrow that down?

Thanks in advance.

 

Cable length has nothing to do with it. It's the amount of movement from the fixed housing or ends of the cable housing to the ends of the cable itself. If you collapse the cable adjuster on both your old and new cable and compare how much the wire cable comes out it should be the same. If it is you probably have a ball and ramp problem. This is the most common issue when changing cables.

 

As stated above length is not the issue.

Cable adjustment is just free play and nothing more. A cable that is to long may be a routing problem ,may bind a bit due to bends trying to get it out of the way . But that is about it.

 

It sounds to me like you may need to adjust your clutch. Do you have the service manual procedure?

 

Thanks for your response.

Just curious, what could be wrong with the ball and ramp? I haven't heard of that issue before.

 

Sounds like you don't have a Factory Service Manual. Get one.
The ball and ramp assy is in the cover where the cable goes in. Did you replace it? The two pieces of ramp are what transitions the cable pull to a push maneuver to the push rod via rolling on ***** (ball bearings) in graduated grooves. If those ***** fell out you won't have any clutch. They can be held in place with a dab of grease when assembled. Also, if the assy is not properly "clocked" it can not work.

 

A cable that is too long for the application will undoubtedly rub against something and put a hole in the cable.
While this won't impact the function or operation of the cable (or clutch itself), it will cause a leak of trans fluid because the fluid wicks up into the cable as far as it takes to level out to the height of the fluid in the trans.

 

You can have a cable that is too long for it's sheath. Which will give you the problems you describe.

But, so will a maladjusted shaft from the primary side. I'd suggest redoing that with the cable sheath fully shortened.
The advice about making sure you put the cam in fully released is worthy too. Technically that should self adjust when doing the shaft via the primary, but if things were far off, it may not, or it may take several rounds to get it all in alignment.

 

It is not uncommon to interpret a bur or slight bind on the clutch hub adjuster screw as the "contact point". Follow the full procedure for the primary clutch adjustment but screw the adjusting screw in, way past the contact point and back it out again several times. That should smooth out any binds in the thread and you can then accurately feel for the contact point and make your 1/2 to 1 turn out from that. There are youtube videos on how to do the adjustment and some stuff in the technical section on this site. If that doesn't fix your problem, then get into the ***** and ramp, check for a collapsing cable sheath or a release bearing failure. If everything was OK before the new cable, it is probably something simple like being fooled on the feel of the contact point.

That adjusting screw goes through a plate in the center of the clutch and that plate is held in position by a spring ring. If the screw is NOT touching the release rod, that plate can be moved slightly from side to side. When the screw makes contact, pressure is applied to the plate and it no longer can be moved. That is confirmation you have actually found the contact point. The lock nut requires only 120 INCH pounds, that is only 10 foot pounds. It is easy to over tighten and slightly bur the threads of the adjusting screw.