Was asking the other day about what to do when I ran the clutch cable adjuster out of itself and if there was any thing special to do. The reason was what I guess I really want to know about.
09 Ultra with Wild One 517 I think, about 14 inch bars. I had a guy do them for me and the cable (stock) was pretty hard to pull, so hard that a 6 or so months later the ring for the lever pin broke. It seemed to be because at the time of the install we put the strong arm inner fairing supports in as well and that made the stock cable have to go around the braces enough pinch it and make it so hard to pull.
Local HD dealer had a 72 inch cable and we switched it out and I thought I was done but a now, and I don't know if it was always like this since I don't really beat on the bike, there is a clank sound from I think the primary chain side when I throttle it in gear a little or drop the throttle, in first or second. Doesnt seem to do it in the higher gears. Neutral pretty easy to find, but have had occasional problem, starts easy most of the time, again occasional problem ie compensator issues, doesn't pull the bike upon start up - clutch disengaged,
When I tried to adjust the clutch it seems the male thread on the adjuster almost, and I mean almost, but not quite run out before the lever seems right. Its right at the point where a turn or so would cause the adjuster to come apart.
Just had a minute to try to ask this, and haven't looked at my manual but would appreciate any thoughts or questions
Thanks

 

The adjuster on the cable is for fine tuning your adjustment, You need to read your manual and take off the derby cover and adjust the clutch correctly. And your probably gonna need a compensator/rotor sooner or later.

 

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The adjuster on the cable is to adjust the the throw and free play of the clutch lever itself.

The clutch push rod adjuster in the center of the clutch basket is to adjust the distance between the end of the push rod and the clutch diaphragm spring. No amount of cable adjustment will change that.

As stated above, do it right by starting at the clutch basket cold.

 

thanks for the replies...and what gets me is I adjusted the clutch per the manual but the male part of the cable adjuster ends up with barely enough threads left to keep it together. so I guess my question is can the adjustment screw position, like how far in it goes at the basket make any difference in the slack (less) the adjuster takes up.
I would have thought not but I just don't get why the adjuster can't get the slack out at full extension
thanks again to all

 

sounds like the wrong clutch cable

edit: the travel length is key

 

I gotta agree, that cable is not the right one.

If the clutch push rod is no more than a half turn out from the the diaphragm spring and the bike will move under its own power there's no way you should be out of adjustment on the cable.

 

Not as much as the OP describes anyway

 

I'm in a similar boat right now. Just bought a 2011 limited a few weeks ago - shortly after getting it home, discovered some clutch slip when rolling on the throttle hard in high gear at 3k rpm or above. Took a look at adjustments, and discovered zero slack in clutch cable.

First I added a little slack with just the cable adjustment, and it seemed to help a little. Then did the full clutch adjustment (went 5/8 turn out on adjustment screw - it appeared to be all the way in to the point of contact when I got it), and when I took up the cable slack after adjusting the clutch pack, I had to come all the way out on the adjuster. I'm actually running a little more slack at the lever than I like (just barely under 1/8"). I've got the female section of the adjuster about 2 turns from coming off the male section. That's as far as I felt comfortable going - probably farther than I should though.

I never checked to see how much adjustment was there before I started making changes, so don't know if it was like that from the start.