This wins the award for the worst possible way to adjust a clutch. Absolutely no reason to have that much freeplay. It works for you because you've got the set screw adjustment so messed up that you have to fix it with cable adjustment.
The reason your clutch engages close to the bar is because you barely have it disengaged. I understand why it is working for you but there's way less margin for error doing it the proper way.

 

I agree. That what I was saying in post 17. If you had 1" on in and out cable movement, the lever would hang loose and the cable would fall out of the slot. 2black has to be talking about something else in the 1"

 

Dude! My clutch adjustment process is absolutely sound. And if you think it is the absolute worst possible way to adjust the clutch, then you don't have a very good understanding of how the clutch and all of its linkages work.

The bottom line when adjusting the clutch is that you must have some freeplay, both inside the cover and at the lever to ensure full clutch engagement. This is the most important aspect of the adjustment relative to clutch function and any potential slippage and/or clutch life. If you are going to error one way or the other, it's always better to error towards more freeplay.

Then if you want to alter the engagement point, adjusting the cable is the easiest way to do this. In fact, if you have the inside the cover adjustment at the looser end of the tolerance, and the clutch engagement is still too far from the grip for your personal preference, loosening the cable is the only way to move the engagement closer to the grip.

One point where you are correct is that my clutch engages close to the grip because it is barely disengaged. That is the whole point. That is where I prefer the adjustment to be and that is the point of the OPs original question in this thread. As long as the clutch disengages enough to shift and find nuetral, it doesn't need to disengage any farther.

I never said I have one inch of cable movement for freeplay. I said I have approximately one inch of lever freeplay measured at the tip of the lever which equates to approximately 3/16" of cable freeplay. You may have misinterpretted what I said earlier. Go back and re-read what I wrote and I think you'll see.

 

2black1s,
I like to have a good understanding of the mechanics of what I'm working on and after reading what you've said and looking at the manual some more, you have she'd light on the subject for me. There is only so much adjustment under the cover. 1/2 to 1 fully turn loose from full clutch engagement. From there the only adjustment left to move the full clutch engagement point relative to the lever off the handle is the cable adjuster. I understand how it works now. Thanks for your replies.

 

Yes this is correct!

 

my problem is just the opposite, engaging too soon...seems the bike wants to pull ahead at a stop light while in gear and clutch lever all the way in actually butted up against the grip,
btw... service dept. at the HD dealer just recently adjusted it.

also, I noticed the cable adjuster is closed/tightened to the max to where there are no threads showing, will spreading the cable adjuster out more help with clutch engaging too soon?

 

Need to start over like the manual states at the beginning when a problem shows up. The initial setting at the clutch must be made and be correct. Obivious since you are paying someone you do not want to do it yourself. You just need to find someone else and I would not give the dealer a second shot on this. He should get something this simple correct. Obivious his mechanic was working at Mickey D's last week before he started at the Harley dealer on the day you took bike in. Find someone else or wait a few weeks for their new mechanic to get his feet on the ground at least....Dr's pratice..real Harley mechanics know what they are doing. That's the problem with this forum. We are all a bunch of doctors with Harleys.

 

it's like, if ya want it done right...do it yourself, I'm going in, it's the only way I'm going to learn, just like I did when I installed my new Santee 1¼" dia. mini-apes and internally wired them, did my own exhaust (BUB 7 TDX's) which looks and sounds awesome, it's a good learning experience and the $60 I paid for the 2011 Touring models service manual has paid for itself tenfold.

 

I've never done this before and point 5 is a little confusing - at least to me. Point 5 states "Tighten the jamnut to 72-120 in-lbs". Are you to tighten the jamnut (as in the diagram figure 27) or the locknut (as in the diagram figure 28)? I think they meant the locknut - is this correct? If it's the locknut how do you get a torque wrench on it when you have an allen wrench in the clutch adjuster screw?

 

1. An estimated guess with a wrench.
2. A crows foot wrench on your torque wrench will get it close.