clutch cable PLEASE HELP!!

GoldenMotor.com

motorized kodiak

New Member
Aug 3, 2013
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australia
hey everyone, my clutch cable snapped last night, so this morining i went to replace it with a brake cable from an old bike, i greased the clutch cable very well with silicon spray and i hooked it up the clutch arm then i tightened the screw. i cant even pull my clutch lever its that hard!! what can i do please i need urgent help!! thanks in advance :)
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
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Littleton, Colorado
Post a photo showing how you have the cable run. No sharp bends or kinks. If you have installed the small spring that comes in the kits, get rid of it. A light oil or grease will work better than silicone spray to lube the cable. Does the cable fit loose in the sheath?

There is a simple modification you can do to the clutch actuating mechanism but show us your installation first then I'll explain what to do to help with clutch pull.

Tom
 

motorized kodiak

New Member
Aug 3, 2013
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australia
thanks for the reply, my when i manage to pull in the lever i can hear the cable breaking. i have no kinks or bends and the cable fits perfectly in the sheath
 

crassius

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2012
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first, put your thumb on the clutch arm and see if you can push it - if not, then you have a problem with the actuator or the clutch itself
 

Will122391

New Member
May 31, 2013
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Texas
Do not tape down the cable anywhere. Let it hang loose. You can also put wd40 in the cable which helps a lot. Plus you can take off the clutch arm spring. Then you might be able to pull you lever with just 1 finger.
 

Dan

Staff
May 25, 2008
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Moosylvania
I have to humbly disagree, Will. WD40 will initially help but then will work as a degreaser.

Not meaning to argue, just my opinion Buddy.
 

nightcruiser

New Member
Mar 25, 2011
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Light oil down the cable housing and having long sweeping bends instead of short quick bends is helpful, and a lot of people add a roller to the clutch cable to lessen the impact of that rather sharp bend between where the cable leaves the motor side cable say and the clutch arm. Without proper cable routing, oil and the roller these clutches can be pretty tough to pull....

However, since you snapped one cable already and say you can hear the new cable breaking when you pull I think perhaps you have an issue inside your clutch itself. Like someone has already said, can you manually push in the clutch lever (on the motor) with your hand? Did you pack grease under the bucking bar? Sounds like your clutch might be dry/rusty internally where the bearing pushes the unit open. You might want to try removing the motor side cable stay and put some grease down that hole, cause that hole leads right to the internal moving parts of the clutch.....
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
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Littleton, Colorado
The clutch actuating parts, The cam in the outer cover, the pin or bucking bar, and the ball bearing behind the pin all should be well lubricated with a good grade of bearing grease.

To really decrease the friction in these parts you can use a sanding disc on a Dremel and smooth the contacting surfaces of the cam and the end of the bucking bar. As they come from the factory they are very rough and there is a lot of pressure applied to those rough surfaces when you pull the clutch lever.

Look closely and you can see where they make contact. Those are the surfaces that need to be as smooth as you can make them. After sanding off the rough edges I like to polish them on a buffing wheel so they look like chrome then apply the grease and reassemble the cover and cam to the engine.

Make sure the cable is aimed directly toward the clutch actuator arm by loosening the jam nut on the cable stand-off and turning it to align the cable with the arm. Retighten the nut and adjust the cable so there is little to no slack when the handlebar lever is in the engaged (unsqueezed) position.

Smoothing and lubricating the parts described will greatly decrease the friction in the clutch. I concur that WD-40 is not a good choice for a lubricant. It will give you a temporary fix then make things worse. Either a light oil, I use Opti-2, or grease applied to the cable before sliding it into the sheath will help a lot.

Good luck.

Tom
 

crassius

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2012
4,032
158
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USA
there are longer clutch levers and longer clutch arms - I usually only like to build a kit that has at least one of these in the long version

got just one kit from mingsinternational on ebay, and it seems OK except that both are short & would be hard for a woman to use
 

CTripps

Active Member
Aug 22, 2011
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Vancouver, B.C.
If you could post some pics it might help. Show us the cable and the clutch arm, maybe we can see something you don't. All I can go on is the pic from your album.. Not a great angle for what we're talking about. From looking at that pic though, I have to ask if the cable rubs or makes contact with anything, including the bottom of your carb? (FYI, I'm running the same carb on 2 of 3 builds).

You said you can hear the replacement cable breaking.. can you determine where the sound is coming from? Is it at the handle, mid-cable, etc? Often the notch in the clutch handle has forming waste around where the cable hooks into it. That waste material can be really hard on the cable as well.