HELP! Broken clutch button

I actually replaced mine with one that's got a hinge for it's mounting bracket so I can take it off without taking off the grips. After I helped my neighbors move, they gave me an old baby jogger and said to strip what parts I could use and pitch the rest. Ended up with a near new cable and housing, brake assembly with new pads and - a locking brake.

The locking brake is the exact same concept as the locking clutch, so that's what I'm using now. You might try any shops that might have anything that would use a locking brake handle.

For a SUPER quick ghetto rig, you can just use a hose clamp, zip tie, strip of leather, rubber band. Anything that can hold the lever for you.

Right on - I'm glad you got something figured out!

As they say, where there's a will there's a way.

This is my second clutch pin.

Since a Friend put this together for me I was able to swap out a new unit for the clutch cable he had for another bike and that was a week ago.
Damn if that pin didn't pop out today.

So these clutch pins are necessary in my opinion since I signal with that arm and we need to be aware these pins with the washer and crimped pin end doesn't hold up very long at all.
That is a bad design. If it was long enough to thread then I could run a die on it but it isn't.

I am guessing that I will need to mill off the pin and then drill and tap for a screw and work form there.

I'll document what fix I make or what choice I make.

I'd like to avoid the Rubber band fix on such a new unit but I am angry at the low quality of that most important safety feature; the clutch pin.

Are there better quality replacements?

All-right I have a repair but it is more of the same as the original assembly.

I managed to find the metal washer and the fabric washer when it came apart as well as the spring which can be a challenge to find when the pin jettisons out of the clutch pin hole.

Now this is not the fix I want but it will do for a while until I can come up with a better design and that drill and tap is top on my list.

Now even if you have a new unit may I suggest this simple improvement.

You need two hammers made to hammer metal. Not wood hammers which has a different steel that can shatter.
You need safety glasses always when working with hammering on metal near your eyes and you will be looking at this rivet-pin closely.

One hammer should be heavy if possible. I have a small sledge hammer and a ball-peen hammer.
I placed the large hammer on the top of the pin to offer a heavy weight that the pin will push against as I strike the other end.
With the washers on the pin bottom and the big hammer on top of the pin I then strike the bottom of the pin where the washers are with the lighter ball-peen hammer and smash the soft metal and mushroom the end over the washers better than they did.
This clutch pin is in essence a soft metal rivet and we want to get a good compression on the end so that the washers will not pull through.
We cannot get a proper rivet head compressed with this as it's too short so it's inferior design to start with.
A good compressed rivet has an obvious compressed part and this is as slim a compression and a soft metal as it gets I believe.
Very cheep and a bad design to an otherwise useful pin.


The problem here is that the metal is too soft to be a good rivet and the spring action slowly causes the washers to un-compress the "mushroomed end" of the pin.

So I have a fix for now but not a trust worthy fix. I do not want to worry about my clutch pin and I want to lock the clutch open. This is a bike after all.

So everyone. Take time to make sure you have a good mushroomed end on that washer set and/or plan to buy a better clutch cable.

2door said:

Installing a small rubber 'O' ring behind the fiber washer will help dampen the shock of the clutch locking pin hitting. It will also make the action nice and quiet. I use an 'O' ring with a 3/32" ID. Just spread it with a small pair of needle nose pliers and slip it over the washers on the end of the pin.
Tom

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That is a good suggestion. I have it rather smashed but that could help for sure.

I had the same problem...

i just tapped the end and put on a lock nut....

No problems since.

I lost mine...tried soldering the end but it id not hold.
Any alternative ideas for this lock pin?

Thanks!

The thing is I've lost the Lock pin with the spring
Searching now the site for ideas.

The pin is made of aluminum, so you can heat it up with a torch and add a dab of Aliumiweld rod to the end to make it larger.

tseekr379 said:

Thanks guys! I spoke to the distributor here and he told me he will be getting replacements next week for everything included in the motor kit. Until then, I will try to ghetto rig it as DuctTapedGoat said. But I will be employing the method described by 2door. If I can, I will try to get the pieces at the bottom soldered real well so it doesn't cause anymore problems.

Pain in the palm to be holding clutch in all the time, especially when commuting in city traffic where frequent stops are an absolute must! Now, I am off to tackle my next problem: finding out why the heck my motor is taking so long to warm up after I changed the carb needle to the leanest setting (9,000 ft.+ elevation, less air). The motor runs great when warmed up, but I'm assuming a better spark plug for faster ignition? I am NOT replacing the air filter, exhaust or making any other mods at the moment. Just the leanest needle setting and 32:1 gas/oil mix, fyi. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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I broke mine the very first day & I never fixed it However I did cut a piece of inner tube and I use that to pedal around from time to time Ive gotten so i can pull in the clutch AND USE MY PALM TO ROLL the tube over the lever "all in a one handed motion" it takes no more effort than pushing the spring down as you have the clutch pulled in . I keep like 4" of cut innertube on each handle grip the stuff comes in so handy

i bought an aftermarket clutch frome bikeberry. com a year ago, havent had any problems, only 25 total with shipping and i live in chicago, it has a lever with a groove in it that locks over a welded pin on the bottom.

never had a problem with it, would highly recommend it