CB350 Clutch Adjustment Help

Okay, I can usually get most things on one or two tries, but this is kicking my tail and I am sure it is over something simple. I am trying to adjust the clutch and know there are several components to it
1.) Lever adjusting bolt and locknut(disc, whatever)
2.) The cable adjusting bolt and locknut on the crankcase cover
3.) The adjusting scew and locknut on the side cover.

Neither my OEM or Clymers is helping me much at this point. I cannot seem to get any play in the lever as I should.

To start with, what exactly is the "clutch lever bracket" in this picture?

In that it says to loosen the locknut at the lever and screw the clutch lever adjusting bolt into the "clutch lever bracket". Which way do I need to turn this adjuster to get it in the damn "Clutch lever Bracket!"? :) Does it mean to screw it into the lever so that there is no length of thread between the adjuster bolt and the lock disc? Meaning, it would be, lever, lock disc, bolt all touching each other. This is a dumb question too - which way do I turn the clutch lever bolt to loosen the cable?







And after that, it tells me to turn the adjusting bolt on top of the case both ways (one to loosen it all the way) and then the opposite way once I have tightened the adjusting screw. Okay, it says turn it in direction A at first - um, how the hell am I supposed to know which way A is from this picture? I can get to A clockwise or counterclockwise?







I am guessing it means counter clockwise at this point. However, when I am turning it back clockwise until I have 3/4 inch play in the lever, i am not getting any play - it is tight as heck. I am guessing this has something to do with my seeming inability to turn the lever adjusting bolt into the "clutch lever bracket"

Thanks for your help on this one guys!

Mike

Look what I can do...

Not sure what happened here, but in trying to do this I did it according to what I thought was the correct method as listed in the manuals, but even though the clutch felt tight, the clutch was not engaging at all, so I tightened it more - didn't feel any resistance until **snap** something popped...don't think it was the cable though cuz when I took the cover off, the cable still moves when I pull the lever.. Will update more later with pics - underneath my cover is NASTY dirty.

Mike

Okay, here is a little better update. Once I started to mess with the adjustment, The clutch wasn't engaging at all. I have my bike up on the center stand and I had it in neutral. I pulled the clutch in and switched down to first and the wheel (which I spun before hand by the way) stop and it was in gear, with the lever still pulled in. Okay, so I thought maybe it needs to be tighter, so tighter I went until I hear and feel a pop.

I pulled the clutch lever and it was extremely loose. While I was upset, I wasn't too bad since I need to replace my old (probably original) cable. Well, I opened up the case and found that it was nasty:






And







But after 10 minutes, some WD40 and a couple rags - it was clean(er) again:





My bearings are all still in, but in BAD need of cleaning and regreasing, which is easy enough.

So I have two questions:

1.) How does this mechanism actually engage the clutch - does it essentially push the pushrod in and that engages the clutch? If so, should I be able to easily slide the pushrod out (i can by the way). Is there anyway to test if from the pushrod on my clutch is working? Meaning, can I push on it and test the clutch.

2.) What could have possibly snapped if the cable is still in tact? Is there some sort of safety mechanism?

Any help on this is appreciated. I REALLY do not want to have to delve into the actual clutch - it looks extremely complicated with all those plates and such. In fact, I was just telling my wife that I would much rather completely rebuild the entire engine (minus the clutch) instead of doing the clutch!

Mike

I can't for the life of me figure out how to describe how to do this to you.

But, direction "A" is into the case.

Essentially what you want is for the center of the mechanism that the cable actuates to be not quite touching the pushrod. Then you adjust the freeplay at the lever by turning the part labeled "2" in the first picture and locking it in place with part "1".

Cool, I think I figured that out when I took it apart and moved all the parts to see what did what. Didn't have that desire before the pop.

So my big questions are: if not the cable, then what was the pop? By the way, I should mention that i am 95% sure the pop was inside this cover and NOT on the other side where the clutch is (I am hoping that is a good thing!).

But even more confusing is the fact that the cable slacked a lot, but it now still activates the mechanism?

The other question is how come I couldn't get the damn thing to engage when I had it (what I thought) was tightened.

Oh, and I left out something else too. I was able to switch gears without the clutch being engaged (apparently, because I pulled the clutch, but when I changed from N to 1st, the wheel stopped moving, meaning it caught the gear. I was thinking that since I still had the clutch pulled in that the wheel would still be rolling? I did all this with the bike not running, I am not guessing that makes any difference at all does it?

Thanks for the reply. I guess I ask the hard questions because I rarely get hardly any answers, cept from the expert, of course :)

I suppose I will clean all the parts of the clutch mechanism really good, pack it back with grease, put it back together and see what happens.

I am just concerned that I somehow messed up my clutch or something. Should I be able to push the pushrod in with my hand or is more pressure usually required on that? I.E. If I get the cable back on and it gets tight again, and let's say the clutch does not work, how do I know if it is the cable/mech or the clutch itself?

Mike

If you can push the pushrod in with your hand, you are the toughest man in the universe.

With the motor off, the clutch usually has enough drag to keep the wheel from free-wheeling with the clutch pulled in.

If the clutch operates properly now, take it for a spin.

If you can push the pushrod in with your hand, you are the toughest man in the universe.

With the motor off, the clutch usually has enough drag to keep the wheel from free-wheeling with the clutch pulled in.




"I HAVE THE POWEEEER" Okay, good to know that I should not be able to do that, cuz I can't.

If the clutch operates properly now, take it for a spin.

But how do I know if it works correctly? Before Taking it out for a spin? I suppose that I could put the cover back on, tighten it up per the manual and your advice and take it out to see if it works. I suppose I will know right away if it isn't.

Thanks again!

Mike

That's the only way to know!!:)

You can't tell if a clutch or transmission is working correctly without riding the bike.

Can you slide the cable housing out of the adjuster barrels at either the clutch lever or the engine or both? Maybe while you were adjusting the housing backed out of it's seat in one of the barrels. This happens frequently when messing with my bicycle brake cables which appear similar but less strong. If the housing sits on one edge of the adjuster barrels, sometimes with pressure and a wiggle it will pop back into its seat again.

Just a SWAG?!?

I can, and I could have. I will just clean it really good and put it all back together and see what happens.

I am guessing that if the clutch was not working then I probably couldn't get it into gears at all, riding it or not.

Maybe it was just telling me that it needed to be cleaned - as you can see from the pictures above, it REALLY needed to be cleaned.

As far as the grease for the bearings - the grease that is already in there (while very dirty looking) looks to be thinner than the red lithium grease that I have. What type of grease should I use for this?

Mike