Heavy clutch lever - Not a cable issue

[Barney626]

Hi all,

So this has been an ongoing problem for a long time now but never bothered to fix it until the bike is out of action for some other work. My clutch lever is incredibly heavy. It returns just fine and I've adjusted it over and over and over again with regards to clutch mantra but still have the issue.

I recently ordered a brand new clutch cable which moves nice and freely when not attached to anything. Installed it to each end of the clutch system outside of the bike to eliminate routing issues. Cable can still be moved easily back and forth by hand.

I've then gone through the whole set the worm drive screw and take up slack stuff and sure enough once the freeplay is taken up on the lever and it starts to actuate the push rod it requires huge amounts of force to do so.

I'm wondering whether it's a worn worm drive (bike has 55k miles) or something bent/broken somewhere after the push rod?

Any suggestions for diagnosing this as worm drives are seemingly quite hard to come by in decent nick...

[garynortheast]

Originally Posted by Barney626

I'm wondering whether it's a worn worm drive (bike has 55k miles) or something bent/broken somewhere after the push rod?

Any suggestions for diagnosing this as worm drives are seemingly quite hard to come by in decent nick...

If you are going to replace the worm drive (worth it at 55,000 miles if it's the original) don't bother getting a second hand one. You'll only end up having to replace it yet again in a short while. Just buy a new one and be done with it.

I'd get the push rod out and check it for any bowing while you're at it. Also may be worth getting the clutch cover off and looking at the condition of the plates and clutch basket.

[gadget]

It may well be the worm drive, my clutch at the lever was quite heavy so I decided to service the worm, lost 3 balls in the gravel, spent an hour with a magnet to find them! Anyway ... took it all apart and .... hardly a smear of grease in it at all and my bike only has 12000 miles on it. Suzuki saved themselves about 0.2 pence there by not properly greasing the worm!! Cleaned everything, copiously regreased everything, cleaned and lubed cable, put it all back together and ... smoother than a really smooth thing.
Top tip ... use a nice big tray to catch the bearing when they fall out, because they WILL.

[R1ffR4ff]

Have a read here,

https://cx500.000webhostapp.com/SV650ClutchLifter.html

HTH