K
kens97sto171
Guest
Well, I was out on a short ride today, and I noticed the clutch was dragging a bit, at stop lights.
Some excessive play in the lever... strange I adjusted it the other day. SO I figured the adjuster must have slipped.
NO.. the cable was fraying at the end, and was down to TWO strands.. LOL..
Lucky I was close to my friends house, so stopped to see if I could fix it up.
I had learned a neat trick on a previous bike a little 200cc China Dual Sport. When the same thing happened to that bike.
The procedure is pretty simple and easy to do.
Take the cable out of the clutch lever, and you will likely find some nice strands of cable all messed up at the end. if you can clip any weak looking ones, and try and do this with fresh cable that you un- stand a bit.
Take your average drinking straw. cut it to about the size of the little piece that the cable normally goes through, The little barrel shaped end. Sorry don't know the official name of that.
Now put a hole in ONE side of the straw about 1/2 way down it's side, put the cable into it, and try to get some of the strands to go up, and some down. You are trying to recreate that little barrel shaped end piece.
Then fill the straw with JB Weld. The stick kind that you mix is easiest.
Make sure you get the JB Weld all in there good, pack it tight and let it cure.
Now you have a new end on the cable that should hold for quiet a while. In fact it is still holding on that China bike 2 years later. The idea is that you could probably do this on the side of the road if you had to. It is not really meant as a permanent fix.
I However forgot one important part and caused this to NOT work on my GS, then ran out of time.
I made the mistake of putting the holes on both sides of the straw, and put the cable strands all the way through... not up and down through the straw. It pulled straight back out under stress.
You may have to file the ends down a bit if you make the barrel shape too long. It wont fit properly back in its slot in the clutch lever, But it's easy enough to fix it after. USE your existing end piece as a guide to how long to make the straw.
Here are some drawings to show you what I mean.
Correct Way
Incorrect way.. which is what I did tonight.
Picture of the actual fix I tried tonight.
Hope this helps anyone out there. The fix does work pretty good when you do it right.
Ken
Some excessive play in the lever... strange I adjusted it the other day. SO I figured the adjuster must have slipped.
NO.. the cable was fraying at the end, and was down to TWO strands.. LOL..
Lucky I was close to my friends house, so stopped to see if I could fix it up.
I had learned a neat trick on a previous bike a little 200cc China Dual Sport. When the same thing happened to that bike.
The procedure is pretty simple and easy to do.
Take the cable out of the clutch lever, and you will likely find some nice strands of cable all messed up at the end. if you can clip any weak looking ones, and try and do this with fresh cable that you un- stand a bit.
Take your average drinking straw. cut it to about the size of the little piece that the cable normally goes through, The little barrel shaped end. Sorry don't know the official name of that.
Now put a hole in ONE side of the straw about 1/2 way down it's side, put the cable into it, and try to get some of the strands to go up, and some down. You are trying to recreate that little barrel shaped end piece.
Then fill the straw with JB Weld. The stick kind that you mix is easiest.
Make sure you get the JB Weld all in there good, pack it tight and let it cure.
Now you have a new end on the cable that should hold for quiet a while. In fact it is still holding on that China bike 2 years later. The idea is that you could probably do this on the side of the road if you had to. It is not really meant as a permanent fix.
I However forgot one important part and caused this to NOT work on my GS, then ran out of time.
I made the mistake of putting the holes on both sides of the straw, and put the cable strands all the way through... not up and down through the straw. It pulled straight back out under stress.
You may have to file the ends down a bit if you make the barrel shape too long. It wont fit properly back in its slot in the clutch lever, But it's easy enough to fix it after. USE your existing end piece as a guide to how long to make the straw.
Here are some drawings to show you what I mean.
Correct Way
Incorrect way.. which is what I did tonight.
Picture of the actual fix I tried tonight.
Hope this helps anyone out there. The fix does work pretty good when you do it right.
Ken