Lost another clutch cable

[mothra]

I was riding into work on my GS which I have used as a commuter bike now for a good two months solid with out issues. I snapped another clutch cable however, the second one to last > 1000 miles on here. It frays near the clutch lever each time. I am going to order a new clutch lever, and the adjuster grommet and wire on that clutch lever assembly along with a new clutch cable. My clutch is excessively stiff however and they have used some stiff springs on the clutch area. I don't notice any chatter or slipping but want to swap the clutch springs out with some OEM springs which are on order. My question is since I am down there do you guys think that I should also order some new clutch plates on there as well? I am not sure if they are also aftermarket or not. Last time I was in there a few thousand miles ago they were not to shabby but I didn't have a caliper to measure them. Would you replace the plates with OEM's or ECB's? Now for my squeaky cam question....

[terrylee]

I would just measure the plates and make sure they are in spec. and clean the metal plates. If you haven't had any slippage or problems with it not wanting to shift, do the above ,change the springs to oem, new clutch cable and should be good to go unless plates aren't within spec.. Sounds like the stiff springs were really your only problem. terrylee

[mothra]

Thanks...

The initial shift into first from a dead stop is sometimes tricky. Usually roll it back a bit and let it slide it to get it into first from neutral. It will go in if its rolling...Maybe its time for some plates? 12k miles now on that clutch plus who knows what else after gorilla torque springs.

[cowboyup3371]

Think you just need to adjust it first.

[tkent02]

Clutches can last hundreds of thousands of miles, or they can be destroyed in seconds. There is really no way to see what you need other than taking it apart and looking inside.
The good news is, it's really easy.

As Ed says, to measure is to know.


The cable breaking at the lever means the bearing on the end of the cable is not free to rotate in the lever. Get the new lever with the cable, you may need a new perch too, and grease the bearing and the hole in the lever where it goes. If the cable has to flex every time the lever is pulled it cannot last very long. It must be free to rotate as the lever is pulled.

Also make sure the adjuster screw doesn't have any sharp edges for the cable to ride over.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Was it an OEM cable or generic ?

[bbytes]

For your clutch cable, I noticed that I had routed my cable incorrectly. The cables would snap after a few hundred miles. Make sure your cables are routed exactly as Suzuki intended.

[mothra]

The cable breaking at the lever means the bearing on the end of the cable is not free to rotate in the lever. Get the new lever with the cable, you may need a new perch too, and grease the bearing and the hole in the lever where it goes. If the cable has to flex every time the lever is pulled it cannot last very long. It must be free to rotate as the lever is pulled.

I think the lever is worn out, they did lat 1,000 miles each time pretty much on the dot. I am thinking that its the worn spot on the lever where the cable rests and it gets cut there as it is unable to rotate, and that those springs are not correct. It frayed in the exact same spot each time, directly on the edge of the lever where the end is held into place.

The clutch plates looked pretty good, new, no wear, the notches on the ends were in perfect spec, and the thickness of the plates was in spec, there was no ware pattern on the fibers, however, they were curved like a C a little side to side and were not "flat" and well beyond the .1mm feeler gauge test against a flat surface limit. You could put them down on a flat surface and see that they were not evenly placed against the ground. It looks like each of the metal rings had discoloration on each of the warped spots in exactly the same three places each time. Maybe it overheated or something like this? The curve is almost symmetrical and is in the direction of the metal piece that is held in by the springs.

Some pics of what it looks like inside of my clutch housing just for fun...


You can see some scuff marks on the clutch basket housing.






You can see the black discoloration marks on near my hand, and the other spots evenly places on the metal plates. This also is the spot where these plates bent inwards towards the springs a little bit < in that direction facing the outside of the clutch.




Zuki your missing some parts!


That engine looks that clean and nice on the top end as well. Its in great shape and only has 12,xxx miles on it Actually the cluthch basket is about the most ware I have seen on any internal engine components thus far.

Ill probably order some new plates for piece of mind, I mean its not like they are prohibitively costly to refresh on here in any event, and I will have a nice new OEM clutch and this area can be sealed up for a bit.

Well I need some parts so...