Help with clutch? '80 450l

[Guest]

Hey everyone, I'm new here. I recently purchased a 1980 GS450l. I've searched around about this and asked some people on /r/motorcycles but I'm still a bit worried. So, on my third day of riding this bike (legally at least), the clutch cable snapped directly from the barrel that goes into the lever. Some guys at work (I work in an auto shop), opened up the cover behind the shift lever and took a look inside. It was dirty as hell in there but after we got all that out a coworker of mine said that it seemed to him the pushrod should be able to go in easier than it is. I was going to go the route of riding home with a pair of small vice grips on the broken cable to operate the clutch. However, no matter how hard I could pull on the cable, it only pulled about a half inch and then I couldn't pull it any farther, it didn't even begin to disengage the clutch and I had to ride 40 miles home without it.

So my question is should I have been able to disengage the clutch with the grips like that? Or does the handle perhaps give a ton of leverage that would allow me to disengage it once I have a new cable on there? (I ordered one but it won't be here until next Wednesday.

Thanks in advance!

[tom203]

Vice-grips! I like how you think! But it's hard to operate a clutch cable this way especially if mechanism down in that cover area is all gunked up. Clean it up and get new suzuki cable

http://www.alpha-sports.com/spst/1980%20GS450L/06.htm?q=suzuki-parts

[John Park]

The clutch lever is a maybe eight? to one 'pry bar' ; you can't just pull on the end of the cable that hard. The cable end breaks off as often as not because there should be a little plastic bearing thingy on the barrel end that allows it to turn inside the lever hole.

It's worthwhile to pull the cam gizmo apart and clean and grease it while you have the cover off. You'll also have to undo the two screws that hold the little access panel on the cover. They can sometimes be rather stubborn, so use an impact driver. If you end up butchering the screws, the bike will run fine without the access cover and the screw is the same one that holds the beauty covers on the valve cover. Unhook the return spring, and unwind the mechanism; clean it thoroughly and pack it with [any type would do] grease. It only goes back together one way or the spring won't line up. You don't have to remove the plastic spiral cam from the cover.

There's a grease nipple in the access port, but I've never been able to get a fitting on it so I just take it apart and grease it whenever the cover comes off. When everything is installed again, back off the big cable adjuster and undo the little locknut on the adjuster screw. Turn the screw in until you feel resistance and then back it off a half turn. Tighten the locknut without disturbing the position of the screw. If all is right, pulling the cable up out of the main adjuster should result in the cam turning a bit before its slack is taken up.

Because the cases expand faster than the steel pushrod, the slack in the cam mechanism will increase as the motor warms; you can see this in the amount of free motion at the lever.

The plastic spiral is known to crack or break. I've also seen the cable end holder [with the little bend over retainer tab] break near the rivet and/or the rivet break. There's a lot of force going on here. The pushrod just slides out and can be cleaned; check it for being bent or having argued with the chain.

The best part is how slinky your clutch feels after you service the release mechanism. I just did mine and wonder why I didn't get round to it sooner. And also celebrate the fact that the whole clutch is completely serviceable, unlike a car which requires major grief just to get to it.

[tkent02]

What he said, plus if the cable broke at the lever the hole in the lever is probably not round anymore, and the lever perch is probably worn out too. If the hole isn't round the cable end bearing won't turn, so the cable has to bend every time you pull the lever. No cable will last long like that.

Replace anything worn with original Suzuki parts, the Motion Pro cables suck. There are some cool and expensive aftermarket levers that work really well, but the cheap stuff is bogus. Grease the little bearing in the end of the cable, and the lever pivot, and do both of the clutch adjustments as detailed in the Suzuki service manual.

And learn to ride without the clutch, it's easy.

[updownright]

Hey John thanks for the reply. I think I understand most of this. My only questions are what do you mean by the cam turning a bit? What cam? and also the pushrod only pulls out about an inch or so but I've seen posts talking about the '80 having a 1-piece pushrod that can only come out from the other side?

[updownright]

What he said, plus if the cable broke at the lever the hole in the lever is probably not round anymore, and the lever perch is probably worn out too. If the hole isn't round the cable end bearing won't turn, so the cable has to bend every time you pull the lever. No cable will last long like that.

Replace anything worn with original Suzuki parts, the Motion Pro cables suck. There are some cool and expensive aftermarket levers that work really well, but the cheap stuff is bogus. Grease the little bearing in the end of the cable, and the lever pivot, and do both of the clutch adjustments as detailed in the Suzuki service manual.

And learn to ride without the clutch, it's easy.

Hey thanks for the reply, I have no idea how to get my hands on the service manual though.

[tkent02]

Same place I got mine:

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

Along with everything else you could possibly want to know.

[John Park]

Hey John thanks for the reply. I think I understand most of this. My only questions are what do you mean by the cam turning a bit? What cam? and also the pushrod only pulls out about an inch or so but I've seen posts talking about the '80 having a 1-piece pushrod that can only come out from the other side?

The 'cam' is the spiral screw doohickey with the arm the cable attaches to. It has the setscrew and locknut in it. You don't want that screw so tight that there's pressure against the pushrod even when the cable is slack; conversely, you don't want a lot of lost motion either.

I wouldn't get too worried about the lever condition immediately unless it's really ugly. It's an easy part to change whenever you find a good or new one.

The one piece pushrod is fine as long as it's straight and functional at the seal area; bit of a pain to change. Mine's an '82 and two piece.

And while we're talking clutch release mechanisms, I was working on an SV650 the other day and it had a similar mechanism, but the plastic part was metal and had ball bearings in it. Looks like it could fit. Then I googled the GS500 and it has the same style of thingy but made to fit the 450 style cases. Anybody know whether this is a bolt on upgrade, because the SV clutch is pretty smooth. ?? My spiral is really tired and my spares are shot, and I'm not going to put in another plastic one if the ball bearing one fits.

[tkent02]

I wouldn't get too worried about the lever condition immediately unless it's really ugly. It's an easy part to change whenever you find a good or new one.

What I was talking about is if the cable end hole in the lever isn't round, so the bearing can't turn easily when you pull the lever. The cable will break right away.

[tom203]

What I was talking about is if the cable end hole in the lever isn't round, so the bearing can't turn easily when you pull the lever. The cable will break right away.

My lever was like this when my cable broke- if the hole becomes egg shaped, it will strain the cable fitting needlessly.

[John Park]

My lever was like this when my cable broke- if the hole becomes egg shaped, it will strain the cable fitting needlessly.

Eggzackly. How much out of round it can be before it doesn't turn well enough is a judgement call, but if you install a new cable and you don't see the barrel turning, as you say, it won't be there for long. I haven't done it, but the wedging effect could be reduced by drilling the hole out a 'bit' bigger. Might get you by for a while. You'd probably have to drill right through, but who cares if the lever's toast anyway.

[John Park]

The 'cam' is the spiral screw doohickey with the arm the cable attaches to. It has the setscrew and locknut in it. You don't want that screw so tight that there's pressure against the pushrod even when the cable is slack; conversely, you don't want a lot of lost motion either.

I wouldn't get too worried about the lever condition immediately unless it's really ugly. It's an easy part to change whenever you find a good or new one.

The one piece pushrod is fine as long as it's straight and functional at the seal area; bit of a pain to change. Mine's an '82 and two piece.

And while we're talking clutch release mechanisms, I was working on an SV650 the other day and it had a similar mechanism, but the plastic part was metal and had ball bearings in it. Looks like it could fit. Then I googled the GS500 and it has the same style of thingy but made to fit the 450 style cases. Anybody know whether this is a bolt on upgrade, because the SV clutch is pretty smooth. ?? My spiral is really tired and my spares are shot, and I'm not going to put in another plastic one if the ball bearing one fits.

I looted a spiral cam from a crunched SV650 and while it would sorta fit, the arm is longer so the cable doesn't come out of the cover hole at the right angle. Looking at the [apparently same] GS500 part it seems as though the cover would have to come along too. Moving the cable holder in on the arm would fix it, but you'd have to re rivet it.

Meanwhile I found one from a '78 that had only 6K on it but the part in question was ugly looking and had to be pried out as it was glued on with fossilized chain lube and chicken poop; the last licence plate was from '82. However, the sealing qualities of the embalming crust had preserved the internals. Like new. I lubed it up and my clutch action is friction free.