Clutch adjustment

[roach25681]

A few weeks ago I had to free up a stuck clutch on my 80G...put it against the wall and banged it into first twice. Fixed everything. Clutch worked fine. Rode around the block...clutch wouldnt shift into anything but 1-N. Pulled the shift cover off and fixed this. Then I had the ever dreadfull no spark issue. Get that fixed...get the bike running decently. Cant even take off because rear wheel pulls when I put in gear with lever pulled. I had adjusted the clutch before I took it for the first ride. Didnt mess with it the whole time I looked for the spark problem and the shifting problem. Printed out the clutch adjustment procedures and took them to the shop, adjusted, no, readjusted, no, readjusted, no, etc. etc. etc. I cant ride because even if I rev high and slip the clutch to get going it stalls and skids. Any ideas? Clutch cable came off Ebay from a 79 but it woked fine before. What am I missing?

[Ken Talbot]

It sounds like you're not getting enough "pull" on the lever to disengage the plates. When you started the adjustment process, did you run the cable slack adjuster all the way "in" before you started working the acual adjustment screw inside the cover?

[roach25681]

Errr....the instructions said to "loosen" it...so naturally I turned it left until it was all the way unscrewed. This correct or backwards?

[Ken Talbot]

I believe you want to turn the slack adjuster so it makes the cable looser, as opposed to tighter, which would mean screwing it fully into the mount.

[roach25681]

Please refrain from kicking me in the nads when I do dumb stuff. I simply didnt think about it logically. Saw "loosen" and naturally assumed lefty loosey. As you can tell there are certain parts of bikes Im not so well acquainted with.

[Ken Talbot]

Hey, don't sweat it, roach. We've all had our moments, and most of us will probably have more.