Clutch woes . . .

I'm sure it never occurred to him LOL. Tattoo has 2 kawa's in his shop right now and they both have the narrower rear rotor. The guy that sold me the caliper did tell me if I needed parts later on, that it was a 2012 Kawasaki caliper.

I dumped the 20-50 oil for the SAE 50 racing oil. Will run about 500 miles, then change again. Be interesting to see how the oil looks at that time.

Anyway, I'm riding again and that's what matters.

Still had some clutch issues as of yesterday, so I pulled into Tattoo's shop for some advice. We ended up taking the dang thing off including the new hub and changed some things.

First, we got rid of the long hub rollers and reinstalled my old short rollers & retainer. Then we scrapped the so-called clutch "tamer" and put in a standard bearing plate and used springs to hold it in instead of "c" clips. We also drilled the rivets out of the hub and removed the friction disc and replaced it with a floating nylatron liner.

Clutch works MUCH better now. The main problem was with the clutch tamer - it wouldn't allow the rear friction disc to contact the inside of the basket. It had to go. I wouldn't recommend a clutch tamer to anyone.

Next week, I'm upgrading my friction discs with a set of non-kevlar Barnetts, and replacing the steel drive plates with ones that have anti-rattle balls. About that time, I should be recieving my new clutch cable from Motion Pro and I expect to be sh***ing in high cotton after that.

i do recall some gray beards bustin balls saying quit fn with it and ride it damit!:roflmao:sorry josh bob had to do it brother !:gah::roflmao:

Yeah, I think I'm beginning to sound a little like Johnnybiker LOL! I would be riding today except we have Andrea rolling through the area. Weatherman says to expect around 4" of rain, but so far Andrea hasn't thrown a temper tantrum.

So today, I will spend time in my shop lovingly polishing up the ol' shovel, especially the wheels.

Good luck with the new BDL stuff your buying. My Shovel ran like a raped ape with a Primo clutch 1.5 open belt clutch setup. I set mine up with the BDL before buying the Primo set up, and took the BDL stuff off. Never looked back.

We got about 3" of rain Friday night and I went out the following afternoon (Saturday) and went for a ride. Going out again today.

I got plenty of wind in mine yesterday and not a few bugs, too . I wore the skull cap and goggles and kept my mouth shut! Sometimes I'll ride with the 3/4 Licks helmet that has the 60s bubble shield on it. No bugs that way and very little wind. Another good feature of the shield is that eyes will not tear up. I think it's a good alternative to a windshield, especially on really buggy days.

I'm often around some pretty hard core, old school bikers and have heard no disparaging remarks about the bubble shield and have actually gotten a few compliments LOL.

Guy's I know that would fit that description prefer function over form and really don't give a sheit what it looks like as long as it works

I think the younger riders cut me some slack since I'm old enough to be their grampa! The one's nearer to my age just smile knowingly . . .

I took a set of police bike steels and used OEM stock plaates on my 74 FXE and this cost was low. Its the best, smoothest clutch I had yet on this ol shovel.

I took a set of police bike steels and used OEM stock plates on my 74 FXE and this cost was low. Its the best, smoothest clutch I had yet on this ol shovel.

Funny thing is, the stuff I have in the clutch now works fine. Ever since we took the "tamer" out and replaced it with a standard retainer, it's been good to go. When the new clutch stuff comes in, I'm going to stash it away for when it comes time to replace clutch componants. That may be awhile, boys, LOL.

Only thing I'll change for now is the cable, which is still somewhere in sunny Californ-i-a getting built . . .

In the meantime, I'm still an' ridin' . . .

Riding today to hang with Tattoo Tony & see my chiropractor. Got some decent riding in nearly everyday for a couple weeks now, thanks to Tony's 25 year old, raggedy-ass clutch cable.
The new clutch cable is supposed to arrive today, boys, but the one I've been using is holding up well enough to keep me in the saddle. Only had to fiddle with it once since I installed it.
One day last week there was a 60% chance of rain, but I went out anyway for breakfast, as it almost always rains here in the afternoon. Took an extra long cruise after I ate and pulled into my shop under some very dark clouds. Just as I lowered the kickstand, the sky opened up and dumped big time. That was the coolest thing that's happened to me in a while!
My anti-rattle steels & Barnett friction discs have come in at the Biker Barn, but Tattoo is waiting for some other items to arrive. He has to drive quite a ways to pick the stuff up. I told him I was in no hurry for my parts because my clutch is working great - I will save the parts for when I really need them.
I hope y'all are having good weather and getting some quality saddle time in. Now is the time . . .

Never Give Up, Smitty don't

:roflmao::roflmao: Then you are going to jump right back on a rigid!!!:roflmao::roflmao: PRICELESS!!!

If you want smooth go with the Barnett Scorpion, BDL Competitor or a similar clutch setup. Not low cost, but if you do then be fore warned...after you run one of these new style clutches...YOU WILL NEVER AGAIN be satisfied with the older OEM style clutches!

Aloha ....Mike

To tell the truth, a little ball rattling doesn't bother me, and I love the old style clutch - will never switch. I've ridden a few of the newer bikes in Tony's shop, with the easy pull levers and fancy clutches. It's like nothing's there - you can have 'em. It's like the first time I rode a 750 Honda when they came out - I didn't feel like I was riding ANYthing - no shake, no rattle, no sound = no soul.

The clutch cable arrived yesterday and is a perfect fit and operates smoothly. I'm going to order a spare.