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Clutch lever

bobct

Member
Member
Left work tonight and as I got on the thruway entrance the clutch lever felt weird, not engaging fully. Power shifted into 5th, traffic was light so went the 20+ miles on the thruway and limped it home on side streets with partial clutch usage. Got it into the garage and found a missing nut on the lever with the bolt sitting up a bit on the lever. Took it apart and the bushing is severely worn and the brass thingamijig that depresses the clutch master rod fell out of the lever.

Well, I have to get a replacement lever and was wondering if I should switch to some of the aftermarket levers that are selling on eBay. Who has experience good or bad and links to aftermarket levers?
 
When I had my C10 the same thing happened to me. I was able to replace that brass thing for a couple of bucks. I don't know if Kawa still supplies the part. I imagine there are plenty of used clutch levers on ebay. Good luck.
 
I bought some OEM looking levers on ebay last year. I'm happy with them. Think they were 20 bucks a pair. Can't find those today. Found some on amazon that look the same. I had mentioned my purchase in a wanted thread and was asked if the pivot bushing was brass because it was painted black. It is brass.
Levers here
 
I've purchased the eBay levers (and thru Amazon). I liked the extra adjustment they provided, durability wise they worked great and lasted considering the price point. Now the anodizing on the levers will fade over time. I personally didn't mind. I would get the black levers, then the black would fade out to a gun metal'ish which I thought looked kinda cool. When I would receive the levers, I also found the small allen hardware at the adjustment pivot could use a little bit more tightening before I installed them.
 
The brass top hat shaped bushing that engages the master cylinder plunger is worn too. That doesn't come with the lever. The top hat brim diameter looks to be worn and falls through the lever hole. I have a piece of brass at work and may make the 2 brass pieces. Local Kawi dealer has to order both lever and top hat and won't be in till next week.
 
Has anyone taken their lever off lately? I'm assuming that the brass top hat shaped bushing that makes the contact with the master cylinder plunger is supposed to be shaped like a top hat and that the larger diameter is supposed to sit in the top of the lever chamfer area and not just fall through the hole on the lever like mine did.
 
Ok, pcs made out of impregnated bronze, no brass to be readily found.
I knurled the Pivot Screw Bushing for a tighter, less interference fit, the original was straight line knurled (sort of like a spline configuration) on the OD.
Made a larger diameter flange on the master cylinder pushrod connection pc so it sits in the lever countersink without falling through.
Boy I better clean that lever it looks real dirty in the pics.
I'll probably order some fleabay replacements but for now when I get home tonight I will try it for fitment.

When I did remove the lever the other night the master cylinder pushrod came out with the lever.
The pushrod has an oring and I see a dust boot that stayed on master and all my fluid stayed in the master so I believe the oring works in conjunction with the dust boot just to keep dirty and wet stuff away from the master. I will have to take a look at what gouged the lever in the silver wings like pattern where the master pushrod enters the lever, last pic.
I took a stone and removed all the sharp edges there and elsewhere on the lever and bronze pieces.
I'll dry fit it, and if all is well I'll take it apart and add some marine grade grease to all the contact surfaces.

IMG_3109.JPGIMG_3110.JPGIMG_3108.JPG
 
Ok, Want to update in case some one looks this up to make their own Clutch Master Bushing. I had to remove the larger lip/brim outside diameter as seen in the second picture above. Although it seats nice in the chamfer of the lever it doesn't allow the bushing to float up and down in the lever. I made a large chamfer instead of the brim so as not to interfere with the lever hole and about .02" clearance between the bushing outside diameter and the lever hole diameter. You want this thing to float to find i
The second thing is that the clutch master actuating rod that mates in the hole of the bushing and the opposite end pushes on the clutch master has a stepped diameter on the bushing side. So the bushing had to be remade with a smaller hole that allows the smaller outside diameter of the actuating rod to pass and doesn't allow the larger stepped diameter to pass into the bushing.
The step is only about .005" larger. This was the cause of my initial failure, the smaller stepped diameter is only long enough to go into the hole of bushing and then stop. My bushing hole diameter was worn and allowed the actuating rod to go through and pass the bushing surface and dig into the lever and the actuator rod has a larger outside diameter in the middle where the dust seal rides and that is what dug into the lever in the 3rd picture.
 
The bushing is $12 at Kawi dealer and online levers are cheap enough. I wanted to have the bike ready for a weekend Turkey drive so instead of waiting, hoping the parts came in I made the replacements.

My master bushing must have been wearing down for a while and allowing the actuator rod more protrusion into the bushing and the actuator rod mid section wearing on the lever's face. Now the lever feels much smoother (not digging into the lever) and almost feels like I have a new clutch with more actuation distance into the master cylinder.
 
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