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78 r80/7 clutch or clutch cable??

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Dsmith181
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Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2020 6:07 pm

78 r80/7 clutch or clutch cable??

Post by Dsmith181 »

Hi everyone.

I hopped on my 78 r80/7 today and my clutch lever is pulling a third of the way before my clutch starts to disengage. In other words there’s play for the first 1/3. I replaced the cable about 2 months ago and dialed it in exactly as rubber chicken described and it felt great. Is it possible a new cable can stretch In that amount of time? I would just readjust it be there’s not much left to adjust at the clutch side and to get it to work/feel nice at the lever side I have to have the lever adjustment almost all the way out. I have lower bars then standard but it felt good already last time I rode.
Any ideas? Ordering a new cable as well

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schrader7032
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Re: 78 r80/7 clutch or clutch cable??

Post by schrader7032 »

I guess they can stretch some...it's possible that a small amount of cable stretch results in unusual movement at the levers. I would certainly readjust using the procedure and see if it stabilizes. If it happens again and also happens with a new cable, then something must be happening with the clutch rod. It's a long rod with a point on the forward end. It rests in a hole on the pressure plate. That point can eventually wear a hole in the pressure plate and poke through. Unusual for that to happen but it can over time.
Kurt in S.A.
'78 R100/7 '69 R69S '52 R25/2
Fast. Neat. Average. Friendly. Good. Good.

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srankin
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Re: 78 r80/7 clutch or clutch cable??

Post by srankin »

I have never seen a two month old cable stretch that much? Of course if you put 50K miles on it may have, LOL.
The simplest explanation could be the cable barrels were not seated properly or something and now, everything is seated and in the proper place. A readjust following Rubber Chicken directions will solve the problem.

You don't say how many miles you have on the bike nor if you are the first owner or second. I ask because, one, there may be a good chance it is time for a new clutch or time to do some work on the clutch assembly itself. Kurt mentions the clutch activation lever and its parts. It may be a good time to inspect it as he suggests. Things could be worn out, or broken.

Second, if you are the second and a new owner, it may be possible the previous owner did work on the clutch and stuff and did something wrong when putting things back together. If you have been riding the bike for a while now and there have been no problems till now, disregard this and concentrate on the first things.

I did one time get a new cable for one of my bikes and found in three months the barrel end on the lever side was broken down to two strands of wire. A VERY rare thing to happen with BMW sourced cables.

Good luck with finding and fixing the problem, don'f forget to let us know what you find. Cheers, St.
Owner of a 84, R80RT and 78, R100RS

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srankin
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Re: 78 r80/7 clutch or clutch cable??

Post by srankin »

What did you find out? St.
Owner of a 84, R80RT and 78, R100RS

Dsmith181
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Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2020 6:07 pm

Re: 78 r80/7 clutch or clutch cable??

Post by Dsmith181 »

Sorry for the delay. It took me a while to get a new cable. I am at least the 3rd owner. And I’ve have had the bike for 5 years. Had it serviced a few times pretty thoroughly before long trips.
I Installed the new cable (the shorter option due to me having low bars on the bike) and adjust according to rubber chicken. Got it back working nice. It’s seems that the cable itself wasn’t the problem however as I had to the tighten the lower adjustment quite a bit to get rid of the slack to make it work nice.
And ride it for the next 2 days. Until today when the clutch died today on the side of the road. I couldn’t disengage it from the lever and then there was a sick clunking noise and I shut the bike off and am getting it towed to my mechanic before I make it worse. Soooo. Unknown issue but it’s much worse.

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schrader7032
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Re: 78 r80/7 clutch or clutch cable??

Post by schrader7032 »

Well that's not much fun. :o It will be interesting to hear what has broken inside the clutch area.
Kurt in S.A.
'78 R100/7 '69 R69S '52 R25/2
Fast. Neat. Average. Friendly. Good. Good.

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srankin
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Re: 78 r80/7 clutch or clutch cable??

Post by srankin »

Oh Man, I am sorry to hear this happened. How are you set for a shop to work on it, I hope you have a good one and it is not a huge cost or trouble to fix.

If you were near me, I would be happy to let you use my lift and tools, my project for the winter is now off of it and on the road.

Let us know how you make out and what you found, and good luck. St.
Owner of a 84, R80RT and 78, R100RS

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