CX500 GL500 650 Global

Hope we haven't covered this already....

I'm beginning to experience clutch slippage at or near wide open throttle. The clutch shaft lever rests in the 9 o'clock position rather than the desired 8-ish area. I believe I have the cable adjusted properly and even tried another (used) cable, hoping for some help but no luck.

So, I'm looking for some advice on the quick and dirty clutch shimming trick. Do you think this will help and maybe get me through until winter, maybe another 1000 miles at most? If so, what's the scoop, what do I need to do?

Thnaks

What oil are you using?

I've never needed to shim a clutch and all mine are old or 2nd hand out of spare engines but I have serviced them inasmuch as I've made sure there's no burrs on the baskets and that the plates slide in and out freely.

I don't recall the brand, maybe Penzoil or something, I'm sure it's cheap stuff. So far I've only used 10w-40 and on recommendations here, I make sure it doesn't have the energy conserving additives or any other 'gee whiz' crap.

It is possible of course that the plates are worn and or the springs.You don't have hand guards fitted?I do and my left one got loose and pressed against the clutch lever causing slip but this was of course obvious.

The clutches aren't hard to service.

OH my!! I'm a retard!

LRCXed went over this here already. It's under a clutch replace and adjust thread by Kingston, not sure how I missed that!

LRCXed, did you ever find the link or images you mentioned in the other thread? It sounds pretty basic but pics would be nice. I'm a paint by numbers kind of guy.....

Shep, I'm not using hand guards - do you think I should try heavier oil? I have some 15w-40 w/o additives on hand that I could slam in there.

Thanks

I don't think the weight of the oil is an issue.I've run on 10w40 as recommended in the manual but also 15w40 for diesels.A lot of UK bikers swear by mineral diesel oil for bikes as it's made to take much more hammer than that made for petrol/gasoline engines because of the very high compression used in diesel engines.I am currently running 20w50 really cheap oil in one of my Cx.No clutch slip in either bike.

It would do no harm putting the other oil in and if it's of a different brand and fixes it then you know there's something up with the other oil for your bike.

I just checked and the 15w-40 I have is Chevron Delo (Diesel Locomotive). I forgot, I picked it up on a recommendation from DavidfromWisconsin. I'll toss that in and see what happens, thanks.

Just a point of safety.NEVER be tempted to use engine oil flushers on old engines.Can cause big end failure.I know this from experience.It removes years of needed crud build up around shells/crank etc.If you ever want to flush the engine do as I do just use the cheapest oil and do a short run til warm then dump and add again

PS
Although it's against popular wisdom when I've been strapped-for-cash I have re-used oil filters once I've inspected them and the elements are ok and no tears by soaking in petrol/gas then carb/brake cleaner blasted them and then blasted them with my high pressure air.

I have helped some CX owners in remote areas where they are not as privileged as we are and parts are either very expensive or not easily available so they have to mend-and-make-do.One guy in South Africa comes to mind.He/We had to bodge together some fixes to keep his Cx on the road.

I have no problem re-using the filter as I'm always strapped for cash! For all future oil changes, I plan to follow recommendations on the forums and screen the draining oil with old nylons or similar. If the oil is free of flakes etc, and the filter checks out, I figure I can reuse the filter once, or 5 - 6000 miles total service. This is with an OEM Honda filter though. When filter is replaced, old filter will be disassembled and inspected to see what it holds. I will adjust as needed - may popular wisdom be damned

GL, I cant find the thread your referring to. Which one is it?