Hi there!
Got the engine tuned alright, but on me test runs I couldnt get the clutch adjustment right!

It seems to be dragging as I cant find neutral with the engine running in gear. When Im in gear with clutch disengaged and I rev the engine, I can feel the clutch assembley rotating as the engine revs. This transmitts some drive to the wheel when fully disengaged.

I have tried adjusting the cable, tighter and slacker. when its tight, it seems as though the clutch doesnt fully disengage and when its loose, it drags.

I have heard about the "cam" adjustor in front of the front sprocket. tighten up until tight,then back off 1/8 or 1/4 turn (cant quite remember how far to turn??). have made some adjustments on this cam. slackened, it drags cronically. tighter and it doesnt fully engage, even a bit slippy.

So I have tried all the adjustments. still no joy.

I inspected the clutch pack the other week. Clutch fibres had heaps of meat. steels looked fine. clutch basket is like new. Running 10w40 oil.

Question 1: when I opened the cam adjustor cover, a small ball bearing was found sitting inside and at the bottom of the adjustor. it is loose. is this from the clutch system.

Question 2: how the heck do I get the clutch right?

Have taken a pic of the ball-bearing, but I doesnt look as though I can post a pic unless its a link to the image from a website so that wont be happening.

I have seemd to have adjusted the clutch to get about 1inch free play at the lever, but just cant find neutral. I could however find neutral when the oil was cold, so that may have something to do with it.

Otherwise, Im happy with the clutch, just a little concerned about a random ball bearing lying around! parts schematics show no critical, single ball bearings in the clutch engagement assembley other than the main needle bearing for the clutch basket and another (I assume) sealed bearing race in there somewhere.

I wonder if its out of the cam as i think they work on three balls that push the cam out as you pull the cable, if so this would be giving bad adjustment. Ive also had neutral problems when hot after the main clutch nut that locks the basket to the gears has just loosened off enough to give a little play, bit of a long shot but poss.

WOW your good variable!!
I removed the cam assembley, which also neccessitated dropping the coolant and removal of coolant hose (damn Suzuki! this must have been there first year of water cooling, damn pipes everywhere!). Found the cam system moves on 4 ball bearings, 3 of which were in place, the missing one lying loose inside the cover. All good, but damaged the pusher oil seal, so off to suzuki on monday to get replacement. hopefully this will give better adjustment! it would be a small miracle to solve the clutch drag though
:)

Any chance you could post some pictures as you do the work? I may have a look at my clutch as i'm also having trouble selecting neutral when warm.

update time:

clutch still drags. cant for the life of me adjust it out. I have managed to adjust the clutch otherwise perfect though. Can find neutral if I blip the throttle at the same time as selecting neutral (unloading the gears), so am happy for now. It is probabley an oil related issue. I mixed about 3 different oil brands together to use up all the almost empty oil containers I had lying around, so that could be an issue. Will change out the oil at next service interval and see if that cures it, until then, will live with it.

Hi NZ.
Take a look at the bandit4 service manual, its got clear pictures and is in english. It maybe the thrust bearing/plate thats in side the clutch. Did you have the clutch apart and if so did you put the thrust bearing the correct way around?
Chris.

Variablevalves suck wrote:Hi NZ.
Take a look at the bandit4 service manual, its got clear pictures and is in english. It maybe the thrust bearing/plate thats in side the clutch. Did you have the clutch apart and if so did you put the thrust bearing the correct way around?
Chris.

Cheers Chris, food for thought. Will open it all up again one day soon to have a goood look-see :)

Ye, altho there are differences in the models im sure the plates etc are shared so you can use the service data in there also and give everything a measure.