Lighter Clutch Pull Wanted

[gasgasman]

Here's the clutch master cylinder overhaul steps.

[GMP]

With hydraulics you trade leverage for travel. So, with the same size slave, if you increase the volume of the master, you will increase slave(and clutch pressure plate) travel with the same lever travel, but increase effort as well. The reason for allowing free play in the master is to allow the piston to fully return, to provide the full stroke and volume. If adjusted wrong(no free play) you may not get full slave travel and the clutch may drag, but lever effort should not be affected.

Do as Cruiser said and check that slave o-ring first. His was brutal stiff compared to mine, and I remember it had a strange feel like it was bottoming out at the end of lever travel.

Assuming the master cyl is correct it can only be one of two things, friction or excessive spring force(unlikely).

[Cruiser]

Bondo,, where are you located?? if your anywhere close by I can lend you some parts for testing..

[skid jackson]

Interesting ....
I just replaced the O ring on my slave that seals it to the out side on the outside chance that it was where water was getting into my tranny. It did not appear that was the case. A few weelks befoer a friend said he thought my clutch pull was a little heavy and he thought it used to be easier. I hadn't thought about it but agreed. He said I should change out the mineral oil and it would probably get better. As mentioned above new outside (case O ring) and new fluid ... still seems a heavy pull to me. I'll check the free play but I don't think that is an issue

[bondo]

Haven't been on the computer all weekend. Just reviewed all of the latest input. Thanks to all for the very enlightening and useful feedback.

Over the weekend, I looked over the bike and yes, the master cylinder is the AJP unit with the dark green cover. Also, decided to inspect the slave cylinder.

The outer o-ring on the slave cylinder piston(the unit has two) was a little beat up and there was some dirt accumulated around it as well. No o-rings on hand, so I cleaned the entire slave cylinder, replaced the mineral oil in
the system, bled out the air and reassembled the unit.

The clutch pull effort is better than before, but still not quite where I'd like it to be. Will try replacing the o-rings in the slave cylinder.

All of the other parts in the slave cylinder and the clutch pushrod where it
meets the s.c. looked like new.

Cruiser, I'm in Birmingham, AL.

GMP - thanks for the quick explanation of the relationship between master cylinder fluid orifice size,
pushrod travel and lever effort.

I'll post the results of the o-ring replacement.

[bondo]

Okay all you GG troubleshooters, here's what we did and here's what happened.
As mentioned in my previous post, I found the outer o-ring on the slave cylinder piston to be a little frayed and worn.

I replaced the entire piston assembly, including both o-rings.
We completely replaced the mineral oil hydraulic fluid
(it was messy as was suggested - and now the bike smells like a nursery).

The result was that there has been no perceptible change in the lever effort as a result of our work.

Question: Does the 300 use heavier clutch springs than the 200? My understanding is that all of the lower end components are the same on the 200 - 250 - 300, but perhaps the bigger motor requires a little
stronger spring to keep the clutch from slipping under heavy load.

Ideas and comments welcome.