Boxerworks.com

Nothing wrong with getting the best price you can find on the factory part, but don't waste your time looking for an aftermarket replacement. Get the real thing that fits right and lasts a really long time.

There's other places where the aftermarket has some great, even superior, products (shocks, for instance), but stick with the stock cables.

Thanks.

This morning I ordered two from the BMW dealer that has them in stock and will ship to me.
He said it might be at my place by tomorrow.

Now it's just a matter of figuring out how to do this efficiently.
I could find no mention of how to do this in Haynes.

Someone said something about grease? What grease and how much?
Looking quickly at the hand control I could not see an obvious way to release the cable. The control lever at the transmission end seemed to be a ball-in-a-cup type thing that I might be able to slide out of it's catch? I haven't had the time to loosen the cable yet so I'm just looking and thinking right now.

I figured seeing the new part might give me some clues as to how to remove the old part.

Souljer wrote:Thanks.

This morning I ordered two from the BMW dealer that has them in stock and will ship to me.
He said it might be at my place by tomorrow.

Now it's just a matter of figuring out how to do this efficiently.
I could find no mention of how to do this in Haynes.

Someone said something about grease? What grease and how much?
Looking quickly at the hand control I could not see an obvious way to release the cable. The control lever at the transmission end seemed to be a ball-in-a-cup type thing that I might be able to slide out of it's catch? I haven't had the time to loosen the cable yet so I'm just looking and thinking right now.

I figured seeing the new part might give me some clues as to how to remove the old part.

Swapping the clutch cable isn't going to be as tedious as I think you think it will be. And I'm not surprised that there's no mention of it in the manual(s). The key thing will be to get the routing right. And with the tank removed a bit of looking should reveal the best route for it (if somebody hasn't screwed it up in the past). What you're trying to accomplish with the routing is as gentle bends as practible and to ensure that when the forks are moved lock to lock nothing tightens up. Possibly you can lay the new cable alongside the old one. If not you will to make whatever notes about (or pics of) the old cable routing. It can be as easy as pulling the old cable out and putting the new cable in, if you know where the new cable goes.

At the clutch lever you may need to unscrew the pivot and have the lever hang loose for a while. I don't know what configuration you have. That ball on the end of the cable mates with (I don't know what to call it) a sort of thimble. You will then have, in effect, a short rod which needs to be inserted in the clutch lever. The thimble end you're working with needs to be greased before you insert it into the clutch lever. Just smear some grease around the the thimble, and if it's too much you'll be able to wipe off extraneous grease at the end.

Your cable probably frayed there because there was no grease, or there was grease and it went away. That meant that the thimble couldn't rotate easily inside the hole in the clutch lever. That worked the wires of the inner cable, fatiguing them and causing them to break.

Presuming you have no adjuster at the clutch lever end, your cable will wind it's way down to the right side of the engine and terminate at the transmission. That end of the cable will go to a lever at the back of the transmission. When you eyeball it I think you will see what I mean.

Here's where things get a bit ticklish and perhaps hard to understand. There are actually two adjustments at the transmission. One is where the outer cable jacket quits and the other is where the inner cable goes into a fork on the lever on the back of the transmission. You'll probably want to study the manual, and the manual will be confusing. Where the lever at the back of the transmission rotates you will see a nut and threaded rod. I think of this as a coarse adjustment needed to get you to the "fine" adjustment at the end of the cable at the side of the transmission. The book will tell you that the lever should be at a certain angle. That hasn't worked for me very well. Possibly you won't have to fiddle with that "coarse" adjustment at the back of the transmission. The test is whether the range of adjustment at the R/H side of the transmission is good enough to get what you want.

What you want is a bit of free play before you can feel the force against the clutch lever. You need a small amount of free play there to make sure that the clutch fully engages. You will be able to feel the free play if it is there. If you can get the free play you need by moving the adjustment the side of the transmission I would say you're good to go. If not you will have to adjust the adjuster at the back of the transmission. Note: others may not agree with me on this and if so they'll likely tell you how to deal with the adjuster at the back of the transmission.

So how much free play are you looking for. Probably it's specified somewhere in the manual. But off the top of my head I would say you need 1/8" to 1/4". The point is you must have SOME free play. Too much free play means you have to pull the clutch lever back too far before you can feel the resistance of the clutch.

If somebody has better advice here than I'm giving, please chime in. Duane?


Ken

Um Ken, he's talking about the clutch cable, no under the tank routing on that one. Souljer, use a long screwdriver or similar to pry the clutch arm at the back of the trans forward just a bit. Then it will be easy to pull the barrel at the end of the cable down and out of the slot. Clean and grease this area with a moly grease (for rubbing, not rolling) it just takes a dab. Then you can pull the cable forward out of the hole in the bottom corner of the trans, you will have to push the rubber boot off of the sheath to the rear to do this. You will now have enough slack in the cable that you can pull it away from the perch on the handlebars. Note, the cable is still attached, now grab some pliers and use them to push the cable back though the barrel/pivot on the lever. Once it's pushed back, you should be able to drop the barrel out of the lever, with the cable staying in the lever. Clean and grease the barrel and it's hole with that same moly grease. Installation is the reverse, etc... It's a good idea to pull off and clean/grease the adjuster at the handlebar end at this time. You will want it to move freely and be screwed all the way in to account for the new, shorter cable and future ease of adjustment.

Bamboo812 wrote:Um Ken, he's talking about the clutch cable, no under the tank routing on that one. . .

Yep, you're right Bamboo. And the "fine" adjuster is at the handlebar not the side of the transmission.

Note to self: Don't rely on memory so much and a person might want to go out and look at the motorcycle before hitting the submit button.


Ken

Hi,

I have the screw driver. I bought some grease.
I was told that Moly is not offered in the US. However there was this product which has moly in it.

The other one is for things like spark plugs etc. I was told copper seal but they did not have that either. Something is better than nothing at this point.

Thanks for the help.

I think Ken and Tim pretty much covered it. If you still have any difficulty, I recommend making friends with fellow airhead-riders in your area. BMW-folk tend to be eager to help and they are a great community. The easiest way to find fellow BMW-riders is to seek out a local club. Did I catch that you're in California? One of these clubs may be near you:

http://bmwmoa.org/TheClub/CharteredClub ... ntain.aspx

Sometimes clubs have tech-days too, in which people gather with their bikes at one person's house to learn common maintenance and repairs from each other as well as to just plain hang out. Those are really fun and with any luck can be a valuable educational experience.

Hi,

All done.


I followed much of what Ken and Bamboo said and it worked out fine (deleted what did not apply, kept what did. No problem ). Half way through I came inside to review the posts and had several "Oh yeah, now I see what they meant" moments. Then I went back out to the garage and finished the job. It was great having that as a reference/check list.

There were two points where zip-ties were used to secure the cable to the frame and wires behind the head light. I forgot to buy any (although I swear I had some... might have to look again), so I used some Velcro straps that I had. I'll buy some zip-ties later but it should work for a test drive.

I did not have time to ride it. Just in the garage though, I could see it was much better. I could engage 1st gear which would get it going forward, then when I pulled the clutch it would disengage and the bike would actually start to roll backwards towards the door. That is correct. Good. I'll ride Friday or Saturday for sure. Also had to take off the fairing and now it's like a whole new bike. We'll see how much of a difference it makes.

Thanks for the help guys.

Congratulations Souljer. That is a satisfying feeling, isn't it?


Ken

Yay!