[Bazooka Joe]

Hi, Gang: I have an Iron Barrel with the five speed trannie. The clutch from the handle feels good and the bike shifts normally when it's cold. But 10 minutes into the ride the transmission is hard to shift and almost impossible to get into neutral. I've taken the clutch pack apart and all seems fine. Any ideas?

[Yamahawk]

HI Joe,
   All I can offer is to make sure your clutch adjustments are done according to specifications, and that your cable is slack when you do the clutch adjustment under the cover. It sounds like you may need a smidge more play in the clutch adjuster under the cover on your transmission, as they are  a little touchy on the clearance when it is hot. Try that, and see if it doesn't help.
Charlie

[mrunderhill1975a]

Warm it up for 10- 15 minutes  then try to adjust.  Make sure proper oil amount in primary chain case. Report back here.

[Chasfield]

Clean disengagement of the plates when the clutch is pulled in is a rare thing on British bikes. Why the clutch drag and gear change quality on my bike worsen so markedly as the transmission warms up to a little more than body temperature is something I don't fully understand. A little lift will be lost as the gear box casing grows fractionally more than the steel lift push rod but there must be more to it.

I suspect that the plates in the pack curl up to a complex shape reminiscent of a  those stackable Pringles crisps (chips), once moderately warm. Then they don't want to let go of each other. I reckon the two dished plates in the pack distort conically and then really don't want to let go. It is certainly worth looking closely for any modes of warping. Warped plates will just spring back to swallow up clutch lift as it is applied.

[Hondo]

And this from N.Z. Royal Enfield expert, Tim Busby:

I have found the clutch adjustment very very fine... A difference of 1/8 of a turn on the adjustment nut makes the difference between slip and drag. Make sure that you cable is not kinked, well lubricated, and runs as straight as you can possible achieve. Do not over fill the primary case with oil; just enough oil to cover the bottom run of the chain on the clutch chain wheel. Do not use engine oil! Loosen off the cable adjuster, adjust the push rod clearance so that it just touches the rod, back it of 1/8 of a turn and carefully tighten the lock nut. Then take up the slack in the cable. Assuming that your plates are still serviceable, if it still slips, back the adjuster off another 1/8 of a turn. If it drags when hot, increase by 1/8 of a turn.
Tim N.Z.

[dginfw]

Just out of curiosity, would clutch drag be the cause of the rear wheel spinning very quickly when in neutral and on the center stand? A quick tap on the brake stops it, but once released it quickly gets back up to speed.
I thought I had adjusted the clutch ok. Shifting is good and neutral isn't hard to find.... but  that rapidly spinning wheel makes me wonder...

[Arizoni]

The rear wheel is spinning even though the transmission is in neutral because of the oil's viscous drag between the gears.  It is transmitting the rotation of the clutch housing to the transmissions output sprocket.
  The oil is working sort of like a "fluid drive" and the thicker the oil is, the more likely this will happen.

Pulling in the clutch lever while the transmission is in neutral might reduce the spinning of the rear wheel but it probably won't be noticeable.
Like the viscous drag between the gears inside the transmission, there is also some viscous drag between the clutch plates and it doesn't take much of this to cause the clutch to transmit enough power from the engine to the input shaft of the transmission to rotate the rear wheel.

[Ice]

 Our host formerly offered a blueprinted clutch assembly called the miracle clutch.
 The clutches hub and basket were each machined to true. Springs and pressure plates were individually selected. They cost more than a standard tolerance clutch and were a bargain considering the amount of work that went into them. But IIRC they weren't a hot seller due to limited demand and tight wallets at the time. They were eventually discontinued.

[Dave1]

You need to practice as others have pointed out, the setting up of the clutch clearance. But the 5 speed boxes are famous for being hard to get out of neutral when hot, especially if the bike is already fully stopped. One trick is to change to neutral before you come to a stop.

A man called Chumma that works with Ace. Traced the problem to the ball bearing between the pushrods that come through the gearbox to the clutch. The standard 5 mm bearing is made of metal. Chumma claims by changing the bearing to ceramic, it solves the neutral selection problem. Because the ceramic bearing doesn't expand and close up the clearance.

I have my ceramic ball bearing to go in, next time I have the clutch off!

[heloego]

  I have the 5-Speed GB on my '06 Electra and have exactly that problem once the box is warmed up. Currently my only solution has been to shift into Neutral while moving, too.
  If you could supply a link to the ceramic bearing it would be greatly appreciated. 

[Hondo]

There are several upgrades for the five speed gear box/clutch including: The clutch pad with roller bearings, installing a 5mm ceramic bearing between the rods, and the 5 speed improved clutch release kit. I run five racing disk with 3 heavy and three light springs and my clutch works excellent and is very consistent.

[Ice]

 Once the two ends of the push rod halves have worn in to match the curvature of the bearing between them, the need for adjustment after that point will diminish to almost nil.
 Installing a Ferro ceramic bearing is nice and a cheap thing to do.
 Which ever bearing you use heavily grease it and the two push rod faces with Molybdenum disulphide grease.

 The ball and ramp design of the 5Speeds original clutch release mechanism is pretty good IMHO.   Link to the only upgrade it needs https://forum.classicmotorworks.com/index.php/topic,9395.msg106436.html#msg106436

 The revised version is the same as the original differing only in that the arm is revised to add a swivel to it's end which has failed on at least one forum member.

[Dave1]

The 5 SPEED IMPROVED CLUTCH RELEASE KIT includes a new gearbox cover with improved entry angle for the cable by a few degrees and a new improved clutch level.

I have this kit fitted to my RE and I've had no trouble for 3000-4000 miles. Everyone has there solutions.

[Bazooka Joe]

Hey Guys, thanks for the help. I think I've solved the problem. The mistake I was making was that I was trying to make the adjustment of the bearing BEFORE I loosened the clutch cable. Got the cable completely loosey goosey then made the bearing adjustment. That did the trick. And the adjustment is very fine took a couple of tries to find the sweet spot.
Thanks to all.

[longstrokeclassic]

The 5 SPEED IMPROVED CLUTCH RELEASE KIT includes a new gearbox cover with improved entry angle for the cable by a few degrees and a new improved clutch level.

I have this kit fitted to my RE and I've had no trouble for 3000-4000 miles. Everyone has there solutions.

I seemed to recall that particular upgrade benefited from an upgrade - bigger balls!
At least the 4 speed box was easy to do, just needed to adjust it so the actuating arm just cleared  the inside face of the outer cover.