I'm having trouble getting my clutch cable adjusted properly. I've read quite a bit and even watched a video on adjusting the clutch cable but I'm still having trouble. I just purchased this '97 GS500E last summer and had to replace the clutch lever. Currently has 10k miles

First I took all the slack out of the cable by loosening the clutch lever cable adjustment. Next I went to the lower clutch case adjustment and tightened that until there was tension. Then I went back up and set my free play in the cable to approximately 3 mm. My problem is that either my free play is right on but the clutch won't engage until the lever is nearly all the way out; OR the clutch grabs fairly soon of letting the lever out, but I have 3/4" of free play.

I'm not sure if I'm following the correct procedure, but I spent all afternoon trying to get this adjusted right and just couldn't get it. I am fairly mechanical, but this is my first motorcycle and I am completely new to working on them. Maybe I need a new clutch cable?

Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you all in advance! 

On the lower portion of the clutch adjustment, where you adjust the cable [the piece with the lock nut, and boot] you want to loosen it and that will loosen up the slack. If you tighten it all the way into the case, it'll give you less slack in the lever and will make adjustment more difficult if you dont account for that.

The rough adjustment is a big part of fine-tuning the lever, so try to get that just right, if ya can.

Edited for accuracy. Don't sleep and tapatalk, folks.

Thank you for the suggestion. I played with that a little bit, but mostly the adjuster under the two bolts that you have to remove to access. I wasn't sure if the adjuster with the lock nut and boot would do the same thing as the adjuster under the cover with the 2 screws on it. I will work on that tomorrow. Thanks again!

its easier for me to take off that plate that the mech is inside of, and just adjust the bolt/nut looking at the back side of the plate. you can see when its making contact. just back it out a turn or two from the contact area, and the rest of it is adjustment up top.

The most important thing you need to understand is that #6 HAS TO HAVE FREE PLAY UNDERNEATH IT....NO FREE PLAY MEANS SLIPPY CLUTCH!! The cable adjustment can be set anywhere you want as long as their is slack in the cable, just make sure #6 is like I said and take note of the bold text above   

Quote from: Iarn on April 14, 2015, 06:24:50 PM
On the lower portion of the clutch adjustment, where you adjust the cable [the piece with the lock nut, and boot] you want to loosen it and that will tighten up the slack. If you tighten it all the way into the case, it'll give you more slack in the lever and will make adjustment more difficult if you dont account for that.

The rough adjustment if a big part of fine-tuning the lever, so try to get that just right, if ya can.

Dude...the bold part of your text is absolutely 180° out from the truth...just saying 

I had just woken up when I wrote that... and it is wrong. My mistake. Still stands, though Silver, that it's part of fine tuning clutch adjustment

 

Thank you all for the help. I followed the instructions exactly. However, my clutch won't engage until the lever is almost all the way out. Is this normal? some of my friends bikes will engage the clutch almost immediately when letting out the lever. Thanks.

Quote from: silverslp on April 15, 2015, 10:22:49 AM
Thank you all for the help. I followed the instructions exactly. However, my clutch won't engage until the lever is almost all the way out. Is this normal? some of my friends bikes will engage the clutch almost immediately when letting out the lever. Thanks.

at the top, where your clutch lever is, take off the rubber boot, then "turn in" "tighten" the little nut a few times, then lock it back down. that will bring in where your lever engages the clutch. [if you're sitting on the bike, with the locknut already un tightened. then you should turn the adjustment screw forward from you.]

Okay, the instructions say to turn that all the way in at step 1, so that is what I did and it is turned in all the way right now. So should I turn it all the way out, then follow the rest of the instructions, then spin it back in??

Either I have a ton of free play, but my clutch engages soon after letting out the lever, or I have the 4mm free play and my clutch won't engage until the last 1/4" of letting the lever out

Leave it all the way in at the hand lever for future freeplay adjustments.  For more freeplay and quicker engagement now turn it in some at the engine housing end of the cable.  I assume you have correct pushrod freeplay, about a quarter turn loose?

Quote from: gsJack on April 15, 2015, 11:22:24 AM
Leave it all the way in at the hand lever for future freeplay adjustments.  For more freeplay and quicker engagement now turn it in some at the engine housing end of the cable.  I assume you have correct pushrod freeplay, about a quarter turn loose?

Okay I have the lever adjustment in all the way and have the bottom adjustments so that I have 1/4 turn loose on the push rod and 4 mm of free play in the lever which is adjusted by the nut just above the pushrod adjustemnt. But I still don't have clutch engagement until the lever is almost all the way out.

Okay you're nearly there!

From your current settings: fine tune clutch adjustment via the clutch lever  #2 adjuster in the diagram. Screw/unscrew that to change the engage distance. That'll affect the clutch engage distance via the lever.

Okay I just Unscrewed #2. That took out all of my free play and made the clutch engage even farther after the lever is out.

I played more with adjuster #4 and I am happy with the engagement. I just have more than 4mm of free play. Is that okay?

That's perfectly fine. As long as #6 has the proper setting you can adjust the free play/engagement to pretty much anything as long as you're  comfortable with its operation and the clutch cable has enough slack to not be over tensioned. I think you'll be fine from here.

Thank you very much. I appreciate the help!

Don't worry about that 4 mm freeplay spec, if it suits you as it is now it's good to go as Iarn said above.  That 4 mm is from the shop manual and a dumb way of doing it.  I found the Owners Manual from my previous 97 GS and it shows freeplay as measured at the end of the lever to be 10-15 mm (.4-.6").  The owners manual from my old CB750K shows a more liberal 10-20 mm at the end of the lever.  I've always set bike clutches at about 1/2" at the end of the lever as judged by the eye, if a little more suits you that's good too.

UPDATE

Today on my way home from work, I was getting the symptoms of a slipping clutch. Although I thought my recent clutch adjustments went well, wide open throttle resulted in higher rpm's and little to no speed changes; especially in the lower gears.

I tried the recommended test of going into 6th gear at 30 mph and completely opening the throttle, and the bike hopped and shook itself slowly up to speed with no high rpm increases. My oil was changed this spring with Valvoline 10w-40 motorcycle oil (non synthetic) and has approx. 500 miles on it.

Any suggestions for adjustment are appreciated. Thank you!

Perform the adjustment again, this time, make sure you get the (5) lock nut good and tight. It probably came loose a bit because it wasn't tight enough.

When you go for readjustment, only tighten it a little, then go for a ride and see how it feels. If the clutch feels good, tighten it well and call it a job well done.

Another tip, the (6) adjustor might want to move when you tighten (5) lock nut. Take a flathead to (6) and torque ĺ5) with a wrench an that should alleviate that issue.

Try that and get back to us if you have more problems.