How do you adjust clutch on kawasaki ke100?

Answer 1

Hope this helps but first of all,

You gotta be careful fooling with Clutch Cable Adjustment on those things.

Simply Taking the Slack in/out can lead to bad news.

Adjust Procedure is Very Simple to do.

But First You should have an idea of WHY,,before learning HOW

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There's a small variety of Clutch and Clutch ThrowOut mechanisms used on Bikes.

On Yours,,,,the Clutch is Mounted on Right Hand side of "engine".

In the Clutch Cover is mounted the throwout mechanism.

It's a WormGear---like a big,coarse thread screw,,,and has a Lever Arm attatched to it.

When the Cable pulls the arm,,the "Screw Turns" and moves INWARD to press the Clutch Plates apart to disengage them.

Works the same way a Ratchet on a Bolt works.

Pull the Ratchet Handle,,,Screw Threads Inward.

Ok,,,the way Your Clutch Itself is set-up,,,as the Plates Wear the Pressure Plate assembly moves OUTWARD,,away from Engine ...

And TOWARDS the Throw out mechanism.

Think,,,,if the Clutch DISENGAGES By getting PRESSED,,,

It does not matter if ThrowOut Presses INWARD against CLUTCH,,,,,

Or if CLUTCH Presses OUTWARD against Throwout.

Dumb Example>>

You Put a Nail on a Board,,,Hit it with a Hammer & Nail goes into Board.

If You put the Nail on a solid backing,,,and Swung the Board--Hit the Nail with the board,,,

Same Thing happens.

The Nail goes into the Board.

Whether Nail Hits Board,or Board Hits Nail.

Your Kaw's Clutch does same effect as it undergoes Normal Wear.

It Moves OUT to Press against the Solidly Held Throwout.

Which is Same Mechanical Effort as Throwout moving IN towards Clutch.

End Result is that Over Time,,,as Clutch Wears it begins to GRADUALLY Disengage ITSELF.

Thats starts a chain reaction....

Clutch Slips,,gets Hotter,wears More,,,moves Further Out,,which Disengages it MORE,,makes More Slippage,,,heat>wear,,,and so on.

It's like riding the clutch lever,,,half Engaged/half Disengaged.

And it gets Worse over Time,,,the worse it gets,,,the Worse it gets,,,,until Clutch is trashed if it's allowed to continue long enough.

Simply fooling with the cable slack does NOT necessarrily releive the Bind it works itself into.

So,,Cable Adjustment Alone is NOT a correct procedure.

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Actual Adjustment is simple,,,but Must be Done in a CERTAIN Order.

You MUST First Adjust the Throwout Clearance,,

Then You can Adjust Cable Slack.

One Peculiarity is that as the Clutch Wears,,,,The Cable Adjustment TIGHTENS ITSELF.

Procedure:

*Loosen Cable

*Remove Carburettor Cover from R/H Side of engine.

*I prefer to Unhook the Cable for a better Feel---- But at LEAST Make CERTAIN there's PLENTY SLACK in the cable

*You'll see a Small Slotted Screw with a Locknut on it,,on the end of Clutch Cable Arm.

*That Adjustment Screw is in center of the Throwout's Worm Gear,,,and is what Actually Presses on the Clutch.

*Loosen the Locknut,,,

back the Adjuster Screw off a little,,,

and Hold the Lever Down as far as it will go---make sure Cable is not stopping it.

* Turn the Adjuster Screw In/Clockwise until You feel it Contact the Clutch--just barely

*At That Point,,,the ThrowOut Arm should Not Move much at all---Because All the Clearance has been removed by Adjuster Screw.

*From That Point,,,Back Off the Adjuster Screw while Pushing Up on the Lever.

*As You loosen the adjuster screw,,,,that will allow the Lever Arm to "rise",,,and You can move it up & down.

You are Increasing the Clearance between the Throwout and the Clutch.

* The Arm needs to be able to come up Almost Horizontal,,,"pointing straight forward".

And just a Bit pointing Down from there.

Somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00 O'Clock position.

*That position does 2 things

a)it positions the lever to have enough travel for a Clean Break of the Clutch Disengagement so it does Drag

b)It allows enough Clearance for Clutch to wear Into the Throwout,,,,and be Adjusted by Replacing the lost SLACK in the HAND Lever.

*You cant adjust the throwout Arm All the way Down at end of it's range,,,because That's Bottomed Out.

When it eventually gets TIGHT again from Wear,,,You would have to Remove the Cover and Re-Do the Adjustment Screw again.

*Leave some slack in the Actuator ARM,, and You'll be able to do Future Adjustments Quick and easy at the Hand Lever or the cable's inline adjuster.

*Set your Hand Lever Adjuster about 2 turns Out

Use the adjusters on the Cable to take almost all the Slack out.

Then use the Hand Lever Adjuster to make Fine/Final Adjustments.

Leave a LITTLE Slack in the Hand Lever.

Most Folks adjust Clutches 'cuz of the Cable getting Slack.

But on Clutche Setups like Yours,,,you also must be aware of LOSING Slack,,and cable "tightening itself up".

Because Clutch is wearing and moving Closer to Throwout.

So always Keep a Bit of Slack.

One other thing to mention---

The Lever itself,,If it has ever gotten Bent and sorta Straightened Out,,,,that will Limit the amount of ARC that you can pull it IN.

Travel,,,Throwout Range is Reduced by that,,,and sometimes enough to prevent Clean,Free-Breaking clutch disengagement.

I'm gonna tell you this,,I dont care what anybody Thinks,,,and You Do whatever you want.

The BEST gearbox/Clutch oil You can use is ANY plain ol' Automatic Transmission Fluid for Cars.

Thats a whole 'nother story which I'll skip.

But,,,it Only costs a Couple Bucks to TRY IT.

Is it SAFE to even TRY it??

Go Figure---

A Big Block American V-8 LIGHT TRUCK Automatic Transmission ,,,

Makes 400~500 Ft Lbs of Torque,,,

pulls TONS of Load,,,

turns at Just about as High an Input Shaft Speed as a Bike,

Runs SO HOT they pipe the Fluid into the 200* Radiator to COOL IT,,

And runs on Such a Low Total VOLUME capacity,,if it loses more than a Quart out of 20~25 QTs,,,it wont even Work.

And they run for 75~100~150,000 Miles with NO Maintenance in Millions of Vehicles.

What's MOST amazing,,,is that the Size of the Gears,,,and Clutches in GM 400,Ford C6,Mopar 727 Automatics,,,,are Barely more than only Twice the Size of Your 200lb,,6ft/lb Torque,, Manual Transmission Motorcycle

Fairly Safe to use 400Ft/Lb Torque, 6000Lb Load,,100,000Mi Trans Oil ,

in a Trans that doesnt have to endure 1/10 of such conditions.

At least for a couple days so You can see for Yourself what it Feels like in your bike.

If it Shifts and Clutches better,runs quieter,cooler and feels like it has more power going thru the gears,,,and is Made for protecting Seals and gaskets,,,how bad can it be?

Most folks who never tried it and dont know know anything about it will try to scare you away from doing it.

They feel better pouring motor oil into a gearbox.

But,,,thats all up to You.

All those lil' Kawasakis were really cool bikes,,tuff,ran well,rode good.

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Cover showing Throwout,,with Carb Cover removed.

Different Year than yours,,I think this one's cable comes thru front/bottom,,,and Yours comes thru Top.