Make your own CB500 Clutch Pushrod / Push Rod

[SteveD CB500K0]

From .net:

As of this writing, CB500 clutch push rods are pretty much impossible to find anywhere. They come up on Ebay every now and then but sell for $50+.  That's just stupid for something that may well break again...

So, between Shifter19 and Number13 (seeing a theme here?):

Measurements for a Honda OEM pushrod are:

10 1/8 inches or 257 mm long
3/8 inch in diameter or 9.5 mm

You can easily fashion a push rod from
3/8" steel rod found at any hardware store.
The shifter side end should be ground flat and square,
and the brake side end should be neatly rounded in a semi-sphere
to mate with the clutch basket. If you err, err on the side of a bit too
long since this will allow you to keep the lifter mechanism low and avoid cracking.
May also be a good idea to quench harden the ends.

[florence]

But surely these parts cannot be rare, I've got a few kicking around in my workshop.  

[florence]

...also, at a push (no pun intended), does the CB250/350K one work?, It is the same diameter but 255mm long.

[SteveD CB500K0]

But surely these parts cannot be rare, I've got a few kicking around in my workshop.  

Get 'em on eBay. That's $100!

[captaindonutbikes]

crikey Florence you are minted 

[Spitfire]

Crazy

[kaceyk2]

Steve, how about stainless?? thoughts..........

[Bryanj]

The last genuine one i had in a Honda bag was one pice steel so i think thats the way as long as you aint racing as the extra weight will slow down the clutch operation.

To be pedantic one realy ought to use the correct diameter silver steel rod and harden the ends!

[matthewmosse]

Some of the cluch pushrods I have (my first 4 stroke bike was a 500cc engined chop project with 3 engines in bits so engine wise I've a few) had 2 shorter pushrods with a ball bearing inbetween them - why are some a one piece steel rod and others 2 parts with a balll bearing sat in the join? Was it a American markett thing or a later mod in hondas production? or previous owner modification / bodge?

[SteveD CB500K0]

The only 500 bottom end I ever took apart had a two-piece with ball bearing too. That's the bike in the avatar.

[matthewmosse]

So someone with a dead long type could in theory just modify it to short pushrod speck and add a ball bearing and short bit............

[Bryanj]

Honda NEVER supplied a two piece pushrod but what happened in service was this:-

Original pushrod is alloy middle with steel end(s)

Chain not adjusted whips off front sprocket on overrun and hits pushrod breaking the end off.

Oil leak starts as pushrod now does not move linearly also operation deteriorates

Owner pulls out the broken piece, assumes cos he dont have a manual, that he has lost the centre ball bearing that a lot of britsh bikes had so puts one in (probably at the same time losing the ball in the operating mechanism)

Clutch operation gets even worse as the shorter piece wobbles even more


owner gets fed up, wont pay dealer prices to sort it properly and sells the bike

Further owners think this is the way its supposed to be and live with it

[matthewmosse]

Ah, very enlightening, always wondered why the difference, Will use the one piece assemblies then. Must have been some very poorly adjusted chains out there as I've never had the chain jump off on these bikes and I consider myself to be about the worst offender for neglect of the bike. Come to think of it I've had a couple of engines that were really bad on the gearchanges so got shelved, I'll have to make a note of which ones have the 2 part pushrod as it may well save me a coupla rebuilds, just leaves me the mystery of the 500/4 engine that ate camchain tensioners to investigate..................

[Bryanj]

Canchain tensioners got et when either

was not adjusted correctly

or

idiotic numbnuts put a screwdriver in the slot and forced the toothed wheel resulting in a crodged (technical term) tensioner

[matthewmosse]

This bugger ate 2 tensioners in a year (10 000) miles, Adjusted them as per manual which is the same way as for all the other 500 /550 motors I've owned, I'm convinced the problem may lie deep within the bowels of the engine, say a crank sprockett thats cream crackered in some way but possibly a chain that was too short? Enigine was a USA inport and looked near mint but nothing to say some PO had been in there for somit..............