LH Crankcase Cover

[DerekB]

I have a 1971 Honda CB500.  I'm new to the rebuilding world, but I love tinkering in the garage.  So I removed the LH crankcase cover to my bike the other day, no problems getting it off.  But when I reinstalled it, the hand lever cable was not engaging the clutch to allow me to shift gears.  I never adjusted anything inside the cover, but I didn't do something right when assembling.  When I pull the lever everything seems to be working inside the cover.  I did have several (maybe 6) small 1/4" orings that fell out of the cover, broken, when I removed it.  I'm not sure where they go.  My manual doesn't spec them out anywhere.  Any ideas how I may have mis-assembled the cover?

[mickwinf]

have you lost the ball bearing that fits in the operating mechanism, it bears against the pushrod.

[DerekB]

no the ball bearing is still in place.  after installation, do I need to readjust something? does the pushrod slide in and out when squeezing the clutch handle?

[DerekB]

Thank you for all the excellent advice.  Like I said previously, there were maybe 5-6 small broken o-rings that fell out of the cover when I removed it.  Are these for the grooves that are on the push rod?  Or somewhere else?  I currently did not replace any of them since I was unaware of where they came from.  My maintenance manual does not spec them out anywhere.

[Bryanj]

Only O rings inside that cover are behind the oil pump and cannot fall out, also they are 15mm.

Sounds like somebody has put them in there to cover up a problem. As oddjob said check the ball bearing and pushrod, adjustment procedure is in the manual

[DerekB]

I disassembled the entire assembly today and gave it a good cleaning and new grease.  Reassembled and adjustment and the clutch lever now works.  The lever has always been fairly tight to squeeze and I figured out why when reassembling the parts.  I don't think all the parts are stock inside the cover for the clutch actuation.  I noticed that while squeezing the clutch lever, when the internal part is rotating it hits on the sheetmetal bracket inside making the clutch lever hard to compress.  I didn't modify the bracket yet to give clearance, but its on the list now.

Thanks again to for the help!

Derek

[Bryanj]

That sheet metal contraption is to stop excess damage if the chain breaks but can get bent and cause problems