SOHC.co.uk Forums > CB500/550

500 clutch adjustment

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deltarider:

--- Quote from: florence on August 01, 2025, 11:47:12 AM ---As a regular 500 rider, I have always found, like Bryan, that the best way is to take up all the slack against the pushrod with the slotted screw and then back off about 1/8th-1/4 turn, then deal with the cable slack via the cable adjuster.  Seems to work fine every time for me.

--- End quote ---
Yes, seems about right, but it's definitely more than backing off just the 3mm Honda suggests. Where do you position the locknut, the one where the cable enters the cover?

florence:
I don't have a standard cable so my answer might not apply to all but I tend to have the cable slackened off completely at the cable adjuster before I adjust the sprocket cover screw adjuster.  My aim is to take up slack between the clutch actuator and the pushrod first.  I imagine that due to it's spring action, the mechanism is at it's lowest point when adjustment takes place.  Then I deal with the cable slack separately.

Murf:
Thanks everyone, we will try the slacking the cable fully off method first and see how that goes. If no better will have a look at the clutch as suggested by Bryanj. So starting easy and working up to the harder bits😁

It sounds like a black art just like the Brit bikes of the 60s.
I always imagined there was one old guy at the factory that could adjust clutches correctly and used to do all the bikes before they left the factory.  Being a crafty old guy he would never tell anyone his secrets of how he did it and therefore he could never be sacked.  Consequently the bosses just made up some method to put in the owners manual😂.

deltarider:
Basically you want the lever to be in a position where it provides the longest arm the moment the pushrod contacts the ballbearing and ideally the cable then travels in the straightest way.
Oh... and after the adjustment that locknut should be turned down. I find it telling that nobody came with an answer. It tells me that maybe, maybe most of us have a problem analysing how it all works. I've owned my bike since 1980 and never studied where that nut should be after the adjustment. On the other hand... I never had a situation where the cable wandered away from where I had it set.

florence:
I see what you are saying.  I thought it was a given that the locknut is run down at the end, that is what it is for.  :)

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