The clutch lever feel was very heavy on the bike when I got it so I decided that I should overhaul the actuator mechanism.
When I disassembled the system There was quite a bit of rubbing on the pushrod piston and it didn’t move smoothly in the back of the gearbox. In addition, the lever was not moving smoothly in the pivot bolt needle bearing which was completely caked with grease. Both of these factors were potentially contributing to stiff clutch action.
Getting the needle bearing out of the lever proved difficult but I was able to do it by applying gentle heat to the lever and then putting it in a vice with two sockets (one the size of the lever OD and the other the size of the bearing).
When it came to replacing these parts I discovered that the piston assembly had been updated (I think in 1988). The new part has an integrated needle bearing and so does away with the ball bearing and two races. There is also a kind of flange on the pushrod which gets discarded. The new piston is very expensive (I paid $150) and I wondered if I might have been able refurbish the old one with some sand paper… I’ll keep it for next time.
The new lever arm needle bearing was installed using the same bench vice press arrangement and the flange and bearing race were removed from the pushrod using a similar concept (bunch of sockets, drift, hammer). Then the new assembly was installed into the gearbox using a new spring and a new rubber boot. I put a little bit of moly grease (Honda M77 assembly paste) onto the piston and tip of the pushrod.
