Topic: CB550 Clutch Adjustment Confusion

[TPIGroove]

Hello all. Spent the fall/winter restoring this CB550 that had been sitting for a decade, and I'm almost ready to give it a rest run. I somehow completely overlooked the missing horn until now, but that's easy. It seems to idle fine at 11-1200 RPM warm, just a bit rough starting cold even with a carb sync. Not sure if it's because of carb tuning or not.

However, the main issue I have is the clutch. I thought I adjusted it right before, but pulling the lever didn't undo any pressure and the bike jumped into gear immediately. I had the cable disconnected, and applied pressure to the lever while turning the adjuster. As it is it's turned almost completely counterclockwise to the end of adjustment before the marks align. How much pressure should I be using? I don't notice any change unless it's pressed as far up as I can with pressure. If I leave it any slack there's no noticeable difference while turning the screw. I'm not sure if there's something wrong in the clutch or what, any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

As it stands, completely adjusted counterclockwise will let me slip the clutch with the lever pulled in, although the wheel won't completely disengage from the engine.

[TPIGroove]

Bit of an update. Did some fiddling with the clutch adjustment, both at the lever and all along the cable. With the adjusting screw turned fully counterclockwise, as well as no slack at all in the cable so I can totally pull at it, the wheel still slips into action with no stopping. I've tested it at full lock both angles, and no matter what I can't get the adjustment marks on the case and lever to align. Before I tear into the clutch and resign myself to a rebuild (wasting that fresh oil I just put in...), are there ANY other adjustments I can make for this? Turning the screw clockwise lowers the lever's mark WAY below the spot on the clutch cover, while full lock on the other side only gets them "sorta" in line, but clearly not enough to get the clutch working as it should. If I do open it up, what would I need to look for? What could be causing this issue?

[dave500]

slacken the cable,apply pressure upwards on the housing lever in the de clutch direction,adjust the screw on the case untill the dots line up,re set the cable,if youve had the cover off and operated the mechanism it may have slipped over itself and need to be re set?make sure you have a cb550 cable and not a cb500 one,they are not the same and wont interchange.

[bryanj]

If you have screwed the adjuster all the way one way(cant remember which way) the internal bit can "jump" over the interal mechanism and to fix it you need the casing off

[thep1pe]

If you lean the bike over on the side stand you don’t need to drain the oil.

[TPIGroove]

It just occurred to me that the wheel will spin if it's off the ground regardless... Still, here's a picture of the adjustment. This is nearly at full turn counterclockwise. I'll ride it around the block and see how it feels, but I might get into the clutch regardless.