Topic: CB550 Clutch Rebuild?

[kine8282]

Hi everyone,

Firstly just wanted to say that this forum and the people that are apart of it are awesome. Dunno how people got their bikes fixed before but I'm very very thankful that there are people around that are willing to help the not-so-experience enthusiast like myself.

I looked through the forum regarding a clutch problem on my 75 cb550. I cruised for 30 miles on the PCH in SoCal this weekend and while the bike is running neutral is almost impossible to find. I just changed the oil before my ride in hopes that I don't have to tinker with the clutch since I don't really know what I'm doing.

Can someone please let me know where to start trouble shooting?

[kine8282]

By the way, the bike was garaged for most of its life and it only has 5,000 miles...not sure if helps.

[jabbadeznuts]

I'd go in this order:

1) Make sure the clutch cable is lubed and adjusted properly.
2) Make sure the clutch is adjusted properly. There's a nut on the bottom of the clutch cover that you can use to adjust this. Tighten until you feel contact and then back off about a half turn.
3) Take off the clutch housing/cover. Make sure the lifters are lubricated properly.
4) Replace the clutch.
5) Start tearing down the transmission. 


5 is a last resort option. I'd take the bike in to a shop and see if they could figure it out before doing #4.

[kine8282]

Thanks for the tips gents.

One other thought:  Are you certain it isnt mechanically going into nuetral.  What I mean is, does the neutral light not light up and you assume its not in neutral?  Now that is one problem I had on my 75, thought it wasnt going into nuetral and I pulled the sprocket cover and found the nuetral switch was covered in crud from the chain so it wasnt making contact and lighting up the idiot light.

I'm 100% sure its not the light, all the idiot lights in the front are working fine. The bike is definately in gear as I could feel that the engine is engaged.

I will try what has been said and report back soon

[kine8282]

I finally had a chance to work on my "lost neutral" problem. Made sure that the cable is adjusted properly with just enough freeplay...check. Hash marks line up...check.

Rode it around and finding neutral no problem at first but when the engine gets to its running temp...no neutral. Any other suggestions?

[Jonesy]

My wife's bike (CB550) is the same, in that it's much harder to find neutral after a long ride. I'm changing the oil soon and am going to try 20W-50 instead of the 10W-40. It seemed to improve the overall shifting, etc with my CB750, so I'll report on what happens.

[kine8282]

2) Make sure the clutch is adjusted properly. There's a nut on the bottom of the clutch cover that you can use to adjust this. Tighten until you feel contact and then back off about a half turn.

Jabb - This was not in the Clymers manual but I tried with 1/2 turn and 1/4 turn and still no go. The manual suggests this for the 350 - 400 and the 500 but nothing about the 550, does anyone know?

My wife's bike (CB550) is the same, in that it's much harder to find neutral after a long ride. I'm changing the oil soon and am going to try 20W-50 instead of the 10W-40. It seemed to improve the overall shifting, etc with my CB750, so I'll report on what happens.

Thanks for chiming in Jonesy...some of the other posts i've read said that they can shift to neutral by reving the engine before a stop...does anyone have any luck with this method?

[Jonesy]

With the 550 you turn the adjustment screw until the hash marks on the external clutch lever and the clutch cover line up. Since the actuator system is different on the 550, the other adjustment methods (in regard to the actuator mechanism itself) don't apply.

[kine8282]

Thanks Jonsey, I'll try to tinker with that this weekend.

[TwoTired]

I have a bike, 76 cb550 F, that also has the I-dare-you-to-find-neutral-when-hot problem.  This is caused by a dragging clutch putting a preload on the trans components.  It gets worse with aged oil.  Switching to Honda's semi-synthetic helped some.  It tried re-adjusting, also helped, but did not eliminate the condition.  The clutch slips a little, too, under high load, high power conditions.  I bought a new Honda clutch to put in it... waiting in the box.  In the mean time, I developed techniques for coping with the problem.

 1) It's only an issue when the bike is completely stationary.  Make all your gear selections while the bike is still moving.  Almost any bike motion allows gear selection.  If you know you're going to want be in neutral while stopped, put it in neutral before you've stopped or just as you stop.

2) If you have stopped, rock the bike fore and aft while applying a bit of pressure to the shift lever.  Too much and you'll skip into the next gear.  But, you know how much pressure is needed to shift while driving, so use just that amount to get neutral and move the bike to get the rear wheel, chain, and trans gears to turn enough to allow the forks to move the sliders in the trans... snick

Cheers,

[rhinoracer]

I've only rode Kawasakis with neutral finder which don't let you engage neutral until the bike has stopped rolling and it'll be long before my K1 is rolling so I can't speak for Hondas but isn't that a safety feature in transmissions?

For the same reason that N is between 1 and 2 you're not supposed to be able to shift into neutral unless the bike is stationary, otherwise you could accidentally shift into N while going into a corner and lose speed and fall trying to accelerate out of said corner. It's a lawyer thing, or so I read in Cycle World a couple of months ago.

[TwoTired]

On the CB550 the 1-2 shift stroke is the same as 2-3, etc.  To find neutral you have to short stroke the lever or go half the normal distance. You can get to neutral from gear 1 or 2 anytime, rolling or not (normally), if you make a concerted effort to do so.  However, if a dragging clutch has preloaded all the trans components while stopped, things don't move easily until there is some rotation happening with the output components.

I'll let someone else speak for the K1 as I haven't ridden one.  But, I thought CB750s of that vintage behaved similarly.

I wonder if the writers in Cycle World have ridden any of these old CBs?  Or, for that matter, were alive when they were prevalent?  I've occasionally found false neutrals between all the gears when I've had lazy foot and short stroked the lever between any gear change.  Doesn't happen often, though.  And, it could be a wear related issue.  But, if you move the lever till it stops, its in the next gear.

Cheers,

[Kamal]

If you want to make sure that it is your clutch dragging, just take out all the slack in the cable, and ride it around.  Any preload on the cable may cause your clutch to slip when you let go of the lever, but will certainly help disengage the clutch it when you pull the lever all the way in.  Once you're done testing, readjust your cable back to normal.  You can even do this whie you're riding, if everything is loosened up.  Squids, don't try that at home!

I've also had trouble with old plates being almost spongy or slightly swollen.  Its possible that over time, the friction material has some deterioration.

Kamal 

[Kevin400F]

It sounds like a "dragging clutch", which hopefully is just an adjustment issue, but could also be caused by warped plates. 

Here are a couple more things to check in terms of adjustment/cable travel:  Do you have extra-fat grips or a non-stock lever, either of which could prevent the normal amount of cable travel when you pull the lever all the way to the grip?  Also, on one of my bikes the lever pivot hole was worn such that the cable slack looked normal with the lever at rest, but there was some "lost motion" when the lever was pulled and the cable didn't travel the normal amount.

[rhinoracer]

Ok then, have you checked the neutral stopper bolt?

I wonder if the writers in Cycle World have ridden any of these old CBs?  Or, for that matter, were alive when they were prevalent? 

I believe Kevin Cameron and Peter Egan were born before Hondas were even made  I've learned a lot from this pair.