XJ550RH Clutch question

My 81 XJ550RH has 10K miles on it (less than 1K by me). Pulling the clutch has always been "hard" (think tractor vs Honda Civic) compared to other bikes I have checked. I am replacing the cable and came across an excellent post from BigFitz52 back in 2011 that shows correct alignment (http://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/81-xj550-with-a-tight-clutch.29644/).

My question is, what does it mean if your alignment is nowhere near what BigFitz52 demonstrates? His shows the bolt in the arm aligned with the pip however on my bike, it is the front of the bracket that holds the cable that aligns with the pip.

Thanks all.

 

And her's what the clutch on mine looks like.

 

You found the problem. The angl of the arm is working against you, and increasing the force needed to move the clutch rod.
Pop the circlip off, and re-set the clutch arm on the shaft so that it lines up properly.

 

way off it should be about 90 degrees to cover
should be an easy 2 finger pull



HOW TO: Tell if you need a new clutch switch by just looking

 

I had trouble properly adjusting an after market clutch cable which wasn't the correct overall length (I know I should have bought from Chacal instead of ebay)...
Last summer I could only get it to work by moving the arm forward one notch forward on the spindle so the arm no longer points to the spot on the case cover. The problem was limited lever throw and a "squirrely" clutch lever. I messed with it for two summers....not satisfied, even thought the clutch wasn't slipping, I often had trouble with finding neutral because of limited throw.

Last week while sleeping and having a dream that I was working on the XJ, it came to me what I was doing wrong...went out to the garage the next morning and had it properly adjusted in 15 minutes. NICE...

Funny how our mind works....

 

I keep a pad of paper and pen on my night stand because I wake up with the answer to things or ideas,

 

Does the 550 not have an alignment lug on the case to line up notch on lever like 650/750?

 

It does not. See post #2.

 

the 550 should line up to the allen bolt on case or close to it anyways.

 

Thanks to all for the feedback.
I bought a new clutch cable that matches what is in Clymer manual with an extra nut/set screw AND I popped the circlip and moved the arm to the correct position and guess what, now it doesn't pull like a John Deere! Thanks again.
Final musing (because it works and when I try and figure things out, it goes south real fast) but, why would previous owner have moved the arm so far off? Did they possibly do clutch work and dork it up when they buttoned it back up? From ya'lls comments, I get the impression that this offset is not something that just happens.
Fall rides are THE BEST!

 

Compensating for a too-long cable.

 

K-moe,
Thanks

 

How hard should it be to push the clutch lever shown in the photos above? It appears the effort in the photos is not nearly what I'm exerting.

 

To take out the slack? Light finger pressure.
To actually disengage the clutch? Enough to hurt yourself, so don't do that.

 

Mine is positioned as the photo shows when disengaged, but not when the slack is taken out. Seems to work fine