Stiff Clutch on 1980 XJ650

After purchasing a new clutch cable for my 1980 XJ650 and ensuring that my adjustments to the throw-out arm aligned with RickCoMatic's instructions in his thread "Clutch Adjustment & Clutch Cable Replacement Procedure," my clutch lever is still incredibly difficult to actuate. I have not lubricated the new cable, yet it seems to slide just fine, which leads me to believe it may be an issue within the clutch basket - maybe the clutch springs?? I saw on a thread somewhere that after-market springs are a bit stiffer than OEM springs, and I believe I may have after-market springs in mine. Also, I have maybe 4mm of play in the clutch lever at the perch, but otherwise no slack in the cable.

Any thoughts on how I can decrease the force needed to actuate the clutch lever?

I should also explain that the original motor on by bike locked up last summer (shortly after I purchased the bike - likely improper jetting after customizing the exhaust, which I have since fixed). At that point I purchased a replacement 1980 XJ650 engine (16,000 miles) and began the bobber transformation as well. I am finishing up the modifications this fall and have not yet fired up the engine. I had previously opened up the clutch case to check the friction and steel plates, and accidentally sheared a clutch spring bolt while checking that the bolts were torqued to the proper setting (not sure how this even happened, as I torqued each of the other bolts to spec without issue). I then installed a new (used) clutch basket assembly, installed a lightly-used set of friction/steel plates (2,000 miles) from another XJ650, and installed a brand new clutch cover gasket.

 

Check the routing on the cable - should be in the owner's manual or else some kind soul on here may post a link which I don't have on hand. If all else fails you could theoretically increase the length of the actuating lever at the engine but I don't have any info on that procedure....

 

LUBE the cable! Even a brand new cable needs to be properly lubricated.

 

You take the lever off and clean and lube the pivot yet?

It's amazing how much they can fight you. One time I was sure I had a caliper seizing on my 650, the lever was getting hard to pull and "crunchy", not smooth or linear at all...felt like my caliper was binding, could hardly stop the bike.

But took the lever apart for laughs, and found it so rusty and dry it was the source of the entire problem.

The 750 I just got, the clutch pull was so vicious that it was all I could do to pull it. Cleaned and lubed the lever pivot and lubed the cable, feels fine now.

Not unusual to find clutch levers with the pivot hole worn out totally oblong from lack of lube and dirt....

 

Thanks for the help. I lubed the cable and re-routed it (have a little extra slack from installing drag bars), which seemed to help quite a bit.