Emergency fix for broken clutch cable

[paulie75]

So I always go thru my bike to make sure things are ready for a trip and my daily commuting but I never have thought about look at the cable, I guess because I have never had any issues. So on New Years day I left Albuquerque to go to Phoenix, 1 to get a trip in and 2 to go to Portillos, a restaurant they opened in Scottsdale originally from my home town Chicago (3rd trip there just for the food!). While I was nearing the reastaurant I had issues shifting into neutral and thought that my clutch was going, and I also had very little pull on my lever. When I parked the bike I looked at the cable by the lever and sure enoughthere were two strands left in the end and when I gave it a little tug and thought how long will this hold up, SNAP!

While I was eating I called all of the Yamaha shops in town an no one had a cable in stock and there wasn't a bicycle shop or ato shop near by. There was a home depot though. I first found the cable crimp that you use to make cable for hanging pictures and tried them, the crimps were cheap and I just had to buy a pair of vise grips. Well it didn't crimp down tight enough for the pull that the clutch cable needs so when I went back and was looking through the hardware area, I saw these aluminum spacers that were really close to the same diameter as the original cable end.


The ID would accomodate a M6x1 the best, 1/4-20 would have bee too much and they didn't have any offerings for 12-32 bolts or set screws. I had to buy a small metric tap and die set and an 1/8 drill because the guy in tool rental didn't have anything that small. Also got some M6 set screws and a M6 SHCS so I can torque ot a little tighter than the set screw, and some red lock-tite. I drilled the 1/8 hole thru the body of the space to get the cable thru and then I ran the M6 tap thru the ID of the spacer. The ID was smaller than the nominal tap drill for the M6 so there was definetly good thread engagement. I got back to the bike, put some lock-tite on the set screw and SHCS and set them in, I then fed the cable end into the 1/8 Dia hole being careful to not let it stick out past the other side so it will slide into the lever easily. I then tightened the set screw and SHCS as tight as I could to make sure it was grabbing. And it held!

I checked out a bike yard the next day and they didn't have a cable for the FZ6 so I took my chances with my fix and I made it back to Albuquerque the next day. It was a liitle investment to buy the tools needed but it got me home. So I would suggest making something like this or modifying something and keep it in your FZ tool kit, you never know when you might need it and it will save your butt if you do.

 

[agf]

nice ingenuity,
necessity...the mother of invention

and a nice write up and the pics-perfect

 

[FinalImpact]

Good job! :thumbup::thumbup:

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Great idea for a quick fix!

Kinda late now, but that cable needs lubrication every once in a while.

When lubing it, you'd be able to see the end (and its condition) if using the standard pressure type tool or even using oil poured down the sheath. A little bit of grease on the barrel end of the cable where it goes into the lever itself helps too...

BTW, if you remove (tear off/use a cutter) the inner clutch cable holder (inside the left inner frame), you won't have to remove the fuel tank, air box, etc to swap out that cable. Much, much easier without that retainer and the cable isn't going anywhere. Mines been off for at least 2 years, still on the original cable too..:thumbup:

 

[lawlberg]

I used this method (bike shop for a clutch repair) two summers ago. I was about to leave on a 1500 mile trip (Cleveland -> DC -> Baltimore -> Charlotte -> Cleveland) and a day before I left my clutch cable snapped pulling out of the driveway (Previous owner was not big on preventative maintenance) - anyway - I went with the fattest brake cable I could get from the bike shop and one of the barrel shaped wire stops/locks. I bought 3 more cables and a couple more of the locks just in case things slipped up on my journey - placed an order in a Yamaha shop where I'd be in a week and set off. The first brake cable lasted me nearly 500 miles (or all the way to 5 miles from my uncles house outside of DC)! So I had to limp it home with no clutch for the last five miles, did some driveway repairs before heading up to my next destination the following day. Made it the short jog up to DC just fine, may have had to do some lanesplitting on the beltway around DC - was up in Maryland for a couple of days and then rode the remainder of the trip down to Charlotte on rainy night - cable held up until I was at my parents house - swung down to the shop and got the cable, the guy probably though I was nuts riding up on the bike I'd bought the cable for, but hey.

That said - I don't recommend this - it is slightly nervewracking to feel the 'clutch' cable slipping through a barrel lock just because you didn't have time to wait for the locktite to dry. Let's say I was much better at clutchless shifting after thattrip.

 

[paulie75]

Cool, thanks for the tip. Ill be ordering one tonight. And I will def be up on my cable maint from now on!

Great idea for a quick fix!

Kinda late now, but that cable needs lubrication every once in a while.

When lubing it, you'd be able to see the end (and its condition) if using the standard pressure type tool or even using oil poured down the sheath. A little bit of grease on the barrel end of the cable where it goes into the lever itself helps too...

BTW, if you remove (tear off/use a cutter) the inner clutch cable holder (inside the left inner frame), you won't have to remove the fuel tank, air box, etc to swap out that cable. Much, much easier without that retainer and the cable isn't going anywhere. Mines been off for at least 2 years, still on the original cable too..:thumbup:

 

[paulie75]

That was one fix I read onthe Adv Forum but there wasn't a bicycle shop within 5 miles... But I agree about it being nervewracking, it wsa on my mind the entire trip back but it held up. Hopefully we don't(or anyone else) have to experiance that again but at least we would have a wau to get going again! :thumbup:

I used this method (bike shop for a clutch repair) two summers ago. I was about to leave on a 1500 mile trip (Cleveland -> DC -> Baltimore -> Charlotte -> Cleveland) and a day before I left my clutch cable snapped pulling out of the driveway (Previous owner was not big on preventative maintenance) - anyway - I went with the fattest brake cable I could get from the bike shop and one of the barrel shaped wire stops/locks. I bought 3 more cables and a couple more of the locks just in case things slipped up on my journey - placed an order in a Yamaha shop where I'd be in a week and set off. The first brake cable lasted me nearly 500 miles (or all the way to 5 miles from my uncles house outside of DC)! So I had to limp it home with no clutch for the last five miles, did some driveway repairs before heading up to my next destination the following day. Made it the short jog up to DC just fine, may have had to do some lanesplitting on the beltway around DC - was up in Maryland for a couple of days and then rode the remainder of the trip down to Charlotte on rainy night - cable held up until I was at my parents house - swung down to the shop and got the cable, the guy probably though I was nuts riding up on the bike I'd bought the cable for, but hey.

That said - I don't recommend this - it is slightly nervewracking to feel the 'clutch' cable slipping through a barrel lock just because you didn't have time to wait for the locktite to dry. Let's say I was much better at clutchless shifting after thattrip.

 

[OZXJR]

I wonder when Travis will chime in on this