Hitchcocks Forum

hi all can any of you tell me what's the correct lenth of a clutch -rod for a 2001 500 bullet as i sent for new one's from mr-H.the one's he sent me are 4"15/16 long and the one's in my bike are 5" 1/16 long so i am thinking if i put the shorter one's in they won't open the ptates?

There's normally a ball bearing inbetween the rods, so just pop in a 1/8 ball bearing, it will help with the clutch action.

hi mike i have got a ball bearing in with the original rod's so the new one's mr h has sent me are still 1/8 to short

Morgy,
Assuming this is a 4 speed I went to fit one of MrH's clutch push pads and it was an 1/8 inch longer that the one I removed. Might be worth a look

hi norm i to have fitted a new push pad the one with needle rolers in but that was same size as the one i took out

Morgy, by coincidence, I bought two of these (part no 144497) only last Friday (13th) for my '92 500 because I wanted to fit the needle roller clutch pad. I was replacing the earlier one-piece rod so cannot confirm the old length. However, the new rods were each 129.10 mm which is closest to your original 5 1/16 in and the 128mm quoted in the online parts book. Perhaps a 1/4 in ball between the rods would be the answer, particularly as it would lie much closer to the shaft axis than a 1/8 in ball. I fitted the parts this morning without a ball between the rods but with the usual ball between the rod on the primary drive side and the needle roller clutch pad. All appears to be ok (it frees, starts, selects all gears etc.) but I haven't given it a road test yet.

hi bobf the rod's mr h has sent are 126mm and the ball i have in bike already is 1/4" so i am aprox 6mm down on the lenth of original clutch is just draging?

Morgy,
Probably won't help but on a couple of occasions I have replaced the ball with a needle from an RE13 roller with good sucess. No chance one of your old rods happens to be a bit longer, guess you would have looked at that. Might have to try 2 balls and cut one rod down a little.

I should have added, put one ball in the middle and the other between the rod and the push pad. This way you can see how much too long the rod is and then you can grind it back till it is the length you want

thanks to all for youe input i e-mailed MR H today and asked him, he said rods should be 5" 1/16 and he has checked his stock and found some rouge ones in his stock so is going to send me two new ones of the correct size .so sorted