Clutch Lever wear

[wildfire]

Hello all

Can a clutch lever wear causing the clutch to bite early?. By that I mean by releasing the lever by only a small amount and the bike moves forward. It is less than 1/4 of overall clutch lever travel and the bike moves. Clutch plates are new OEM

Also are clutch levers for ABS models the same as non ABS models?

[red]

Hello all
Can a clutch lever wear causing the clutch to bite early?. By that I mean by releasing the lever by only a small amount and the bike moves forward. It is less than 1/4 of overall clutch lever travel and the bie moves. Clutch plates are new OEM  Also are clutch levers for ABS models the same as non ABS models?

Wildfire,

What year FJ?  I only see one Part Number listed for the clutch lever, 1989-1993.  I doubt you can wear out a clutch lever that badly, unless there was visible damage or wear at the business end.  Check this 1989 drawing, and make sure that you have not lost the part indexed as 4, and/or 3.
http://www.2wheelpros.com/oem-parts/1989-yamaha-fj1200w-front-master-cylinder-2-assembly.html

The new clutch plates may be grabbing too quickly, but they may "wear in" a little, in a few hundred miles.
You may need to bleed the clutch hydraulics, if that has not been done recently.
Cheers,
Red

[copper]

To add to what red said I don't know that the actual lever can wear out, but there is a brass pivot point that can wear out. Not sure if it would cause what you are describing but I replaced mine because it was all boogered up. And I saw that RPM recently started stocking them after I had too wait for two weeks to get mine. 

[wildfire]

Thanks fellas . I will check out the brass and bleed the clutch. I ddnt think of the new plates taking some time to break in/ wear a little.

[FJ_Hooligan]

I have one clutch the acts as you describe.  It immediately starts to engage with the slightest release of the lever.  My other clutch doesn't engage until the lever is about 90% of the way released.  I have no idea why they are so different.

Both are stock.

[vandenw]

There is an indent in the brass part(#4) that part #3 (see the link in the earlier reply) should insert into.  If #4 is not rotated into the right position #3 will not go in far enough and the clutch slave cylinder will not disengage 100% and you will run into the symptom you described. 

I had the same issue on my 90 when I did not assemble it properly.

[wildfire]

I cant remember but approximately how far is the standard distance the clutch lever travels from the handle bar before the bike moves forward. 10/20/30/40/50 % , Beginning to bug me now. I wonder if the lever on the bike is not the right one.

[Steve_in_Florida]

...I wonder if the lever on the bike is not the right one.

I've encountered some aftermarket levers that were CRAP. Soft material that allows the pivot points to wear prematurely. It wasn't obvious until I compared my used ones to a new OEM unit.

Steve

[mark1969]

There are so many variables in clutch lever free play when dealing with a hydraulic clutch. First thing I would do (if you haven't already) is bleed the slave unit to rule out any air causing an early bite point. Other than that, if the clutch stack height (fibres and steels) is out it can affect the bite point. When I put EBC clutch fibres in a year ago, they were so far out of spec I couldn't disengage the clutch..

This is partly why I replaced virtually my whole actionable clutch with genuine Yamaha parts, because I was sick of an early bite due to not knowing whether my clutch parts were standard or not. With a 25 year old bike there have been so many owners it's difficult to trust that parts are real or not.

For instance, my new pushrod is about 3mm longer than the old one, but I know the new one is the right part...and the old one doesn't look that worn..

So I would bleed the slave, check the brass insert is in the lever and check the master cylinder is an FJ original, which is fairly easy to do by checking visually an original on Ebay to see it looks the same as yours..

It's also worth replacing the master cylinder seals with a rebuild kit if you haven't already done so, just to give it the best chance to work properly. Nowt worse than having no clutch...!