Clutch Lever Replacement

[RedRyder]

Greetings all,
Due to an incident dropping the bike, I had to replace my clutch lever. Without going into too much detail, I placed the new lever in, but it seems the bolt that tightens the lever onto the shaft in caught in some sort of no man's land. I tightened up to the point you see in the photo, but for some reason it will go no further. It just spins in place. Not only that, I can't reverse it out either. Whether tightening or untightening, it just sits there, spinning. I assume it's supposed to sit flush with the opposite end, but I can't get it there. It's tight to the point where I can't pull the lever off; it doesn't feel like it's going to go anywhere. But it also doesn't feel right to me. Any theories or suggestions on how to remedy this situation would be welcome. EDIT: It also appears that I cannot get the bolt lined up with the holes to replace the footpeg. The spring that sits in the middle seems to be keeping the bolt from matching up with the lower two holes. Without the spring I can line up the bolt with the holes fine, and I am guessing that would be "good enough" to ride, but again, it does not feel right. Could it be I did more damage than I realized, and the entire step bar across the underside for both footpegs has to be replaced? It appears I am running into a bit more hidden damage than is evident on first view.

 

[dmonkey]

Get a flashlight and/or use a camera to get a visual on where the bolt is positioned on the underside of the gearshift lever assembly. The gearshift lever is a split design that pinches together on the splined shaft. The left half, where the bolt is likely positioned, is not threaded and the bolt slides right through. The right half, is threaded. If the bolt is turning freely it's likely (and hopefully) not made it into the threads on the right half of the pinch assembly. I would try pulling the bolt straight out while gently wiggling the shifter pedal up and down. That bolt also does not look like the OEM part as it has a flange. I don't recall the original or the replacement shifter on my 2021 having a flange bolt, though the 2023 foldaway shifter (which doesn't fit pre-2023 models) did have a flange on it. Personally I'd take it off the bike, do a dry run and make sure the bolt threads in well and gets some pinching action in, then try again with it mounted. There is also an optimal depth you want the gearshift positioned at on the shift shaft, because the shaft is cut with a notch for the bolt to be placed through which is how the bolt retains the shifter lever from sliding off if the pinch fails.

There's a parts diagram illustration of that here:

Shift lever

I solved my shift lever problem. The metal is easy to bend side to side, so I straightened out both sections and rotated it to raise the toe part. Now the heel is out of the way but available if desired and my boot fits under the toe part. This really increased my riding pleasure.

hondatrail125.com

Good luck and take your time with it as to not break that bolt.

 

[RedRyder]

Get a flashlight and/or use a camera to get a visual on where the bolt is positioned on the underside of the gearshift lever assembly. The gearshift lever is a split design that pinches together on the splined shaft. The left half, where the bolt is likely positioned, is not threaded and the bolt slides right through. The right half, is threaded. If the bolt is turning freely it's likely (and hopefully) not made it into the threads on the right half of the pinch assembly. I would try pulling the bolt straight out while gently wiggling the shifter pedal up and down. That bolt also does not look like the OEM part as it has a flange. I don't recall the original or the replacement shifter on my 2021 having a flange bolt, though the 2023 foldaway shifter (which doesn't fit pre-2023 models) did have a flange on it. Personally I'd take it off the bike, do a dry run and make sure the bolt threads in well and gets some pinching action in, then try again with it mounted. There is also an optimal depth you want the gearshift positioned at on the shift shaft, because the shaft is cut with a notch for the bolt to be placed through which is how the bolt retains the shifter lever from sliding off if the pinch fails.

Good luck and take your time with it as to not break that bolt.

You're right about the bolt. It's one that the parts guy added when he saw I hadn't ordered a bolt. I still have the OEM bolt, so I will go back to that. We'll see how it goes.

 

[RedRyder]

You're right about the bolt. It's one that the parts guy added when he saw I hadn't ordered a bolt. I still have the OEM bolt, so I will go back to that. We'll see how it goes.

Well, it's gone poorly. I've spent the better part of an hour trying to back that bolt out, and I cannot. I've used a box wrench on it, no luck. I've put vise grips on the head of the bolt and attempted to wiggle and pull - no luck. The clutch pedal doesn't move forward or back . As far as I can tell, the bolt has not lined up with the threaded part of the gear lever assembly. The clutch pedal has some play, but it does not move forward or backward. I'll have to try getting the whole peg assembly out of the way to see if I can get more room to work. Any other suggestions still welcome.

 

[RedRyder]

OK so I have given up for the day. I took the four bolts off from the peg assembly so I could drop the foot peg down and out of the way a bit more. I took a small screwdriver and inserted it on the opposite side of the bolt, and attempted to bang the bolt out from the rear. No luck. I tried to pry the split opening a bit wider with a flat edge screwdriver - no luck. I do not know where that bolt is stuck or how it's stuck. But I have managed to get it to a position where I can't get it out, nor tighten it in, and so I can't reposition the clutch pedal to get it to the right place. I do not know what's next to do. I'm pretty frustrated. Just more evidence of how inept I am with tools.

 

[dmonkey]

That does sound frustrating, it's a tight spot. If you're able to turn the bolt anticlockwise (loose) while pulling on the head that might help to get it out if it's hung up on something other than the threads from the right half. The idea with a camera, or a mirror, is that if you look in the pinch gap from the underside of the bike you may be able to see if the bolt has made it past the left half (unthreaded), into the pinch gap, or beyond it into the threaded right half. Hopefully taking a break and returning to it with a fresh set of eyes helps. Some oil or penetrating fluid might help out if it is hung up on something, could always clean it once you get the part off.

 

[Shoot870p]

That’s a bad situation for sure. Good luck!

 

[RedRyder]

Glad to report a small victory! I figured I had nothing to lose, so this morning I decided to try to whack the bolt out from the rear side and not be gentle about it. After about three very vigorous whacks, the bolt came flying out! I installed the clutch lever using the OEM bolt, being careful to place the level on the spindle so that the bolt passed through underneath the smooth edge of the clutch spindle. I discovered you should not push the clutch pedal in all the way on the spindle. There seems to be a position where the bolt slides under and a little bit of the spindle's serrated section still is visible in the rear. I could not, however, replace the footpeg using the spring. For reasons I do not yet comprehend, the bolt will not line up with the holes if I attempt to use the spring. Without the spring in place, the bolt lines up no problem. So I've left the spring out for the time being. I'll probably order another spring, but my greatest fear is that the entire footpeg assembly might need to be replaced in order to get everything working properly. Another day for that. Thanks for everyone's help.