Clutch Master Cylinder to Lever Assembly

[Prairiehammer]

Recently, I removed the clutch lever to clean and lube the various pivots and the clutch switch. As I removed the lever the pushrod fell out. I thought nothing of it and continued with the task at hand and reassembled everything with out any issues. Later, while reading another member's thread about the clutch operation, someone mentioned that the push rod will remain in the master cylinder bore. Mine fell out, so I became curious as to why my push rod literally jumped out of the master cylinder as I removed the lever.

 

I looked in the parts diagram to observe the correct assembly of the push rod and noted that none of the diagrams show a spring on the push rod, yet my assembly had a compression spring installed on the longer shank of the push rod. This spring acts to keep the push rod against the brass bushing and apparently keeps the lever pushed out away from the grip. Perhaps it also ensures that the switch plunger is properly depressed while riding, thereby ensuring the cruise control functions properly.

 

It seems obvious now that the spring is a work around for some deficiency in the clutch lever assembly.

 

How deep is the hole in the brass bushing supposed to be? If the push rod receiving hole in the bushing is worn deeper than new, then the push rod will lose some of it's effective travel and the lever will not be pushed forward enough to depress the cruise control switch. The spring that is installed would act to take up this slack, maintaining proper switch contact.

 

The cruise control works and I have not had any issues with it inappropriately disengaging.

 

My question: should I leave the spring installed?

[mbrood]

As you can see, inside, before the mater piston is a spring, and within the dust boot is your spring for full return of the lever...

 

http://www.bergall.org/temp/venture/clutch-master.jpg

[skydoc_17]

Hey Kevin,

With time, that return spring gets a bit "tired". I myself have stretched that spring a bit to guaranty that the clutch lever returns to the fully disengaged position. This will make the push rod "jump out" of its position when the lever is removed.

Earl

[Prairiehammer]

I appreciate the responses. I see that I failed to note in my OP that the spring came out with the pushrod.

 

Yes, Mike, I saw that spring BEHIND the dust boot, but in my case it was OUTSIDE the boot.

 

So Earl, should the SPRING jump out too? Should it not be captured by the dust boot?

Edited November 12, 2013 by Prairiehammer