anyone knowledgable about 82-85 suzuki gs450s?

i have a old suzuki gs450 bobber that is having some issues grabbing the gears it seems. it works most of the time but every now and again i have to sort of double clutch it so it grabs the gear. doesnt really seem like a tranny issue it seems more like a clutch cable issue i have adjusted it and it seems like its either really hard to pull, like so hard it hurts my hand holding it for 30 seconds, but grabs or too soft and wont grab. any suggestions? there is an adjustment screw on the side of the tranny under an access cover anyone know what this is for? help?

 

the adjustment screw is where the cable hooks up should have a phillips screw head and a nut under it adjust your cable kind of in the middle. then loosen the nut the screw will control the slack in the cable. lower left picture. You want about 1/4 inch of slack in the cable. You can check this by applying a little pressure to the clutch . When you screw it it you will feel the lever start pulling out. You can fine tune it with the cable adjuster. Also lube your cable and check the routing for sharp bends

 

dude, you made my day! thanks a ton! one last question tho, what would you recommend lubing the cable with?

 

light motor oil some people use atf also

 

ok so its been a couple months with the cable working fine and going through the gears ok. the other day it jumped out of gear and came to a screaching hault while driving down the road, i quickly messed with the cable adjustment and limped it home after it acting quite funny for a minute by not wanting to go into gear. then it seemed to work ok, i adjusted the cable again and test drove for a little bit and it works good now, but my question is how far down does the adjustment screw on the side of the tranny need to be screwed down?

 

Did you take the side engine cover off to check the condition of the little spiral bearing? My old 550 had chewed it up pretty good with road grime. I had to adjust it constantly to the point where the clutch lever was like those old spring loaded exercise grips.

 

Take a look at the fiche for your bike: http://www.suzukipartshouse.com/

The part Mac is talking about is called "screw, release assembly" and you'll find it listed under "CLUTCH."

If flushing it out reaallly well and re-lubricating doesn't fix it, you might need to replace it.