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Old June 29th, 2011, 12:36 AM   #1
NathanF
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DIY - Fixing The Buzzing/Rattling Clutch Lever

If you've got a weird buzzing / rattling sound that occurs during the higher RPMs, next time it happens, grab your clutch lever and see if it stops. If it does, you've got the classic rattling clutch lever.

Here's how I fixed mine:

1) Tighten your adjustment screw all the way in so that the gab in both the adjuster and lock screw line up, then remove the clutch cable.

2) With the lever now swinging in the breeze, use a socket to unscrew and remove the pivot bolt, then remove the lever. (Note: It's a bit tight, but I did NOT have to remove the blinker / horn / choke assembly to get the lever out.)



3) Cut some spacers from plastic. I used some plastic from some thin clamshell packaging I had lying around, the kind that pretty much everything you buy comes in nowadays. (If you're curious, the plastic I used was .011" thick according to my digital calipers.)

To make them, I put a square of plastic between two pieces of wood then used a 5/16 drill bit to drill a hole. After that, I cut a circle by hand around them. Here's a pic with them next to the removed bolt:



4) Reinstall the lever with the spacers you've created on the top and the bottom. It takes a while to get them in and centered, but it's no big deal.

5) Test to make sure the clutch lever engages freely without any binding.

That's it! The lever will still wiggle a bit up and down like before, but the buzz should be gone. You could potentially use more spacers or thicker plastic to eliminate the wiggle entirely, but it won't really accomplish anything and could possibly cause a bind. As it stands now with the above spacers, my clutch feels 100 percent the same as before, minus the buzz.
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Old June 29th, 2011, 12:44 AM   #2
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Good job on the DIY.


As a caution to others that want to fix their buzzing clutch lever by simply tightening the bottom nut extra tight... don't do that. You will strip the threads on the clutch pivot pin as the locking nut bottoms out on the pivot sleeve instead of making your clutch lever tighter.
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Old June 29th, 2011, 06:11 AM   #3
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Old June 29th, 2011, 07:15 AM   #4
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I really need to do this on my bike.

Thanks for the DIY.
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Old June 29th, 2011, 08:08 AM   #5
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I like it. . You could also get away with using some nylon washers found at your local lowe's or other hardware store.
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Old June 29th, 2011, 02:30 PM   #6
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Awesome! Thanks!
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Old June 29th, 2011, 02:44 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CThunder-blue View Post
I like it. . You could also get away with using some nylon washers found at your local lowe's or other hardware store.
Using premade nylon shims/spacers would be the way to go, but I would be dubious that Lowes would have them. .011" is pretty damn thin. Even .022" if you were going to use just one is pretty damn thin. McMaster-Carr would definitely have them, but finding them locally might be a real challenge and/or impossible.

If someone does find them cheaply, let us know! Meanwhile, I'll have a look next time I'm at the hardware store.
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Old June 29th, 2011, 03:18 PM   #8
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You'd be surprised if you check their section of hard to find hardware. I've found some cool things in there. They even have automotive body clips in there.
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Old July 2nd, 2011, 09:59 PM   #9
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Thumbs up

Nice! My clutch lever had a lot of vertical slop, but no buzzing nor noise, so I tried this.

I made one washer-like shim out of one of those fake plastic credit cards you get in the mail, and I filed it down to make it a little thinner. Using two made from that material would have been too much.

I put my one shim on the top side of the lever and below the lever holder.

It was a little tedious to get everything in and centered, but it made a big difference. I

It feels solid now with very little vertical slop, and it still moves smoothly.

Thanks!
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Old August 11th, 2011, 01:32 AM   #10
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Just an update:

A few weeks after this fix, my plastic spacers wore down and it started buzzing again. Not nearly as bad as originally, but enough to annoy me.

I went to a hobby shop and bought a $3 square of thin aluminum, I believe it was 0.030" but it might have been one size down from that. Anyway, created one spacer from it using the same steps as above and it's fixed again.
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Old August 11th, 2011, 07:37 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kkim View Post
Good job on the DIY.


As a caution to others that want to fix their buzzing clutch lever by simply tightening the bottom nut extra tight... don't do that. You will strip the threads on the clutch pivot pin as the locking nut bottoms out on the pivot sleeve instead of making your clutch lever tighter.
OR, if you manage not to strip the threads, you may find yourself letting the clutch out and the bike not moving, not moving, not moving, and then BAM! Clutch drop because the lever was pinched but eventually let go, engaging the clutch.
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Old November 8th, 2011, 06:44 PM   #12
5evenz
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Lose clutch?

I threw on some ride it levers and my clutch has a lot more movement/play while fully out. it does not rattle vertically like the problem described here but rather horizontally. how can this be fixed?

Link to original page on YouTube.

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Old May 5th, 2016, 05:19 PM   #13
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An example of reading the fine print. Must have been down the DIY list 100 times and never saw this topic. Good results and super easy.

FWIW, I used nylon washers from my hardware store. They were way to thick. I used a Dremel to hone them down to workable. Only used one. I'm not sure how much wear and tear they get, but it only took a few minutes and the lever's vertical slop is all but gone. No binding on the lever. Smooth. Also the nylon washers were a perfect fit both ID and OD.
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