Clutch Lever Repair On The Scrambler

Back in 2012, I broke the clutch lever on the Scrambler, while riding on a trail which really was beyond the abilities of either the bike or myself. (On that same ride, also broke the two front pegs, the shift lever and my foot, in the midst of 7 separate crashes!)

Rather than buy the rather expensive factory replacement for the lever, I ordered some CNC machined levers for the bike, from an eBay seller. I noticed, as I installed the levers, that the pivot hole on the clutch lever was larger in diameter than the bolt which ran through it. After installation, it worked fine, so I forgot about it.

Five years and 20,000 miles later, I noticed that the play in the lever seemed to be increasing. Today, I removed the lever and checked the pivot. Sure enough, the steel bolt was wearing into the softer aluminum of the lever.

So, I looked through the shop building and found an old Suntour cantilever brake arm with a steel bushing in the pivot arm. I pressed it out, and test-fitted it to the lever. It was slightly oversize, so I cut a slot in it with my Dremel, compressed it with a pair of pliers, and got it started into the pivot hole of the lever. Once started, it installed easily with a couple of gentle taps with a hammer.

You can see the gap between the steel and aluminum, where the wear was occurring. The bushing should prevent any further wear.

It's the small victories that make life worth living.

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