Clutch throwout out of position

I have a strange story here and would like someone who has been inside the clutch on these things, 14 Hyperstrada, to explain it to me. I am a licensed Aircraft mechanic so don't think I am terribly stupid.

I changed the clutch lever like I have done a 100 times before on cable actuated clutche. I loosened the cable, pulled it out of the lever adjuster and lever, Replaced the lever and the cable would not go back in. It had retracted back into the cable housing and was not coming back out.

Going down to the actuating arm it was pointing straight forward and completely locked up. Normally you can at least move it by hand to take up the slack. Thus having no more time to mess with it off to the dealer it goes.

They have told me that the clutch throwout arm has rotated 180 degrees and that some bearing inside has been pushed out of position thus locking the clutch throwout mechanism.

What I am trying to determine and understand is how could/did this happen?

When releasing tension on the cable on this particular clutch must you actually tie the release lever back with wire or a ty-wrap ? I have seen many posts on people changing the clutch lever with no issues, as I have done many times before.

The parts diagrams for reference.





So educate me on how the throwout arm could rotate out of position enough to lock it up just by releasing the cable and what the proper procedure should have been for releasing cable tension in order to replace a lever.

Marc

I was thinking it was very odd also. I wonder if there was something out of position when it left the factory ? It worked great however so I doubt it.

If I screw up I just want to know why so I won't do it again. This may not be the last time I change a clutch lever or cable on this beast.

Marc

Found this nifty cutaway picture today and I think it shows how the clutch arm actually fits on the release pin. All I can think of is the if the arm gets rotated counter clockwise enough it could come off the pin and then hang up. I still can't wrap my head around how it happened however. Several people have reported releasing the cable with no ill effects. BTW: my clutch arm is pointing about 90 degrees clockwise from the one in the picture.



The mystery may stay unsolved but I will find out this coming weekend.

Marc