Your cover got marks on it?    

yep, both the '96 and the '02 have them.

OK, where's Kropatchek when you need him?

The issue here is to keep the cam at the optimum angle for max disengagement of the clutch with the minimum lever force.

Here is what Verslagen and Toymaker and I talked about in the pool after the Dragon run -- our clutch plates don't really "wear out" when we think they are worn out, what really happens is they wear enough to move beyond the adjust ability of the pivot-push system you have just shown.  There is plenty of meat left on the plates that are being removed during a clutch plate change out.

The different rod lengths allow you to accommodate the stack up of the friction/steel plates as wear takes place.

The wrinkle we were talking about was keeping up with the stack as it gets thinner, then popping in another steel and another worn friction once the stack gets short enough.   This would create a "high performance" clutch pack, able to take modified motor torque outputs.

Another point that drives the discussion are reports of "very short clutch life" after replacing the plates -- once again accumulated wear in the entire lever/cable/pivot system causes you to quickly go outside the adjustment parameters of the pivot-push lever even though you have fresh plates that you just put in.

No one has ever worn their clutch plates to the service thickness limits given in the Clymers or shop manual.    Yet clutch slippage is reported frequently here on the list.

Verslagen was popping off about creating a pack of 6 rod lengths so a user could always be able to tune what he had for optimum clutch performance.  This could span beyond what Suzuki offers in extra rod lengths.

I think if you run out of cable adjustment, but the clutch doesn't slip, you might need a longer rod. If you run out of cable adjustment AND the clutch slips, then either the plates are worn, or the springs got weak. Putting slack in the cable will ensure that the clutch is gripping 100%, but you run into the problem if too much play, it won't disengage enough. The rod is usually relaxed when the clutch lever is relaxed. If the plates are worn a bit, you need to compensate with tightening the cable. If you run out of cable adjustment, and the clutch doesn't slip yet, you either have a stretched cable, or more likely need to put a longer rod in the clutch. Or even the cam has worn too much on that spot it keeps hitting the rod. On my cam, there was a little identation where the rod touches, but I don't know if it comes from the factory like that.

Digger wrote on 07/15/09 at 21:47:45:

Ok, item 22 has 3 versions. So most certainly this is what needs to be changed.  And one wonders why if the lengths are not specified, why aren't they packaged together?

A lesson in engineering tolerancing.  There's an easy way and the right way to tolerance a stack up of several parts.  The easy way... nominal ± 0.002"  except when you make parts you like to make them in a way that has a little forgiveness to the method of manufacture.  It's easier to remove metal than to put it back on.  So you tolerance it +.001/-.003" your target is zero.

So how do you apply this to those 2 lines?  More metal is going to push the lever towards the bottom.  Less metal and the lever will rise.  So I would shoot for the bottom quarter mark as being optimum.  But that's being anal to a BMW level.  Get the b'tard between the marks and ride