Clutch change question

[TxRIIIRider]

I am about to replace the clutch plates/springs with Barnett replacments. 73K miles and I am having some clutch issues. My dumb question is.. do I need to drain the oil to do this? I'm just asking because it's a 'dry sump' and I know when I change oil, I get very little oil out of the front and rear drain plugs. The service manual doesn't mention draining the oil either, it just says to have a catch pan for any oil that may spill once the front cover is removed. I don't have 1K miles on this last oil change..

 

[Mittzy]

I am about to replace the clutch plates/springs with Barnett replacments. 73K miles and I am having some clutch issues. My dumb question is.. do I need to drain the oil to do this? I'm just asking because it's a 'dry sump' and I know when I change oil, I get very little oil out of the front and rear drain plugs. The service manual doesn't mention draining the oil either, it just says to have a catch pan for any oil that may spill once the front cover is removed. I don't have 1K miles on this last oil change..

I would assume you would need to drop the oil because it is a wet clutch but I could be wrong. If you only have 1k miles on the oil -I would put it back in making sure when you drain it that your sump is clean so that dirt does not get into the oil. You can also filter the oil through a cloth to be sure.

 

[ruzzle]

The manual is right, you won't lose much oil when the cover is removed, just have a drip tray under it to save a mess on the floor. Top up if necessary when done. Maybe half a drink can??

 

[TxRIIIRider]

Okay.. I'm on the way back together after clutch plate replacement. I hope to have time this weekend! Here is what I have learned so far.

Early Rockets do not have a drain plug to drain the coolant on the bottom of the water pump as shown in the manual. I already knew this, but was surprised to see it in the manual.

Drain the oil.. When you remove the water pump from the front of the engine, at least 3 quarts of oil will dump out. Luckily I had a good drain pan already in place.

Hopefully I can get her back together this weekend!

 

[TxRIIIRider]

Got the bike back together this morning and went for a nice ride ro get a current inspection sticker. I used Harley Screamin' Eagle coolant and full syntetic oil, but they didn't seem to slow the bike down too much..lol. I do notice the Barnett clutch springs are quite a bit stiffer.

The bike is running awesome. I just have one problem left that started recently before replacing the clutch plates. The neutral light stays on in all gears. Sometimes it flickers.

 

[CanberraR3]

My gear position sensor was covered in oil and the housing had rusty water in it when mine was playing up. I gave it a good clean, pulled the little metal plunger thingy out and scrubbed it up with some steel wool and gave a little shirt of WD40 in the hole it goes in - you might want to pull the little spring out. Had no trouble since.

Might not be the same as mine was a bit different. Neutral light wouldn't come on at all ( so it wouldn't run with the stand down even in neutral) and my GIPro was showing 5th constantly. Could be worth a try though.

 

[TxRIIIRider]

Thanks.. I will check that out. It shifts fine otherwise.. Right now I was just glad to be able to get the bike out and ride.. get these new clutch plates broke in and hit triple digits a time or two..

 

[warp9.9]

I wished I could have known you were going to change the fibers I would have sent you some OEM ones just so you did not have to mess with them Barrnet POS fibers. I also would have recommended the MTC ones. But I am sure I have some great used ones that have hardly any miles on them. Stiffer springs are good. I hear as the Barnet fibers heat up they tend to drag whenyou putting it in gear and when your shifting. Just something I heard on these sites 125 buck for MTC one and Like I said anyone goes to change theirs let me know I will send you soem OEM ones for the price of shipping. I believe I even have a new rear one which has a different ID because of the anti judder spring and seat. Anyway not meaning to kick your work I have heard great things about other Barrnett products especailly their cables. Just passing on information I have gathered from the sites, and I suppose I should shut my mouth because I have never used them myself because of what I heard. Le tme know if I am wrong after you run them a while so I do not put my foot in my mouth again.

I also heard you can use some of the Busa fibers as long as you get the stack height right. I guess the busa has two different thickness fibers. Oh and I heard the Barnett steals are great just negative reports on the fibers.

 

[TOMCAT]

Replaced mine with Barnett plates and springs 12 months ago.. that ' hard clutch' will lessen as the miles go on... did with mine anyway.

 

[Rocket Scientist]

I would be interested to know how the Barnett fibers work out. I used to put them in all my bikes (like an arse I used to run automotive oil in my bikes, so ALL my clutches slipped). Every bike I used the Barnett fibers in had clutch drag. On my Honda 360 dirt bike it was so bad I had to just start it in gear (elec. start) and ride it around for a couple minutes with the clutch pulled in rattin' on and off the throttle until it let go. After that it was fine until it sat again. The others usually just stalled the engine the first time it was put in gear for the day and then worked ok after that. Just my experience.