Barnett clutch for Honda VT750DC

Does anyone have any experience with Barnett clutches in a Honda Shadow
Spirit 750. This is a 2002. After I made the purchase on line, I was told
by the local Honda dealership that Barnet clutches are not good for this
application. I cannot understand because I understood from numerous people
that Barnett clutches are very good.

I am changing out the clutch because is has begun to slip when power if
fully applied. It did not do this until after I had a 9k mile oil change
and Castrol non-synthetic was used in lieu of the Mobil 1 I had been using.
The Castrol was changed out immediately the same days the oil was changed
with only about 30 miles on the bike before the change. Clutch starting
slipping after that happened.

I have purchased 7 A friction discs, 1 B friction disc, 7 plates and 1
spring set. Barnett told me to soak the plates in oil for a couple of days
for the best results. I am also going to use Amsoil motorcycle oil (and K &
N oil filter) in lieu of the Mobil 1 racing synthetic I had been using.

Any information will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Bill

 

The local Honda dealership here absolutely does not sell any aftermarket
parts that are duplicated by Honda parts. For example, a Fram oil filter
for my CB750 costs $3.89 at the local Walmart, but at the dealership
they only sell the Honda branded filter for $8.50 which is absolutely
identical in construction (in fact the Fram filter has more pleats in it,
thus more filter media so the filter has lower flow resistance) This isn't
a spin-on filter so Fram can't get away with cardboard end caps or any of
that nonsense they do to car filters.

I don't know why the dealership does this because they could buy the
filters, at retail, mark them up an obscene 100% and still come in under
cost from the Honda filter, and probably make more money on them.
But, they do. I strongly suspect some kind of internal corporate thing
that Honda corporation requires it's dealerships to adhere to.

Your probably being told that by the dealership for similar reasons. In
any case, since when do you go asking a dealership for advice about
parts they don't carry? Do you really expect them to say "Oh yeah, please
go down the street to our competitor and buy parts from them, they
are just as good as our parts"

One thing I've learned over the years is that dealership parts guys
advice is not reliable. Sometimes they know what they are talking about
but just as many times they don't, and when they don't they are really
wrong.

How many miles are on this engine? My guess is the clutch was just
about worn out, and the oil change thing really had little to do with
it. You will know when you get the old parts out and can examine them,
since you bought the new parts already, why are you wasting time
speculating? Unless they put the wrong filter on and the engine was
running dry, on no oiling.

Lots of people make the mistake about drawing conclusions from
unrealted events.

As long as your using their standard 10W-40 that is API rated
and should be fine. You need to be very careful with Amsoil
products, a number of their oils ARE NOT api rated and those
should NEVER be used.

I personally DO NOT USE synthetic oil. I buy whatever 10W-40
oil is on sale. Right now I'm working through some cases of Union 76
10W-40 that I bought 2 months ago for .97 cents a quart.

The K&N filter is a good filter but I think it's way overpriced. I
usually buy Purlator oil filters for the car, I would never buy a
spin-on filter from Fram. I use the Fram filters for the bikes because
they are open construction filters.

Ted