850 clutch plate.

[htown16]

The 73 850 that I am rebuilding has the bronze clutch plates. l found a set of Barnette friction plates. Can I use the plain plates that are in there with the new friction plates?

 

[Ron L]

As long as they are in good condition, yes.

 

[Torontonian]

Yes .
But I'm considering going back to the original 850 bronze plates clutch.
Fiber plates are sticking a bit too much .

 

[ashman]

46 years of riding with my original clutch plates and over 160k mile on them why would I change now.

 

[Ron Hulton]

Yes .
But I'm considering going back to the original 850 bronze plates clutch.
Fiber plates are sticking a bit too much .

On my 1975 850 I was forever taking the bronze clutch plates out to clean as they constantly stuck. I replaced them with Surflex fibre plates and a new clutch center 20 years ago and added a extra steel filler plate . Nice smooth action and no sticking issues .

 

[ashman]

The only reason the bronze plates stuck was in the day motor oil was the reconmended lube for the primary, no wonder they kept slipping and stuck, I learn very quickly using light oil back in the late 70s to stop the clutch slipping and then using ATF F for my primary oil and never had any more problems with slipping or stuck clutch plates even to this day, even ran the bronze plates when I ran a belt drive and dry clutch for a few years, my clutch has always been light never had a heavy clutch from new easy one two finger operation if I wanted to.

 

[Stephen Hill]

Interesting that CNW does not recommend bronze clutch plates on their belt drives.

 

[ashman]

Interesting that CNW does not recommend bronze clutch plates on their belt drives.

Never had any problems with running the bronze plates with the belt the only problem was they bite a bit quicker, so had to get use to a quick bite of the plates and only had that problem when taking off in first, other than that the clutch worked great, I ran the RGM belt drive unit.

 

[gortnipper]

Interesting that CNW does not recommend bronze clutch plates on their belt drives.

cNw e-start conversion

Hi all, Another year is coming to an end. It has been almost 5 years since the cNw e-start was developed and made available. Sales have been really strong and I am very grateful to all those that have supported me and purchased these kits over the last several years I have held the price on...

www.accessnorton.com

 

[htown16]

I'll give the bronze plates a try. If not satisfied it doesn't require much teardown to replace them.

 

[chaztuna]

I'll give the bronze plates a try. If not satisfied it doesn't require much teardown to replace them.

Probably the best reason to use the Barnett clutch plates is the weight reduction. According to gortnipper, they weigh approximately 1/3 the bronze plates.


Barnett versus Bronze clutch plates

Anything you can do to reduce the weight hanging off the end of the gearbox main-shaft is a good thing.