clutch is out... PP pics inside--->

[NotSoSlowSHO]

Since I have had my SHO it has had a somewhat stiff clutch. Until recently I had not even paid much attention to is as I am used to heavy clutches, all of the other rigs I drive are trucks.

But recently my clutch went to snot. VERY quickly. Within a week of driving (about 50 miles) my clutch went from moderately stiff, to very stiff, notchy, and with a decent vibration when depressed. The disc never slipped, always held hard and strong. I could romp on the car all I wanted once the clutch was engaged, and no slippage.

But shifting was tricky

Pics:

Notice that EXACTLY half of the PP fingers are gone (red). And look at the secondary wear futher out on the fingers (blue)

And the disc... not severely worn, a bit left on it actually. But it was worn very evenly and no clutch chatter was ever felt:

 

[Bizzy]

I bet shifting was tricky, I know mine was next to impossible with only 3 broken fingers. Glad you're getting everything fixed up, it will be a much appreciated difference I'm sure. thumb

Will you be installing a stock clutch kit this time around or no?

<small>[ January 15, 2004, 08:51 AM: Message edited by: Bizzy ]</small>

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

Yes, stock Valeo (?) pressure plate and disc. But with a SHONUT ceramic TOB, and stock flywheel.

I was considering going with a lightweight flywheel, and a more grabby clutch, but this is too much of a daily driver. So it will remain 'mild' for now wink

And yes, shifting was getting very tricky. As I said, it got progressively worse, very fast. By the time I got it to my friends house (Im using her garage for the job) I was having to rev-match almost every shift and my left leg was getting a serious workout with that clutch lol

<small>[ January 15, 2004, 10:53 AM: Message edited by: NotSoSlowSHO ]</small>

 

[fricker66]

That sounds awfully similar to my situation last November/December. Shifting was next to impossible! Upon disassembly, Steve and I found the fingers on the pp to be intact but the TOB had worn quite the groove on the input shaft. Can't believe the difference with the new clutch. It finally drives like a 5 speed should. BTW, I installed the same setup and have been very happy so far.

 

[sdpatt]

Familiar results. The outer wear indicated by the blue line is from contact with the outer edge of the throwout bearing. The clutch was probably a bit noisy when the pedal was depressed. Like Beth, I replaced mine after only three PP fingers were damaged. I had felt the "snap" of each one through the clutch pedal.

I believe that this wear is due to slippage at the PP/TOB interface caused by insufficient contact pressure. This can be caused by not adjusting the clutch cable tension frequently enough. The owner's manual specifies to lift up on the clutch pedal every 5,000 miles.

From what I have seen, a lower mileage interval would be more appropriate. How about every oil change or even more frequently? If you lift the pedal and no adjustment is required, nothing happens. If you don't do it often enough, the results are in the pictures.

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

Yes Scott, I did have some rattle noises with the clutch released, and a slight grinding (metal on metal) when depressed. I also felt a finger or two get 'snapped' off during depressing the clutch on one or more occasions.

FYI, I was quite religious about properly tensioning the clutch cable. Probably twice every tank of gas. But I have no idea as to how much damage was done to the PP when i pickup up the car.

shrug

also, according to records, this clutch has 58k on it. I had have put 18k on it.

The good news is this is exactly what I expected... no suprises so far thumb

 

[Zap]

I'm curious if you could add further to the prevention of this problem... There is a slight bearing noise on the '94 which has a very new clutch (going on about 5000 miles now). I have tried adjusting the pedal, but it does not appear to be clicking. The past failure of the previous OEM clutch that was in there when the car was acquired was similar where the tips of some of the fingers were broken off.

I saw before that there is a way to "reset" the quadrant and readjust it by the pull & click method. I don't want to cause any problems by doing this, but would this be suggested? I don't want to have to replace the wonderful SHONut clutch any time in the near future because of a small problem! (I know when the clutch in the '95 was failing with slipping disc, I could adjust the pedal and it became very heavy... and it always was a lot heavier than the '94, even with this similar failure...)

 

[Bizzy]

Just as a side note, it's refreshing to read a post where problems were known and expected and handled with an upbeat attitude. thumb

 

[SHODOGG]

hah, thats probably what happened to my old 91 SHO. You literally had to force it into every gear as you drove. Wasn't as bad when you were moving as when you were at a stop, but either way it was pretty ridiculous. Drove it like that for close to a year too headbang

 

[CheckerSHO]

The clutch was extremely hard to press on my beater(now parts car) 90...had been like that since i got the car and never thought much of it...when i pulled the drivetrain out this weekend it was missing about half the pp fingers