Clutch or throwout bearing?

[rktmn]

I just pulled the clutch, and it is worn out. I have never worn out a clutch in 30,000 miles before.

The Fidanza flywheel surface is ingreat shape. I sanded it down with a 1200 grit sandpaper, and took off the stains. I will reuse it again.

I don't know which clutch to buy now. I would like something stronger than stock, but I would like it to last longer than the SPEC Level II.



Jose

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

Jose, I might have missed it...

But have you aver replaced the TOB FORK?

 

[rktmn]

no, I haven't.

I will take a close look at the fork.

Jose

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

I strongly suggest you replace it. They do wear, right where they contact the TOB.

Replace it, along with the clutch fork bushings (as already suggested)

Combine that with a SHOnut ceramic TOB, and the clutch of your choice, and you should be back in business.

 

[angloman]

So the tob is to be lightly contacting the clutch fingers all the time. I just had to replace my clutch in my 94 sho because the tob got so hot that it melted all the plastic and turned the ball bearings blue and ruined the clutch fingers. After replacing everything I checked the free play on the throw out lever and it was so tight I couldn't move it at all. This seems to be to tight way to much presure.

 

[angloman]

So the tob is to be lightly contacting the clutch fingers all the time. I just had to replace my clutch in my 94 sho because the tob got so hot that it melted all the plastic and turned the ball bearings blue and ruined the clutch fingers. After replacing everything I checked the free play on the throw out lever and it was so tight I couldn't move it at all. This seems to be to tight way to much presure.

 

[rktmn]

I replaced the TOB (with the ceramic), made a new set of steel fork bushings with tight tolerances and lubricated them. The aluminum bushings were worn out and loose. The forks had some wear marks, so I cleaned those out.

I cleaned up the Fidanza flywheel with a light sandpaper, and checked the run out. It had no distortion or heat marks, and it cleaned up very easily.

I installed a Clutchmasters organic clutch and put everything back together.

The clutch engagement is still very high on the pedal travel. The Clutchmasters was very grabby at first, but now it is smoother.

I do not like the high engagement, but I can deal with it. I have an extra clutch pedal which I plan to replace as soon as I get a chance, and will probably replace the cable also.

I guess that the TOB has to be in contact with the clutch fingers even when the pedal is all the way out, but I get the impression that there is too much pressure, and that is why the clutch disengages so early on the pedal travel.

I do not know what could be causing this, because it there is any wear on the clutch forks, there should be less pressure on the fingers and the engagement should be closer to the firewall rather that at the end of the pedal travel.

The adjustable quadrant on the pedal should take up the slack on the cable as it stretches or as the clutch lining wears out, but once it takes the slack out, I do not see how it could influence the height of the actual engament.

When I originaly made the ATX/MTX conversion, the clutch started engaging about 1 inch from the floorboard. I definitly prefer for it to engage lower on the pedal travel.

Other than that, the clutch pedal is very smooth and softer than my original SPEC level II kevlar clutch. I liked the SPEC, but it only lasted 30,000 miles, and I never abused it, so I was disappointed in it's short life.


Jose

 

[1bad98SHO]

Try this. mash the clutch pedal to the floor. Now sidestep the clutch and let it release itself as fast as possible. This should adjust the cable properly.

 

[AREA 91]

The MTX uses a constant running TOB. It's alway's in contact with the pressure plate fingers going around and around (like a record baby) round, round, round, round.

I am more concerned about the un even finger wear. I am wondering why the TOB looks like it wan't centered on the fingers.
As sugguested, I would look at the TOB fork. I have seen where the fork is worn more on one side than the other.

 

[rktmn]

I took a goog look at the fork when I pulled it out, and the wear on it was very slight. I did not see any distortion o the fingers. The fork is very stout. I can not see how it could bend. But you are right, the old TOB seemed not to be centered on the clutch fingers.

Jose

 

[Sho Amo]

i had the same feeling with my cm1. it had a very high engagement.

Jose, try making a small spacer to put where the cable contacts the trans before it gets to the fork.

 

[SHO92]

I had the same thing happen with my last clutch, with the TOB wear being off center.

I replaced the clutch fork, TOB, and pivot bushings, along with the clutch disk, pressure plate and flywheel(installed a Fidanza). Since then though, I've always felt the clutch engaged too high. It engages so high that it's very easy to slip the clutch accidentally from a stop. I have a new clutch cable to install, but I've been holding off since I barely put 1000 miles on the car per year. The effort of the pedal also changes sometimes. It will be very easy, like a brand new clutch, but as the car is used throughout the day and heats up, the effort increases. Put the car away for the night and drive it the next day, and it's light as a feather again. This doesn't happen every time though!

I also noticed that the TOB tang(that the alignment pin goes through) had actually worn into the side of the fork. It appeared to have been rotating and hitting the fork, probably during the motion of engaging/disengaging. This was the main reason for replacing the fork.

When I finally do replace the clutch, I'll be interested to see how this clutch has worn.

 

[rktmn]

Sho Amo, I did make a spacer (about 3/8" thick) for the clutch cable and fitted it at the transmission end, but the moment the pedal took up the cable slack it made up for it, and it felt exacly the same as before.

If the forks were worn of bent away from the clutch, the clutch engagement should move further down the pedal travel. The only direction any distorsion or wear at the fork, would cause the fork to move away from the clutch taking the pressure away from it. You would need more pedal travel to disengage it.

If the fork was bent into the clutch, it would disenage earlier at the pedal travel, or not allow the clutch to engage full contact with the flywheel.

Anyway, my clutch is broken in now, so I am begining to drive my car a bit harder, and so far it has not slipped, but I still do not like the clutch engagement so high.

My 5.0 Bronco II truck has an adjustable hydraulic clutch piston, and I can set it to wherever I want it to engage and disengage, and my last clutch lasted 10 years.

 

[angloman]

The throw out fork is in excellant shape the throw out fork linkage bushings are a no1 and the old throw out bearing was centered on the pressure plate fingers. I tryed lifting the pedal but there still seemed to be to much pressure on the tob. It dissengauges as soon as I depress the clutch pedal. It dosen't engauge untill it is just about at the top of the pedal travel. This dosn't feel right. I can't move the throw fork linkage where the cable connects on top of the trany. Would a ceramic tob take the heat and pressure better?

 

[angloman]

I had the same problem with clutch adj. I pulled the cable off the clutch fork linkage and put a strong spring between the trans housing and the clutch fork linkage over the top of the cable. Then I placed a 6 inch bolt between the dash and the clutch pedal on top of the pedal of course. This was done to disable the auto adj. I then took a screw driver and manually adj the clutch by pushing on the ratcheting paw in the pedal assembly while having another person look through the starter hole with a mirror. The starter was removed so I could see that the tob was just touching the clutch fingers. This worked out perfectly. The pedal engages 2 inches off the floor and has free play at the top of the pedal travel. If the clutch linkage needs adj I just take the screw driver and push the adj paw to tighten up the clutch. This of course has made it a manual adj clutch linkage.

 

[angloman]

I had the same problem. I took a strong spring that just slipped over the clutch cable between the trans case where the cable anchors and the tob arm linkage then hooked the cable back up to the throw out arm. I then placed a 6 inch bolt from the dash to the top of the clutch pedal arm to disable the auto clutch adjuster. I used a screwdriver to move the auto adjuster in the clutch pedal to get the proper adjustment. To do this I removed the starter so I could look at the tob with a mirror. I adjusted it so it had a little clearance from the clutch fingers. It has performed flawlessly. The clutch starts to engage about 2 inches from the floor and has about an inch of free play at the top.