clutch judder

[pcoleman]

Hi all, next job is going to be a clutch change due to excessive judder when hot and using the clutch a lot in queues at shows etc is getting very difficult.

so questions are, wheres the best clutch stuff available from for all 3 bits (more interested in quality than cheapness)

is the judder likely to be caused by an oil leak and if so should I buy new oil seals in readiness.

I don't intend doing the work myself as it's too heavy and I don't have decent facilities for underneath access,done this once before on a triumph 2000,never again!!

regards. peter

[Rubce]

Hi Peter

I can recommend the modified clutch kit supplied by Paddocks.

Regards

Bruce

[torque2me]

Pete,

Don't forget that judder can also be caused by the release fork side of things - fork, slipper shoes and the pin.

Yes, oil on the plate is a classic cause of shudder/judder. Not only can the plate be contaminated with oil from the gearbox input oil shaft seal, it can also come from the rear oil seal on the crankshaft. The most common way I have seen is oil leaking from the rear of the engine and then between the mating surfaces of engine/gearbox. The oil invariably originates from the rear of the cam covers.

Hi all, next job is going to be a clutch change due to excessive judder when hot and using the clutch a lot in queues at shows etc is getting very difficult.

so questions are, wheres the best clutch stuff available from for all 3 bits (more interested in quality than cheapness)

is the judder likely to be caused by an oil leak and if so should I buy new oil seals in readiness.

I don't intend doing the work myself as it's too heavy and I don't have decent facilities for underneath access,done this once before on a triumph 2000,never again!!

regards. peter

Did the clutch on a 2.5, many, many moons ago, and swore never to do one again. As fate would have it another 2.5 came into my ownership and which eventually started to suffer from slipping. Remembering the earlier effort I went around a couple of specialist clutch companies (well known at the time) advertising a price something like £99 (early 1980's price). The response was "Sorry mate we don't touch those. It's a two man job which takes all day". So, whilst I had foresworn never again I had to. But I never had a clutch alignment tool (nicked when my entire tool kit was appropriated by the criminal element). "Never mind" I said, I'll use a length of brush handle (pole) and whittle one end to the 'appropriate' contour. Adjust clutch with specialised tool, gearbox under car, me under car, gearbox on chest, offer gearbox shaft to clutch - no go. Juggle about until oxygen in blood runs out. Gearbox back on floor, re-ajust clutch with special tool. Continue as before until no more oxygen. Repeat until finally I couldn't get the gearbox of my chest (nice light alloy housing but that o/d is heavy). Eventually, during panic attacks, got this humungous weight of my chest. Bought Williams clutch alignment tool, and repeated procedures. Successful, but never again. Guess what? My clutch in my 2.5 is giving difficulty in gear changing - especially in reverse. I highly susspect a broken pin but I won't know for sure until I take this box out...............aaarrrrgggghhhhhhh!


Kev

[richardthestag]

i had sticky clutch which i found to be crap in the splines. cleaned thoroughly using a jewellers screwdriver to work right into the groves of each spline. Got it so clean that the bare clutch plate on the gearbox splines would slide up and down with air pressure from my dust buster.

Next I replaced the carrier and fork, both were knackered. I did make the mistake of hammering a new roll pin into the new carrier and found that it is made of butter. I used a spanner to widen the grove so that the fork pins moved smoothly around the entire circumference of the carrier.

Check the bearings on the cross shaft, mine were fine but it looks like they need pressing in.

New paddocks plate, pressure plate and bearing were fitted. All of my clutch cover bolts showed unhealthy signs of bottoming out, so I ground off 2 mm from the end of each bolt. Use a decent alignment tool and get the clutch and cover fitted. Lube up the gearbox nose and carrier with copperease,

Simply refit the gearbox to the back of the engine. 1st make sure it is in gear, 1st or reverse would do.

If the engine is still in the car i put some timber across the t-bar, and lowered a pulley set and rope around the gearbox through the gearstick hole. This lifted it into roughly the right place, I used a trolley jack and brute force to align the gearbox input, when it felt close I rotated the gearbox output shaft and the ******* went straight on. Done it twice like this and maybe i was lucky.

Make sure you use the dowel bolts in the right holes on the bell housing, there are two of them 9/16th heads iirc.

Fit the speedo cable and right angle drive before the cross member and note that the cross member is directional.

Cushty

Whole job was probably a day on my own, i have hydraulic ramps which were incredibly useful.

My clutch is now 99% smooth and judderfree. However occasionally it does judder. Normally when crawling across a showfield when hot. I give it some beans and slip the clutch a little and order is restored again.

edited to add
i think when the clutch is fully engaged in 1st gear and at just above idle to stop it from stalling the car is rolling at 10mph. i found this out on a very frustrating and uncomfortable trip up the m20 when there were roadworks. nearly 2h crawling at 5mph was not fun.

[jleyton]

Also worth considering the special clutch bolts from LDparts.

Cheers

Julian

[new to this]

peter

when fitting a new clutch, it mite be a good idea to have the flywheel skimmed as well, just because you said you had excessive judder

dave

[Rubce]

And whilst your at it, try and source a long nose bearing carrier if it doesn't already have one fitted.

Bruce

[dasadrew]

Also worth considering the special clutch bolts from LDparts.

Cheers

Julian

He can have mine! I bought them but they were absolutely of no use. Maybe the bell housing got changed sometime, but the two alignmnet bolts on mine were at the top and not at the bottom. There was no way that the LD stud would fit into any of the holes at the bottom without having drilled them out. Once the 3/8" bolts are fitted at the 11h and 14h positions, that bellhousing isn't going anywhere even with a stud drifted in at the bottom. The bolt supplied was also 1cm too short for a nut to fit on it. As I have the utmost respect for Peter's parts (at LD), I can only assume that there are different bellhousings and adaptor rings going about.

[flying farmer]

As Dave says check the flywheel. I had atrocious judder on the Stag engined TR for years, couldn't see anything wrong with the clutch even after 70,000 miles of juddering but the flywheel had "burn" marks on it from a previous clutch failure.

I had to have 80 thou skimmed off it to fix it, but it was refitted with the same clutch and is now working perfectly in the Stag engined estate.

Neil

[pcoleman]

thanks chaps all good stuff. I think I'll go full dogs on the bits and get the full kit and release fork etc. whilst I'm still working and have access to a toolroom think I'll have the flywheel checked and skimmed if necessary.Not going to attempt it myself ( torque 2me's experience was same as mine !!) so I'll need to be prepared to avoid tying up garage lifts etc when she goes in.

many thanks. peter