Clutch : it drives you to drink.

[Chris810]

Just to get up to speed , I have fitted a new clutch, new HD thrust release bearing, new bearing carrier ( broke the old one), skimmed the flywheel, fitted a new spigot end bush, new slave cylinder , new master cylinder and a braided pipe between the two, also fitted a new clutch operating rod then refitted the gearbox using the locating bolt as advised. All this in an attempt to cure the juddering clutch which I have put up with for many years, took the car to work today lots of vibration at motorway speeds and a gradually failing clutch with the result that at the end of a 39 mile drive I had no clutch at all, drove it home looked underneath could see nothing wrong bled clutch again no difference, I don't know if I need sympathy or therapy, I have had this car for 30 years and I am as close to selling it as I have ever been,

HELP

[Stagdad]

Similar story for mine although it still worked but was horrible, went for a Tilton concentric slave cylinder in the end. There is only 1 moving part.
cheers Steve

[staginhiding]

Has the release bearing fork securing bolt come out allowing the cross bar to rotate but not actually move the bearing..
just a thought..

Sam

It sounds like something fundamental

[Chris810]

I have had one shear in the past I was rather hoping that wasn't it. I have also had the arm tear away from the cross shaft which had similar symptoms, bugger I have had the gearbox out 4 times in this saga.

[V Mad]

Chris you are making me feel lucky that mine even works at all. I just dont get it with these Triumph clutches. My Sunbeam Tiger has 245 lbft of toruqe, and a high first gear ratio, with a standard/budget (Sachs) clutch. I have given it some stick during burnouts, and it still works well.

[Chris810]

I have had the car for 30 years and I bet 24 of those years I have been unhappy with the clutch I have had almost every model triumph made and the stag is the only one I have had problems with is it a case of poor mechanic, poor parts or poor design, I just don't see a clutch as an innovative piece of tech even in 1970

[wilf]

Vibration makes me think the driven plate has broken up.

Sorry...................

[Chris810]

Right just been out in the garage with "willing helper" sitting in the car whilst I was underneath, I have 16mm of movement at the arm from the slave cylinder and I can see the bearing moving the fingers of the clutch plate however I cannot get a gear with the engine on and it's not that easy with it off.

conclusion : either it's a sheared bolt in the cross shaft, or it's a clutch plate that won't disengage from the flywheel, or an issue with the clutch fork, either way it's gearbox out again 5th time at least I know how to do it now

[staginhiding]

You have fitted the slave cylinder correctly .i.e on the right side.I seem to remember it can be fitted either side of the housing..

[Chris810]

Yeh thanks it's on the correct side ie with the cylinder passed through the hole from back to front with the flange at the rear of the bellhousing , first made that mistake many many years ago, no it's g box out I'm afraid at least I have a two post ramp and good facilities I'd hats to have to do it on the drive like I used to.

[73stagman]

Clutch has always been juddery but now its failed totally
Assuming you have fitted all the new parts correctly then there must be a problem with the way the assembly was made in the first place.

It could be difficult but some of the things can be checked as you take it back apart. If you find anything wrong dont assume thats the only fault but do as much of the following as you can

Compatibility of all components. pressure plate, driven plate, thrust bearing and sleeve.
If you skimmed the flywheel do the pressure plate bolts still tighten up fully ie make sure they dont get thread bound before the plate is properly clamped to the flywheel
were there any hard spots on the face of the flywheel that arent fully removed
Is the mounting face on the crankshaft spotlessly clean and flat. No burrs on the centering spigot.
Is the flywheel face exactly parallel to the rear mounting face. If you can mount a dial indicator on the block / gearbox mounting face somehow, turn the crank and measure for runout of the flywheel. (you can measure for crankshaft thrust movement at the same time)
Correct driven plate fitted right way round (should be marked "flywheel side")
Check clutch fork and lever and cross bolt assembly.

Some of these checks may only give rise to one or two of the symptoms and not all but as you are chasing an inherent fault then you need to cover all bases

Good luck with this as it looks like its going to be a right job to find out whats wrong

[Mike Stevens]

Make sure the gearbox primary motion shaft splines are clean and the clutch plate slides up and down on them easily. This can give a dragging clutch but maybe not the juddering though.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Mike.

[Marco Polo]

My clutch was a bit juddery on removing the gearbox there were witness marks showing the release bearing wasn't concentric to the cover plate, cutting a very long story short, I replaced it with new components including the spigot bearing and after many tries could not get the box to line up correctly. I resorted to removing the engine and then dropping the gear box vertically on to the back of the engine. Then installing the locating bolts, I have since hade to spilt the engine and box, don't ask!, and the wear marks were concentric. No more juddery clutch or release bearing grumble.
hope this helps,
regards,
Raoul

[Chris810]

Thanks for your input , I am expecting the primary culprit to be the driven plate and cover, I suspect that it is not sliding along the input shaft , although I took 2 hrs to clean it before reassembly, anyone got any ideas on the type of
über to use ie on the input shaft and on the bearing carrier, I am beginning to look forward to finding out what is wrong but I suspect getting it all back before national day is looking unlikely, I am a Marshall so spare a thought for the depressed looking bloke on the gate !

[Chris810]

Well gearbox is out 2 1/2 hrs I have got it down to now, and on inspection the culprit is ....... Not obvious
the only thing I can see is that as the cover plate was unbolted the splines moved back to sit further out from the flywheel than at first, have they been over stressed and deformed not releasing the friction plate, or has the friction plate been sticking on the input shaft splines and not moving back when the clutch is depressed ?

I will reassemble and try again do I lubricate the bearing carrier and clutch splines and if so with what ?