Clutch!

Crippler · 05-15-2002, 04:21 AM

Well I think this dreaded repair has finally come for me. My car has developed a noticable slack in the drive line, the whole on the gas off the gas thing. So with no record of it ever being done on my 84 I have to assume that is it. So is there anything else I should check though before I start looking for a clutch kit.

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

Nope. That would be a clutch. You can check the CV's but I'll put money on the clutch

Crippler · 05-15-2002, 12:53 PM

Okay I need alittle more help here. Today I was checking the clutch through the inspection hole and all I could see was the pressure plate and nothing seemed to look wrong. Is there anything that you can see through this hole that can give you any information as to what the clutch condition is.

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

How many miles do you have on you 84? If your 84 has the original clutch or even a replaced clutch you may have a disintegrated rubber hub on the disc. But usually during inspection chunks of rubber will fall out of the inspection hole. But the short and skinny of it is old rubber center clutches fail often.

Crippler · 05:09 PM

Are you supposed to be able to see the rubber center through the inspection hole.

Oh and there is about 95 thousand miles on the car and I have no record of it being changed, but it could have been I don't know.

Also will I need the whole clutch kit or just the clutch disc?

3sonfather · 03:30 AM

Crippler, I did my own clutch job over this past winter. I bought clutch disk, clutch fork bearings, new flywheel bolts, rear main seal, clutch fork pivot pin, throwout bearing, pilot bearing. You'll at least want to check for flatness on the flywheel - mine was fine. Also, check for excessive wear on the clutch fork tips. You'll find a ton of information on do-it-youself help on this site and others. And its rewarding to know that this is about as deep as you can get on a repair job.
Have fun.

Crippler · 05-15-2002, 08:06 PM

Ok. A couple more questions here. 1. Will I need a new pressure plate and 2. will I need to get the flywheel machined. I am pretty strapped for cash right now, so I need to try to keep the cost down. These things always happen at the worst time.

951carter · 05-15-2002, 08:16 PM

you can get away wiith just the clutch disc, but, as long as you're in there =)

btw........i have seen people go 10,000+ miles on a clutch after the rubber has let go(by being easy on it) I don't advise this, but i have seen it. It may help you to save up some $ to be able to do the whole job at one time.

SoCal Driver · SoCal Driver's Garage

Be sure to get the spring center clutch that Pelican sells. Just replaced the engine in my 83 with one from an automatic 86 (this is a whole other tread!) and found the clutch disc rubber center section to be intact but the rivits were just coming flush with the fiber lining.

You can pop the seals off of the TO and pilot bearings and force fresh grease though them. Don't force these seals. If they don't want to budge you can still force grease through but is a bit more trouble. If these bearings feel "rough" when you spin them by hand then it's best to replace them. The TO bearing in my 83 is still going after over 200,000 miles.

If the clutch peddle pressure was/is as before then you really don't need a pressure plate. You can have circular rivit cuts in the faces of the flywheel and pressure plate but not radial heat cracking and discoloration.

Still a pain to drop the transaxle and drive line. Almost as much as taking the engine out the top.

Hugh

AFJuvat · 05-16-2002, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SoCal Driver
SNIP....You can pop the seals off of the TO and pilot bearings and force fresh grease though them. Don't force these seals. If they don't want to budge you can still force grease through but is a bit more trouble. If these bearings feel "rough" when you spin them by hand then it's best to replace them. The TO bearing in my 83 is still going after over 200,000 miles.

If the clutch peddle pressure was/is as before then you really don't need a pressure plate. You can have circular rivit cuts in the faces of the flywheel and pressure plate but not radial heat cracking and discoloration....SNIP

I disagree -in my opinion that is taking a bit of a gamble hoping that the parts last.

For all of the time and labor required to replace the clutch disk, it is usually best to replace the pressure plate, throwout and pilot shaft bearing as well as the flywheel seal. - especially since it will only cost about $250 or so more to ensure that all of your clutch components are new.

Though the flywheel seal is not normally part of the procedure, it just makes sense to replace it while you are there - it costs $10 or so and adds about 15 minutes to the job - - better than taking the whole thing apart again to replace it if it starts leaking.

To really do the job right, pelican sells a complete kit for $700 that has EVERYTHING you need to replace all of your clutch components

My 2¢

AFJuvat

SoCal Driver · SoCal Driver's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by AFJuvat

I disagree -in my opinion that is taking a bit of a gamble hoping that the parts last.

For all of the time and labor required to replace the clutch disk, it is usually best to replace the pressure plate, throwout and pilot shaft bearing as well as the flywheel seal. - especially since it will only cost about $250 or so more to ensure that all of your clutch components are new.

Though the flywheel seal is not normally part of the procedure, it just makes sense to replace it while you are there - it costs $10 or so and adds about 15 minutes to the job - - better than taking the whole thing apart again to replace it if it starts leaking.

To really do the job right, pelican sells a complete kit for $700 that has EVERYTHING you need to replace all of your clutch components

My 2¢

AFJuvat

You are entitled to your opinion. However the originator of this thread did stipulate that he was going to do this with as little an investment in parts as is practicle. Re-greasing the TO and the pilot my not be the "right" thing to do BUT it can be done when some consideration is given to the wear of the two bearings.

This can keep the total cost below $300. Interesting that Pelicans price for the spring center pressure plate is less than the rubber center one.

If the flywheel seal is not leaking there is really no need to replace it. The liquid cooled engine does not get anywhere near as hot as the "traditional" air cooled engines thus it does not fry the seals.

Hugh