Clutch slave drama

[AuSpecVr4]

Hey

I have been having this problem with my clutch slave for a while now since i built my new motor and put a new clutch in.

The clutch is a 6 puk brass button that was bought of eBay. It was installed and when the clutch pedal is pushed it was soft up top then really hard down the bottom and when trying to release the pedal slowly it would pop out fast from the pressure. The clutch is just on or off. Assuming that was the puk clutch i have been driving it around for a month or two now and had a drama last week.

I was driving around (street, casual driving) and my clutch all of a sudden would go soft and there would be 1cm of travel at the bottom of the clutch where it would engage. The top was all soft, so i would pump it lightly so it would return to normal. I then went from second to first causing the pedal to just go dead to the floor, it had nothing. The push rod had snapped and pushed the cylinder out of the slave along with all my oil. I managed to limp it home without a clutch to change gears. It was repaired by placing a bolt of similar size in it and had been fine for a week. The rod was longer then the original because that seemed to be the problem because it was pushing the rod to far and pushing the cylinder out.

Now on the way home again i thought i snapped the push rod (homemade) and as i got home to have a look i see its been pushed out. Is this a problem with the clutch assembly? Also sometimes i would hear a noise coming from the clutch area when the clutch would be pushed and sometimes when i started the car without the clutch pushed.

Has anyone had this problem and what do you suggest i do? if i end up having to take the box out can it be dropped if the cross member is removed so the engine can stay in the car?


Cheers, Brock /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[donkeylips]

Well your clutch itself may have cause the original failure of the push rod, but using a homemade push rod was a bad idea. One of my old Talon's had one of these, and it was a little bit too big, and it was bad news. My act 2600 felt horrible and eventually started slipping. You should be able to get an oem push rod easily.

Also, an important question is - was your clutch engaging at the proper location when it was first installed, or has it been grabbing too close to the floor this whole time?

The first thing I would do, is remove the slave cylinder. When you position the clutch fork so that the TOB is against the pressure plate, is the end of the fork fairly centered in it's window? It should be centered or toward the driver's side. If that seems normal, I would buy a new slave and install it(it should come with a push rod). After bleeding, if it doesn't immediately feel normal than you may need to look at your clutch.

I don't know anything about your clutch but since it's from ebay it's probably junk, but first check to make sure that the bolts that hold your trans to the engine are tight. After you drop the trans, make sure your pressure plate bolts and flywheel bolts have the proper torque. If you never had proper engagement, shim your pivot ball. Obviously there are lots of things to check for that could be wrong.

As far as dropping the trans, it's pretty easy; the hard part is getting it lined up and putting it back. Be careful not to mess up the splines on your input shaft or clutch disk. Just drop the crossmember, remove IC piping and whatnot up top, lose the axles, unbolt it, slide it off and drop it down. An engine hoist made installation easier for me.

 

[AuSpecVr4]

Somethings not right, fork has snapped, didn't know that was possible.

 

It looks like you will be able to get up close and personal again with your ebay clutch disc. I recommend you check the step height: the surface on your flywheel between where the clutch disc engages and the pressure plate mounts. It is possible that someone turned/ground your flywheel and did not take an equivalent amount off the pressure plate mounting surface. I do not have the step height spec handy but I'm sure you can find it on this site.
-Kevin

 

[chrisfullwood]

I snapped the clutch fork on my car a year or so again, that wasn't fun. But mine was wear and tear. i have the ACT 2900 clutch and pressure plate.

My advice, definitely get your flywheel ground and checked for correct step height. And anything that is home made, remove it and replace it with OEM or better. All the power in the world, isn't any good if you cant change gears /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[BoostedAWD91]

i snapped my clutch fork in half the day after Christmas and just got it replaced a few weeks ago. If you think its still the original fork i would replace it anyways cause the clutch fork has been revised and is almost twice as thick. Seeing how thin the original fork was compared to the revised one, im really surprised that it lasted that long.

 

[AuSpecVr4]

The step is fine, i checked it out and the fork was to adjusted back and to low, it had no travel and would hit on the bell housing. New fork should be here Tuesday, hoping for a Wednesday start

 

[spooln4fun]

Make sure the pivot ball is good, it may be a good idea to install a new one of those as well since your already in there. Hope the new fork gets you up and going again!