I can follow Alex's explanation as far as it goes, but the problems I have
with it are:
(1) This would presuppose that the designers of the clutch made no
provision for compensation for wear, other than replacing the rod with a
longer one. In that case, I would expect the shop manual to make some
reference to it, and that "replacement rods" would be identified as such.
If this "fix" was jury-rigged to make the clutch work because the throwout
bearing was worn out, then I would expect it would be a lot of work for not
much time left on the clutch anyway, at which point you would have to
rebuild the clutch and go back to the standard (short) rod.
(2) My car already had the longer rod installed, and the clutch was
working fine before I rebuilt it. I rebuilt it only because it was
convenient at the time to do so. With the new parts installed, the clutch
would not work until I reinstalled the old (long) pushrod). As Larry
points out, Alex's explanation does not adequately address this.
Last summer, I was able to pick up a disassembled '68 Sprite for a good
price. The pushrod that came with that car looked exactly like the
original "rough-welded" long rod that was in my Midget. From the looks of
them, It's hard to believe that these things were produced other than in
somebody's home workshop, but I'm still looking for a satisfying
explanation.
Another question would be, how would anyone know how long to make the rods
so they would work, but not make the fork overtravel? Maybe that leads to
the bent fork theory. If the rod was made too long, possibly it could bend
the fork the first time it was used. From then on, you would need the long
rod.
Steve Byers
Havelock, NC USA
'73 Midget GAN5UD126009G "OO NINE"
"Truth is precious. Use it sparingly" -- Mark Twain
----------
> From: Larry and Sandi Miller <millerls@msn.com>
> To: Vllas@aol.com; usbacons@ihug.co.nz
> Cc: spridgets@Autox.Team.Net
> Subject: Re: spridget clutches
> Date: Saturday, July 04, 1998 2:40 PM
>
> Alex
>
> How do you explain the shorter rod working with the old parts and the new
> parts requiring the longer rod?
>
> LM
|