Guys...
I'm really sold on Brian Schlorff's procedure of fabricating a new pin. I
just finished a clutch job on my TR6 a couple of months ago and Brian was
very helpful in explaining to me what to do and how to do it. I like his
approach because it identifies precisely the cause of the pin failure and
addresses it DIRECTLY. No band-aids. I was able to take the parts and the
information that Brian supplied me with to a machinist and for $35 that
machinist was able to fabricate a new pin from a grade 8 bolt. The
machinist said after examining the OEM pin, that the grade 8 bolt was much,
much harder than the OEM (but heavy-duty) pin. (Brian recommends and uses
an even stronger L9 aircraft bolt) This approach is clean, well
thought-out, and doesn't really add all that much expense to the project.
I do also like the idea of simply adding a second bolt through the fork,
but in my case this didn't appear to be an option because my fork has no
boss in which to drill the hole that would provide the added strength I
thought it should have.
When I first took my clutch apart way back in 1987 or so, I found the fork
had been welded to the shaft. (and in the wrong orientation... no wonder
the clutch didn't work!!) We had to destroy the shaft to remove it and
then buy another shaft.
The machinist was able to machine the head of the new pin into a square
similar to that of the OEM pin, and did provide a hole for a safety wire.
I just really think this is the best way to tackle the problem.
Pete Chadwell
1973 TR6
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