[Fot] Need to figure out why my clutch stopped working...

[Duncan Charlton]

Jim,

Sounds like the clutch was dragging on the flywheel while the pedal was
depressed, but your examination of the parts doesn't explain why.  Best guess
I have is that the clutch travel was limited somehow.  Any chance their was
air in the system?  How much downward pedal travel was there before you could
feel resistance?  I assume on a TR6 you'd want some free play at the top of
the pedal travel.  How far from the floor did the pedal rise before the clutch
started to engage, when it was working properly?  Anything out of the normal
range suggests a geometry problem since the hydraulic clutch should
self-adjust.

Are you reusing the same pressure plate?  A few years back our Morgan Plus 8's
clutch was slipping badly in 3rd and 4th gear.  I was surprised to find that
the friction disc looked very good.  The pressure plate likely had a lot of
miles on it (189,000 miles were put on the car by the PO before I got it...)
and the diaphragm spring apparently no longer created the original clamping
force.  A new pressure plate made all the difference (although it looked
perfectly good, I had the driven plate re-lined while I was at it since that
size is obsolete and the TR4 unit used by many is 1/2" smaller).  In all the
clutch jobs I'd done this was the first time I'd seen a slippage problem
caused by the pressure plate getting weak.

Duncan
(Texas)

1952 Morgan Plus 4 #6 red

On Oct 17, 2011, at 1:42 PM, sherry robyn wrote:

> so I don't put it back together and have the same problem.
>
> The story is
> that I had never been into the clutch.  I only knew that the PO
> raced the 74
> TR6.  I autocrosses, and a hillclimb for the next couple of years
> with no
> problem.  Then at the tail end of this season at an autocross, I could
> smell
> my clutch after a run and it didn't want to go into gear.  Double
> clutching
> could get it to go.  There never had been the typical TR6 problems
> such as
> stiff clutch pedal, etc.
>
> After breaking it open, I find little wear on the
> spring fingers, a disk
> measuring appx. .290 in thickness, and all linkage
> even though plenty dirty
> functioning soundly.  The slave and master of the
> clutch is not losing fluid,
> and there is an adjustabe clutch rod that was in
> the middle hole of the
> engage/disengage lever that is only minimally worn
> oversize.
>
> I am putting in a new clutch, but at this point, I can't see what
> caused my
> failure in the first place.  Don't want to wrap it all up and have
> the same
> problem.
>
> Thanks for any assistance, Jim
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