[Mgs] The tale of the crunchy clutch

[Paul Hunt]

Just replace the bearing, if the friction plate and cover plate are as good 
as you say.

There was a period when the carbon ring was pinned into the metal casting 
instead of being bonded, and these had a habit of breaking up in very short 
order, see http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/wn_clutchframe.htm and click on 
'Release Bearing'.  However it leaves black dust if not chunks inside the 
bellhousing.  The slave cylinder can take up a huge amount of wear in the 
bearing, so I suppose it is possible it was reassembled to run metal on 
metal until the casting wore through.

With too long a push-rod it would be almost impossible to bleed the system, 
as no matter whether you forwards or reverse bleed it the master piston must 
come back far enough to clear the bypass hole.  I suppose it could just be 
barely clearing it by a tiny amount, and heat expansion might close it off 
altogether, but that could be for a number of reasons of which a too-long 
push rod is just one.  You can only really be sure you have the correct free 
play at the pedal to push-rod connection by removing any pedal box cover and 
checking it, but even then there could be a problem inside the master 
preventing the *piston* coming all the way back.

As far as using the new clutch goes just don't sit at traffic lights or 
stuck in traffic with the clutch pedal down, and *never* 'ride' the clutch 
i.e. have your foot resting on the pedal while under way.

PaulH.


----- Original Message ----- >
>...  Sadly, it appears the clutch is practically
> new - there is little, if any, wear on the clutch disc.  Besides the DPO's
> unconventional repair strategy, is there any other known cause for that 
> kind
> of clutch destruction?  I remember someone saying something about slave
> cylinder pushrods that are too long - could that be responsible?  And 
> since I
> will be replacing the slave cylinder, what IS the correct length for the
> pushrod?
>
> Aside from using actual car parts and following recommended practices and
> procedures, is there anything in particular that I might do to prevent the
> destruction of the new bearing and pressure plate?