Clutch problem

[Martin S.]

Yesterday my clutch started acting up on the 68 turbo - original trans. It's got a stage 2 Kennedy and Berg dual friction disk along with a Mexican longer clutch lever from Bruce. I felt engine vibrations thru the pedal when driving, otherwise it was normal smooth when the engine was off. When I looked underneath, I see that the shaft is sticking out of the trans about a quarter inch and I can push it back in. My guess is that a circlip let go inside. Is that about right? How can I prevent this from happening again. I haven't seen this before and I'm thinking it's because of the bigger clutch compared to stock.

[Neil Davies]

Could be that a weld has failed on the release arm, one of the pair that supports the release bearing. I've had that with a stock clutch, let alone a stage 2!

[Martin S.]

If that was the problem, would the car still be drivable? The clutch still works ok on my car, but it was a vibration thru the clutch pedal now, otherwise all is normal.

[Erlend / bug66]

Pull the engine and have a look.

If it's the old type circlips, I would buy the HD ones, with an extra loop. Much harder.


You can even safety wire it to the shaft. Drill a small hole, and twist some safety wire around the circlips.

[Martin S.]

I'll pull the engine, but I want to be ready with parts if possible so less downtime. I was thinking of trying a spring center disk this time to see if I can get rid of the last little bit of chatter with this setup (it's a daily driver). I figure I'll need a HD shaft, HD springs, new TO bearing and maybe a new disk this time. Does the HD shaft commonly available use two circlips instead of one to help stop the shaft from moving out?