how to tell if clutch is worn?

[SiKiD_01]

it's been a long time discussion with a few people i know about this, but how can you tell if a clutch is new, worn, or in between, short of just pulling the clutch itself out?

i guess you really can't, and unless its completely slipping, and the cars going no where, then you know its time for a new one.

AND where do people have the clutch pedal engage? towards the top or bottom? where should this be? i believe its called the friction point... is there a proper set up method?

i always thought that a new clutch would bite right at the bottom, and a worn clutch engages up the top. thats with no adjusting, and relates only to cable clutchs. i think hydraulic clutchs would be different.

can anyone sort this out for us? as one of my mates has all his cars' clutches engage 1-2" off the top? and he says my clutch is absolute crap cos it engages straight off the floor.

what goes?

thanks

[Gribble]

Give it 5mm of freeplay at the clutch fork is how i do it mostly. Alot of systems are hydraulic and may not have an adjustment.

In realitly land, as long as its not slipping when disengaged, and a gear can be selected without crunching or resistance when the clutch is in. Then where it engages and disengages is really a personal preferance or a byproduct of the clutch systems engineering/adjustment.

Id tell your mate to get a dog up him and worry about his own car. If it feels good for you then thats ok, you drive it more than your mate does.

[-Scott-]

As you say yourself, it can be as much about adjustment as anything else - but I don't know about hydraulic clutches. I recently replaced the clutch in the Paj because it was starting to slip, and I noticed that the take-up point was near the top of travel. The new clutch has take-up much closer to the floor...

If the take up is much nearer the top of travel you don't need to push the pedal as far - great for lazy drivers, pussies who are too weak to push the pedal any further, or "fully sik" Silvia drivers with the seat so far back they can only push the pedal two inches anyway.

Cheers,

Scott

[landy_man]

put it in top gear, foot on the brake and let the clutch out... if engine still runs and does not stall... i would say clutch is on its way out

p.s. I am no mechanic

[SiKiD_01]

put it in top gear, foot on the brake and let the clutch out... if engine still runs and does not stall... i would say clutch is on its way out

p.s. I am no mechanic

after doing this, and the engine does not stall, would you say the clutch is on its way out or its totally farked?

yeah, we all had a go at this, and everyone's car stalls.

so generally, the friction point in relation to the pedal position does not matter at all. personal preference after all. i guess its what your used to.

[adam.s]

It does if it's not fully disengaging because the clutch master cylidner isn't getting enough throw.

You can adjust it without too much hassle - there is a nut under the dash in most car's just undo it and wind it up/down.

Failing that, there is another adjustment on the back of the pedel where it connects to the master cylinder, undo the lock nut and wind it out.

It's still very much personal preference but if the clutch isnt fully disengaging, it will be wearing prematurly, and eventually get to the point where its hard to change gears.

[SiKiD_01]

thanks for all the responses.

i now have a question of my own.

i can select all gears smoothly when driving normally day to day, and reverse is easy after selecting 1st.

but as soon as i start to fry the clutch off road, it wont go into gear. this is only when it starts to heat up a lot, and in most instances, when you can smell burning clutch.

having asked this question, the clutch does not slip when i do a standstill burnout on dry bitumen. only when in 4wd hi and sometimes 4wd low when climbing rocks and hilss etc.

[oozuk]

my suzuki clutch used to do it too, i found it was that the pressure plate was overheating and losing it's spring tension and would either slipp it's ass out or wouldn't dissengage new clutch and less clutch riding due to rockhopper solved the problem

[crusher]

if your frying the clutch theres a chance it may be sticking to the fly wheel or pressure plate and not disengaging at all. From the sounds of it I'd be replacing the clutch before it lets u down in the middle of the bush half way up a gnarly hill climb or something.

[Patroler]

thanks for all the responses.

i now have a question of my own.

i can select all gears smoothly when driving normally day to day, and reverse is easy after selecting 1st.

but as soon as i start to fry the clutch off road, it wont go into gear. this is only when it starts to heat up a lot, and in most instances, when you can smell burning clutch.

having asked this question, the clutch does not slip when i do a standstill burnout on dry bitumen. only when in 4wd hi and sometimes 4wd low when climbing rocks and hilss etc.

when you say fry the clutch i take it that means abuse it/slip it? if so it won't last long like that and you'd possibly have trouble with gear selection due to the clutch heating up and expanding,
you could try bleeding the clutch or adjusting the cable if its mechanical so it bites a little higher up, then when the pedal is to the floor the pressure plate should be further away from the flywheel allowing the clutch plate a bit more clearance when hot.
If frying it means that it just doesn't grip well enough during offroad work then i'd guess its on the way out.

Oh and to test if a clutch is buggered just go for a drive down the highway in top gear, put your foot flat from low revs and accelerate past the revs where the engine makes peak torque, listen and keep an eye on the engine revs in relation to road speed, they should increase at the same rate, the motor shouldn't rev up.
An even tougher test would be to hold it flat in top gear at around the revs where peak torque is and dip the clutch in and release it immediately, the revs should rise then drop strait back down to where they were as the clutch engages - this is pretty torturous though

[Nev62]

My clutch is buggered at the moment. When the drive line is under load (ie taking off in 1st then 2nd mostly), the engine will rev with no great change in acceleration force. Backing off the throttle then easing back on, you can feel the clutch grab. This becomes more noticeable the more worn it gets (ie slipping in 3rd and 4th gear). Just gotta make it hold out a little long... money thing

[benhl]

I'm hearing you Nev62 - exactly the same boat!

[ceredig]

Early warning of a slipping clutch...
Go flat out on the freeway and lift the pedal a little bit. If you speed up (!) your clutch was slipping. Easing off allows the clutch to bind and you can feel a slight surge forward.

[Nev62]

Didn't relise how expensive these little suckers are. $400 for heavy duty at trade price

[shakes]

when the clutch is being donedont forget to get your fly wheel machined nice and schmick too, lots of reasons that i dont understand properly yet but the main one is so it has a nice smooth, even and square surface to sit on

[Nev62]

Well did the clutch today. Had to have the 4b back on the road for work on Monday, bugger is that no machine shops open on the weekend and my flywheel was burnt. I used emery paper and glazed it up (lucky there were no cracks).

As per usual, that sod Murphy was hanging around.

1 to 1 1/2 hours to drop the driveshafts, move the gbox/tcase back and take off the old clutch.

1 hour to put on new clutch, refit the gbox/tcase and do the driveshafts.

What about Murphy you may ask???

2 1/2 hours plus to remove what was left of the outer shell of the old spigot bearing

The inner race fell to the ground when the old clutch was removed. We only found 4 1/2 bearing Whoever put the original spigot bearing in used some form of locktight