Really stiff clutch on 110 TD5

[chrispy]

Hey there all

After picking up our '00 110 TD5 a couple of weeks ago, the clutch was found to be really stiff, and I was hoping that it might free up after doing some long miles. The vehicle had been garaged for months at the time I bought it. Well... after some pretty big miles over the past two weeks it's still very stiff.

The clutch pedal depresses relatively easily, but after you engage (say) first gear at the lights and start to release the pedal - it binds on the upstroke. It kind of has an "eek..eek..eek..eek' rubbery feel to it as it comes up from the floor. It's almost impossible to release in one easy fluid movement.

Is this (if you can understand my description of the problem) normal? It makes smooth changing almost impossible - and nearly every time I change gear the lack of pedal feel makes me release the clutch too quickly - so that a "clunk" comes out of the driveline somewhere. I'm hoping that it's something I can lubricate or replace easily. Are these usually symptoms of a stoofed clutch master or slave? Do the pedal bearings bind?

Cheers and thanks for any help
Chris

[justinC]

CHRIS,

Almost certainly either the clutch slave cylinder pushrod and/ or the pivot point for the fork, although the clutch fork in the TD5 is like the V8 and has a cast iron fork and nylon insert...so I would be surprised if it is the fork pivot. I have actually had a '02 Defender clutch pushrod do similar noises, and replaced it in the end due to it being worn unevenly because it never had lubrication on it even from new and was useless at 60,000km.
THE CLUTCHES ON THE TD5 ARE VERY STIFF COMPARED TO THE TDi.

The drivetrain clunk is very likely the rear axle drive splines, remove a rear wheel, take off the rubber cap over the axle end and see how much slack there is in the splines by rotating the hub round against the stationary axle. My guess is that they are U/S. I had a 22,000km 'Fender the other day with NO grease on the axle splines, and already starting to wear... This should be included in some sort of pre delivery, as this is not the first one I've seen.

JC