4-speed clutch mystery
Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2019 5:02 pm
Whilst I've got a few days off work, I've tried to progress my 175 project a bit more.
One of the jobs was making up control cables. Once I'd got the clutch cable sorted, I was a bit disturbed by the fact that I could barely pull the lever in with my left hand. I searched about on here and found a lot of earlier threads about cable routing, adjustment of the lever on the gearbox end etc, so partially stripped it to check some details. Without thinking it through properly, I decided to remove the pushrod assembly by pushing it from the right-hand side. No problem getting the 2 rod sections out, but the balls fell inside the clutch. I thought I could perhaps get the balls out by removing some of the springs and cups and sticking a little magnet in - it works too. But I could also see that the pressure plate tangs were not engaged with the drum. Once I'd got it all apart, the drum seems to be about 1.6mm short of the basket. The drum is a replacement, but is the same as the one that came out (apart from wear ridges). This is the later variant of clutch with the bearings in the basket - shown at the back of my workshop manual.
I'm beginning to suspect that the clutch is a random collection of parts. In a previous post I queried the pushrod length, as mine had 3 rod sections but no balls, but was so long that the selector cover would not assemble.
Does anyone have access to components of the same clutch so they can give me a few dimensions to check?
At present, I've put it together with one less pair of plates (i.e. 5 friction plates) and the lever now feels nice. But I suppose there is a danger it could slip as there are less friction surfaces and the spring load is reduced.
Ian
One of the jobs was making up control cables. Once I'd got the clutch cable sorted, I was a bit disturbed by the fact that I could barely pull the lever in with my left hand. I searched about on here and found a lot of earlier threads about cable routing, adjustment of the lever on the gearbox end etc, so partially stripped it to check some details. Without thinking it through properly, I decided to remove the pushrod assembly by pushing it from the right-hand side. No problem getting the 2 rod sections out, but the balls fell inside the clutch. I thought I could perhaps get the balls out by removing some of the springs and cups and sticking a little magnet in - it works too. But I could also see that the pressure plate tangs were not engaged with the drum. Once I'd got it all apart, the drum seems to be about 1.6mm short of the basket. The drum is a replacement, but is the same as the one that came out (apart from wear ridges). This is the later variant of clutch with the bearings in the basket - shown at the back of my workshop manual.
I'm beginning to suspect that the clutch is a random collection of parts. In a previous post I queried the pushrod length, as mine had 3 rod sections but no balls, but was so long that the selector cover would not assemble.
Does anyone have access to components of the same clutch so they can give me a few dimensions to check?
At present, I've put it together with one less pair of plates (i.e. 5 friction plates) and the lever now feels nice. But I suppose there is a danger it could slip as there are less friction surfaces and the spring load is reduced.
Ian