Club 80-90 Forums

Hi, I'm very new here and if there's a forum that I should be looking at instead please do point me in the right direction.

I had trouble with the clutch starting to slip at high revs in North Wales. (This was about a week after a slightly traumatic experience with a very steep hill in Cornwall, resulted in lots of very smelly clutch biting and eventually making it up the hill with the help of three blokes pushing. But after this hill the van was driving completely fine for a week and ~500 miles) We started to head home (New forest) hoping it wouldn't get too much worse and we could sort out once home. Unfortunately, just outside worsceter we lost the ability to get in or out of gear and ended up getting trailored home. Once home it became clear the rear gear linkage had fallen apart. With a new linkage guide pin and relay lever and boots for both and an oil change I've been able to get the van changing gears smoother than ever. I was hoping that in some strange way that this might stop the slipping aswell. However, the clutch is still slipping on high revs.

So it seems to me I'm going to have to replace friction plate, pressure plate and release bearing.

I haven't done a huge amount of mechanical work before, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can and figure I won't learn anything sending the van off to a garage. Only done a few bits and bobs on the van so far: glow plugs, troubleshooting various oil leaks, adjusting timing belt and cover to stop some rubbing, rebuilding gear linkage, replacing gearbox oil.

Question number 1.
Am I right in thinking a clutch plate replacement is the correct next step?
And presumably for this I want a 215mm kit

Question number 2.
Could this slipping be in anyway related to the gear linkage falling apart? No such thing as coincidence.

Question number 3.
Am I an idiot in attempting the clutch plates replacement myself?

Question number 4.
If I go through with this, what parts should I also buy and replace at the same time?
Spigot bearing, flywheel felt seal, flywheel o ring?

Thanks very much for any help. Sorry for the barrage of questions.

Ive done one on a bay window. Not too bad. Have you checked your fluid level for a possible leak/air in the system?

Fluid level hasn't been leaking. But I haven't bled the system as figured air in the system wouldn't be causing problems like this. However may well be worth the ten minutes before shelling out the money on a clutch

https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/t3-parts/d ... l-all.html

But out of stock - good thing is they are cheaper than the petrol ones!

Sorry to put a downer on it but exactly the same thing happened to me some years ago trying to park in an impossible tricky sloping pub car park - foul smell and all. Within a month the clutch started slipping on a journey forcing me to gradually work my way down through all five gears until it was as much as I could do to get over on the hard shoulder. Classic symptom biting point creeps up over time until it just doesn't bite any more.
(Mercy on those whose machine fails on a so called smart motorway).
I did change the whole caboose including the release bearing and the spigot bearing while it was all apart.  But a clutch alignment tool is an essential to line up the spigot bearing and splines while you bolt on the clutch body. You would never line it up by eye. Hydraulic problems will of course cause drag as you attempt to change gear as the preselector dogs will skid over rather than engage causing that embarrassing crunch.  Unusual for the release mech and clutch slip to happen on the same ticket so to speak. Apart from wiggling of gear lever and clutch pedal to suss problem I probablly do suspect coincincidence in this case. A knowledgeable assistant with previous would be most helpful if you haven't done one before as it can be a daunting task until you have done a few over time.-
Good luck with it anyway. 

Thanks for that. I can't seem to find the right clutch alignment tool anywhere.
Only an air-cooled one or petrol one on just kampers and none on brickwerks.

Any suggestions?

Mr Bean wrote: ↑13 Oct 2021, 23:00 A clutch alignment tool is an essential to line up the spigot bearing and splines while you bolt on the clutch body. You would never line it up by eye.

I make my clutch alignment tools as I need them out of wood on a lathe. It's possible (but quite difficult) to line up without. If you have a lathe, or know someone who does, they are simple and cheap to make.

Aren't petrol and diesel clutch alignment tools the same?

I use one turned from a steel bar by my uncle when he worked in a garage in the 1950's, have used it on numerous vehicles of all makes and both fuels.

I don’t work on diesels ,  it I’m pretty sure the alignment tool is the same 
I use a old petrol input shaft that I cut down anyway . 

I’ve seen it don’t with just a screwdriver wrapped in insulation tape , not ideal but it’s all we had at the time 

I have lots of used input shafts that are only good for cutting down to make alignment tools
the blue plastic one JK sells is correct for our standard input shaft, both diesel and petrol

All gone quite well so far! Removed the gear box and clutch and put the new clutch on. Spigot bearing looked good as new and no oil leaking, so left the flywheel on.

Only problem I've come across was a missing bolt on the bellhousing. The bottom left if you're looking from the gearbox. I think according to brickwerks bolt pack it should be Bolt - M10x1.5 / 70mm | 8.8 | Zinc Flake. However it seems to me it's the same as the middle left bolt, which I do have, which doesn't quite match up with an m10x1.5. None of the bellhousing bolts seem to be exactly metric and all fitted better with an imperial socket, have I just got a strange collection of bolts and a retapped engine? Generally confused.