What size of spanner for freeing off the clutch?
Discussion
Hi all,
My clutch has siezed and I need to free it off. A guy I know has said that I need to put a spanner onto the clutch housing and loosen it off and that will solve my problem. My question is, what size of spanner do I need? I need to go and buy one, but that will be cheaper than getting someone to to the job for me!
Cheers
My clutch has siezed and I need to free it off. A guy I know has said that I need to put a spanner onto the clutch housing and loosen it off and that will solve my problem. My question is, what size of spanner do I need? I need to go and buy one, but that will be cheaper than getting someone to to the job for me!
Cheers
It depends on what you mean by 'seized clutch'.
Do you mean that the clutch arm has seized and the clutch operating mechanism won't engage or disengage, or do you mean the actual clutch plate is seized onto the flywheel and pressure plate?
In the first instance, you should put a lot of penetrating oil onto the bottom of the arm and try to get it to soak into the shaft which has the thrust bearing on the inner end. Warming it gently with a butane torch can help here as the casing is aluminium and the shaft is steel, thus the differential expansion rates with temp can help. Be careful you don't snap the ball end off the clutch arm by pushing too hard (I've done this in the distant past!).
If this fails, do the following:
Support under the sump with a jack, undo the engine mounting on the clutch end, undo the 8 bolts securing the clutch cover to the housing, jack the engine up a little more and remove the end cover. Then, with it on the bench, you can free off the operating shaft, grease it, change the clevis pins if necessary (it usually is), and then replace the end cover. Some of the 8 bolts are really difficult to get at and they are 1/2" a/f on earlier cars and 7/16" a/f on later ones. The threads are always 5/16" UNC.
To gain easier access to the 2 lower bolts on the cover I always bore two 3/4" holes in the web of the sub frame and then I can get a 3/8" sq. drive socket in.It's the one around the back which is difficult, but if you can't get that one back in it's not the end of the world and 7 out of 8 ain't bad!
If, however, it's the clutch centre plate seized onto the flywheel/pressure plate that's a bit different. One thing you can try is jacking the front of the car up and sitting it SECURELY on stands. Then, with it in 1st gear, start the engine, bearing-in-mind that the wheels will turn. Push the clutch pedal down as far as possible and push the throttle pedal on and off quite harshly to try to free it off. If this fails, another trick is to have the car on the road, put it in first gear and key the starter. The car will start off along the road, with a bit of throttle and youc an drive it around, pushing gently on the clutch pedal and going 'on-off' with the throttle. This usually works to free it off.
If all this fails, it's necessary to remove the flywheel and strip it all out, fitting a new driven (centre) plate when rebuilding.
I hope this helps.
Peter
Do you mean that the clutch arm has seized and the clutch operating mechanism won't engage or disengage, or do you mean the actual clutch plate is seized onto the flywheel and pressure plate?
In the first instance, you should put a lot of penetrating oil onto the bottom of the arm and try to get it to soak into the shaft which has the thrust bearing on the inner end. Warming it gently with a butane torch can help here as the casing is aluminium and the shaft is steel, thus the differential expansion rates with temp can help. Be careful you don't snap the ball end off the clutch arm by pushing too hard (I've done this in the distant past!).
If this fails, do the following:
Support under the sump with a jack, undo the engine mounting on the clutch end, undo the 8 bolts securing the clutch cover to the housing, jack the engine up a little more and remove the end cover. Then, with it on the bench, you can free off the operating shaft, grease it, change the clevis pins if necessary (it usually is), and then replace the end cover. Some of the 8 bolts are really difficult to get at and they are 1/2" a/f on earlier cars and 7/16" a/f on later ones. The threads are always 5/16" UNC.
To gain easier access to the 2 lower bolts on the cover I always bore two 3/4" holes in the web of the sub frame and then I can get a 3/8" sq. drive socket in.It's the one around the back which is difficult, but if you can't get that one back in it's not the end of the world and 7 out of 8 ain't bad!
If, however, it's the clutch centre plate seized onto the flywheel/pressure plate that's a bit different. One thing you can try is jacking the front of the car up and sitting it SECURELY on stands. Then, with it in 1st gear, start the engine, bearing-in-mind that the wheels will turn. Push the clutch pedal down as far as possible and push the throttle pedal on and off quite harshly to try to free it off. If this fails, another trick is to have the car on the road, put it in first gear and key the starter. The car will start off along the road, with a bit of throttle and youc an drive it around, pushing gently on the clutch pedal and going 'on-off' with the throttle. This usually works to free it off.
If all this fails, it's necessary to remove the flywheel and strip it all out, fitting a new driven (centre) plate when rebuilding.
I hope this helps.
Peter
Peter,
Thanks for such a comprehensive reply.
The pedal won't move at all, so this is what I mean by a siezed clutch. I have sprayed a gallon of WD around the whole area of the clutch in the hope that I could free it off but so far it won't budge. The piston on the outside of the housing still works, so it could be something internal. I take it that by undoing the big bolt on the end it won't have any affect?
Cheers
Thanks for such a comprehensive reply.
The pedal won't move at all, so this is what I mean by a siezed clutch. I have sprayed a gallon of WD around the whole area of the clutch in the hope that I could free it off but so far it won't budge. The piston on the outside of the housing still works, so it could be something internal. I take it that by undoing the big bolt on the end it won't have any affect?
Cheers
id guess its either the pedal thats siezed - unusual, but does happen, crack the bleed nipple of on the slave, if the pedal goes to the floor its not siezed - if the pedal doesnt move its a case of stripping the pedal box and freeing the shaft off.
if the pedal does go to the floor its probably the thrust washer plunger in the china-mans hat thats siezed - very common in the short armed verto types, if you are lucky a liberal dose of wd40 and some movement may free it off, at worse its a case of whipping the cover off so you can get to it easier.
if the pedal does go to the floor its probably the thrust washer plunger in the china-mans hat thats siezed - very common in the short armed verto types, if you are lucky a liberal dose of wd40 and some movement may free it off, at worse its a case of whipping the cover off so you can get to it easier.
i know this is abit heavy handed but it worked with one of our minis
try jacking the front end up and starting the engine the wheels should go then press the brake and try to work the clutch this has taken about half an hour to free it but what had happened the clutch had siezed to the fly wheel after it had freed we had no problems with the clutch
hope this helps david
try jacking the front end up and starting the engine the wheels should go then press the brake and try to work the clutch this has taken about half an hour to free it but what had happened the clutch had siezed to the fly wheel after it had freed we had no problems with the clutch
hope this helps david
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