Extremely weird clutch failure

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Totally agree. Having held the unit in my experienced hands, there is nothing wrong with it.

😂 😂

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

😂 😂

edited above a little.

[norcalpb]

Thanks for all the help guys. Ordered an Exedy OEM clutch but skipped the new clutch fork as I'll probably never exceed 205whp. Hopefully it'll be semi cheap to resurface the flywheel and do the install.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Totally agree. Having held the unit in my experienced hands, I find it plenty strong enough. Now the squeaky pivot, that's another story. I'd get fired advocating for an expensive solution using a sintered bronze insert.

You have also substantially reduced the pressure on your fork with the cylinder swap so may not be the best of examples. There are plenty of examples of twisted or bent forks on here. Just a slight deviation is all that is required to chew a TOB up in a hurry. Stock clutch and lower HP all is probably fine but a heavier disc and higher HP it is something to be considered. Squeaky pivots may be annoying but as long as they are still pivoting they are not burning out bearings and destroying plates.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

You have also substantially reduced the pressure on your fork with the cylinder swap so may not be the best of examples. There are plenty of examples of twisted or bent forks on here. Just a slight deviation is all that is required to chew a TOB up in a hurry. Stock clutch and lower HP all is probably fine but a heavier disc and higher HP it is something to be considered. Squeaky pivots may be annoying but as long as they are still pivoting they are not burning out bearings and destroying plates.

Slave cyl swap has zero effect on the force transmitted through the fork. It's a see-saw with one side pushing against the clutch.

If it wasn't strong enough it would yield and fail right away. Like @Sportsguy83 said, there are many more examples of the stock fork pushing against heavy clutches just fine. That's not the cause. When my TOB started binding against the snout I immediately recognized it as a potential cause for broken forks with that characteristic bind/snap/bind/snap of a component dangerously close to the yield point.


My point about it getting squeaky was just to point out that it's not perfect.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Slave cyl swap has zero effect on the force transmitted through the fork. It's a see-saw with one side pushing against the clutch.

If it wasn't strong enough it would yield and fail right away. Like @Sportsguy83 said, there are many more examples of the stock fork pushing against heavy clutches just fine. That's not the cause. When my TOB started binding against the snout I immediately recognized it as a potential cause for broken forks with that characteristic bind/snap/bind/snap of a component dangerously close to the yield point.


My point about it getting squeaky was just to point out that it's not perfect.

It is a basic lever so how does the pressure exerted by the slave not have any effect on the force? I would be way more inclined to say that the deflection caused by a bent fork would cause a bearing to go then a bearing jamming causing a fork to break.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

It is a basic lever so how does the pressure exerted by the slave not have any effect on the force? I would be way more inclined to say that the deflection caused by a bent fork would cause a bearing to go then a bearing jamming causing a fork to break.

Because nothing changed on the other side. It's still in equilibrium.

It's a basic lever.

[norcalpb]

Finally had the clutch replaced. Throw out bearing completely seized, caused it to melt and the the heat ruined the "teeth" on the clutch effectively ruining the oem clutch as well.

[Ultramaroon]

Pressure plate's damaged but I've seen worse. My younger poorer self would be tempted to clean up those burrs with some emery cloth and reinstall to get a couple more years out of it.

[Bfranklyn86]

After some hard driving my clutch pedal starts making a squeaky noise when about 80% depressed and feels less compliant. It's only just started doing it (after a track day actually). Any ideas what may be up?

(Nb: I've got an xtreme organic clutch, replaced the OEM 10months ago)

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Bfranklyn86

After some hard driving my clutch pedal starts making a squeaky noise when about 80% depressed and feels less compliant. It's only just started doing it (after a track day actually). Any ideas what may be up?

(Nb: I've got an xtreme organic clutch, replaced the OEM 10months ago)

How about a little more information about the nature of the noise.

Does it just do it one time per stroke or does it continually squeak when the clutch pedal is depressed .. ??

Does it squeak when the clutch pedal is NOT depressed .. ??

@Ultramaroon will hopefully be on the case .....


humfrz

[Ultramaroon]

Your remark about feeling less compliant gets my attention. If it feels like it's binding it's time to get in there and clean out the dust from your new clutch. Don't break your fork.

[VerusEric]

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

Me and a good group of owners I personally know with 2013-14 cars pushing 500+ hp and heavy clutches have never had problems with the fork... I feel like this "Fork is weak, replace it" mentality was just something manufactured from a few rare cases and it became popular. This is just IMHO.

We've had multiple shops contact us with before and after results from aftermarket clutches that were having issues disengaging, quite amazed at the difference in clutch feel. Perhaps you got a lucky OEM clutch fork, but we have seen and heard plenty of failed units in just a year.

I'm not looking for a fight but stating that it is a rare case is a bit of a stretch at this point, IMO. Trust me, I didn't believe it at first either.







We have about a dozen pictures like this.

Thanks,
Eric

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by VeloxEric

Perhaps you got a lucky OEM clutch fork, but we have seen and heard plenty of failed units in just a year.

I'm not looking for a fight but stating that it is a rare case is a bit of a stretch at this point, IMO.

Point taken. Does not seem a rare case from your data