Clutch for 1930 morris minor not operating

[Johnwelsh]

Question from lightweight:

Can anyone out there advise me on cluch adjustment (not slipping) clutch not operating seems to be ok
pedal operating one day and not the next - could anyone help ? -

[Ian Grace]

Hi John,

Well, just drive it every other day!

But seriously, if you have intermittent operation, it could be that the splines on the input shaft to the gearbox are worn down by the driven plate splines. This has the effect of not allowing the driven plate to move forward slightly when you de-clutch and so the clutch tries to stay engaged. If the wear is marginal, perhaps the splines catch one day and not the next?

This is explained in more detail, together with a lot of other useful clutch info in the first of our Technical Topics articles from the very first VMR Magazine M 101 - it is downloadable from the Members' Area, but to save you the hassle, I'll e-mail it to you - hope I have your up to date e-mail address - starts suewel2 ...?

Otherwise I'm struggling to think why this should happen. Anyone else got any ideas?

[Highlander]

I would think it is the splines. I had this problem and it got so bad I had to do something. My splines were very, very bad. In the end I got a new clutch plate with new female spline from Sports and vintage, Shrewsburey. I then had the male spline (gearbox end) built up and machined. When finished I still had a lot of work making the two splines run smoothly without 'catching' Has this just happened? Have you had the car long? Where are you? Highlander.

[Johnwelsh]

Through Inspection Cover I can feel there is too much movement on bearing

I am asuming that the fingers are slipping out of there crannies as I can rock the bearing
backwards and forwards ?

Any comments would be most welcome.

Answer to Highlander - I am living in Northumberland

[Highlander]

.You are just outside my 'come over and have a pint' distance - I am in Surrey. Whatever the problem the gearbox must come out and this should only take a couple of hours if you have not done this before. The thrust bearing my be shot. The bearing housing (like a shoe polish lid) may have broken up. Fingers are no problem. You will see the female clutch splines and the ones on the gearbox end. The gearbox has to be taken apart to get this spline out!! It all depends on how bad your Minor drives with the problem you have. I drove mine for a year before I had to do something (With the clutch disengaged at light the m inor kept crawling!!) Happy motoring. Highlander.