So the other day clutch pedal fell to the floor and car died. Pulled off to the side, pulled the pedal up (still had full pedal pressure) and restarted but the transmission sounded like a blender full of marbles. Had the car towed home. Got the transmission out and found the following carnage. Anyone seen this before? What do you think my options are?

Side quest: Do I replace the clutch while I'm at it?

That ain't right...

Oooooof

The pieces are just shattered.

And bounced a few times off the pressure plate face.

Can probably clean it up??

 

Bolt is missing from the top.

Damage could be related to the problem with the pivot points and missing bolt.

But the damage could have been caused by prying on the trans without properly releasing TOB retainer.

There is a specific method to release pull type clutches. TOB is shown still in clutch and retainer.

Clutches are balanced the wear will ruin that.

You need a new clutch, TOB, springs, dust shields, retainer, fork, flywheel, pivot pin, and trans case.

Check the clutch and flywheel bolts. You may have two problems. Clutch rubbed against something, but the broken pivots could have been caused by bad disassembly.

i have never seen this sort of damage to clutch fork and pivots.

Mitsuatb

 

yikes thats going to be an expensive fix..^ why do you say he needs a new transfer case? It looks unaffected. seems its just the whole clutch assembly that needs replacing. Or did you mean the transmission bellhousing?

 

The cost of welding and machining the pivot will be high. I think it is all one piece casting.

mitsuatb

 

Yea i thought you meant the transmission housing. It is all one piece and welding will be costly so yea should probably just get a new one I think they're still available from mitsu for around $500.

 

I think you may misunderstand. The TOB is still on the clutch because the clutch fork was no longer attached to the TOB. The pieces of the housing are demolished because they were bouncing off the pressure plate face while the car was running.

 

I have had this happen.. had to change that half of trans housing... bummer

 

Yeah that is ugly. Good luck with that and it looks like your going to need a top cover on the Exedy as well. I am sure the rest of the clutch is ok but top part is done. I would replace the bell housing I guess part of the trans to get the clutch fork support back that isn't broken and go from there.

 

Get a new bellhousing, fork and pressure plate cover. Probably around $1000 in parts. Consider yourself lucky it didn't wipe out more things because that's about the least amount of damage you can have in that scenario.

 

woah. i'm sure this is in my future. that sucks man

 

This is a pull type clutch if the thrust bearings on crank are gone you may have pulled the clutch into the fork and sheared off the pivot shaft. Same result but due to different issue, some call this crank walk.

If a previous owner had been rough with removing the trans it is also possible they pre - cracked the pivot's and / or left out the locking bolt. The forces are not that great in the clutch system to cause these sort of cracks. Once the spinning clutch face hits something then you have huge forces to tear things up but the root of the failure was lack of clearance to the clutch or preexisting damage.

I don't think this was a wear or use failure.

 

Surprisingly, this is not a hard fix. It's a little costly ($500 for the bell housing new) but cheaper than a new clutch that I thought I broke.

Some notes for anyone else having to do this:

• You will need to pull the races from the old housing and install them on the new housing. Removing them wasn't terribly hard. Installing them I froze the races for about 30min and heated the bell housing with a propane torch. Use a wide brass punch and mallet to knock them into place. They are definitely an interference fit.
• Ensure you pull the locating pins from the old housing into the new housing. A little heat will help them slide as well.
• One of the shift rods has a sleeve in the bell housing that you will need to move over. I ground down a bolt to fit under it and used a slide hammer to pull it out. Or buy a new one.
• Buy a new shaft seal to install (MB936826) in the new bell housing.