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73SlowBug
Samba Member
Joined: November 28, 2017
Posts: 439
Location: PENNSYLVANIA
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 Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 6:25 pm Post subject: Slipping clutch... |
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I went to adjust my clutch as a last ditch before replacing, and had 0 free play. There was plenty tension on the cable even with it fully released. What would cause this? Last time I adjusted the cable was probably January, and it's been fine since. Today, I had to loosen the cable to get freeplay in spec, and the clutch is no longer slipping. I'd think it would go the other way as the clutch disc wears down, unless I'm missing something. My pedal assembly is in good shape (not broken). If the cable was "stretching", i'd think id have to tighten, not loosen. Is this just what happens as the clutch wears? Maybe a transmission mount was bent somehow (doubt it)? Thanks.
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busdaddy
Samba Member
Joined: February 12, 2004
Posts: 51154
Location: Surrey B.C. Canada, but thinking of Ukraine
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| Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 6:42 pm Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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As the clutch disc wears the cable tightens, regular maintenace requires loosening it every so often. So far it sounds like yours isn't doing anything odd.
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73SlowBug
Samba Member
Joined: November 28, 2017
Posts: 439
Location: PENNSYLVANIA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:07 pm Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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| busdaddy wrote: |
| As the clutch disc wears the cable tightens, regular maintenace requires loosening it every so often. So far it sounds like yours isn't doing anything odd. |
Thanks. Good to know. I'll keep an eye on it. I've never replaced a clutch on a bug. I'm not wanting to do it now for the first time.
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DurocShark
Samba Member
Joined: April 05, 2004
Posts: 6624
Location: Crappy town in a crappy state. But the beach is nearby, so I have that going for me.
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| Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:22 pm Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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| 73SlowBug wrote: |
| busdaddy wrote: |
| As the clutch disc wears the cable tightens, regular maintenace requires loosening it every so often. So far it sounds like yours isn't doing anything odd. |
Thanks. Good to know. I'll keep an eye on it. I've never replaced a clutch on a bug. I'm not wanting to do it now for the first time. |
If you can pull the engine, you can do the clutch.
Just hope you don't find one of these like I did:
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Multi69s
Samba Member
Joined: January 24, 2006
Posts: 5364
Location: Lefty, CA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 12:04 am Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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Check your motor mounts. Get a good light and a pry bar, crawl under the car and do a little prying, and looking. If the motor mounts are bad, the engine / trans, shifts position, which affects the clutch cable. Unless the clutch has came apart, or the throw out bearing has a problem, you shouldn't go from normal to no free play.
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69 road Bug 2110
73 Squareback - 2L, T4, Automatic W/ AC
Gone, but many fond memories 69 Baja Bug 2010 - 5 Rib Bus Transaxle
Gone but not forgotten 72 Baja Bug 2010
My builds
T4 into Squareback http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=458944&highlight=
Auto Trans Rebuild http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=516066&highlight=
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73SlowBug
Samba Member
Joined: November 28, 2017
Posts: 439
Location: PENNSYLVANIA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 1:03 am Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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| Multi69s wrote: |
| Check your motor mounts. Get a good light and a pry bar, crawl under the car and do a little prying, and looking. If the motor mounts are bad, the engine / trans, shifts position, which affects the clutch cable. Unless the clutch has came apart, or the throw out bearing has a problem, you shouldn't go from normal to no free play. |
My motor mounts are new and were replaced last year. I don't think it was sudden, I just didn't notice until it reached the of slipping. All is well now. No slip.
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Multi69s
Samba Member
Joined: January 24, 2006
Posts: 5364
Location: Lefty, CA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 1:15 am Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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| 73SlowBug wrote: |
| Multi69s wrote: |
| Check your motor mounts. Get a good light and a pry bar, crawl under the car and do a little prying, and looking. If the motor mounts are bad, the engine / trans, shifts position, which affects the clutch cable. Unless the clutch has came apart, or the throw out bearing has a problem, you shouldn't go from normal to no free play. |
My motor mounts are new and were replaced last year. I don't think it was sudden, I just didn't notice until it reached the of slipping. All is well now. No slip. |
Something had to change to cause the clutch to slip, things just don't fix themselves. Check the clutch tube where it exists by the transmission. Also lift up the back seat and check the clutch tube for breakage. After 40 years it is very common for a clutch tube retaining weld, or the tube itself to break.
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69 road Bug 2110
73 Squareback - 2L, T4, Automatic W/ AC
Gone, but many fond memories 69 Baja Bug 2010 - 5 Rib Bus Transaxle
Gone but not forgotten 72 Baja Bug 2010
My builds
T4 into Squareback http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=458944&highlight=
Auto Trans Rebuild http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=516066&highlight=
AC in Squareback https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight= |
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vamram 
Samba Member
Joined: March 08, 2012
Posts: 7306
Location: NOVA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 6:14 am Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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Check your motor mounts anyway. I recently replaced the motor mounts on my '74. It was the 2nd time in a year i had to do it because of the crappy quality of the after market ones. That one bad mount didn't cause the issue you're having however, it did cause big clunks as the engine torqued and would smack down on the mount when I released the gas pedal. I suppose you could have more than one bad mount.
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73SlowBug
Samba Member
Joined: November 28, 2017
Posts: 439
Location: PENNSYLVANIA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 11:31 am Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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Still didn't find anything broken or bent or loose today. I also just went through a thorough state inspection, and the mounts checked out. They definitely checked them (that's how i found out i needed new ones last year). I've put 400 miles on since the initial post. The freeplay is still in spec, and no clutch slip. Honestly think it just gradual "wandered" to no freeplay, without me noticing, until it finally started slipping, as the clutch broke in and settled. It had been quite a few thousand miles since last adjusted. Probably 10k-11k since last January.
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Cusser
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2006
Posts: 31380
Location: Hot Arizona
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 12:46 pm Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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| Multi69s wrote: |
| Something had to change to cause the clutch to slip, things just don't fix themselves. |
To me, it sounds like 73SlowBug DID adjust the clutch cable to allow some slack, why the slip stopped.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297 |
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Multi69s
Samba Member
Joined: January 24, 2006
Posts: 5364
Location: Lefty, CA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 12:55 pm Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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Unlike a vast majority of folks on this forum, I am getting up there in years, (hopefully retire in 4). All of this time the only car that I had for a daily driver is VW (my 92 year old dad had the first VW/Porsche shop in this region). During all this time I have run engines from stock to wild. That being said, I have never had a clutch that "wandered" to no free play. A stretched or braking clutch cable would cause too much free play. So something had to shift / break to have you lose your free play (clutch tube, throw out bearing, pressure plate, clutch disc separating, or even the pedal assembly getting loose from the tunnel). Its great that you got the free play back to where its supposed to be. However, pay attention to it like a hawk. If you start to notice that the free play is starting to tighten up again, you will have to do some serious investigating.
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69 road Bug 2110
73 Squareback - 2L, T4, Automatic W/ AC
Gone, but many fond memories 69 Baja Bug 2010 - 5 Rib Bus Transaxle
Gone but not forgotten 72 Baja Bug 2010
My builds
T4 into Squareback http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=458944&highlight=
Auto Trans Rebuild http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=516066&highlight=
AC in Squareback https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight= |
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Cusser
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2006
Posts: 31380
Location: Hot Arizona
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| Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 3:31 pm Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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| Multi69s wrote: |
| I have never had a clutch that "wandered" to no free play. A stretched or braking clutch cable would cause too much free play. |
Neither have I experienced that on my two VWs.
But I've also never had a generator belt or accelerator cable break while I was driving either. A clutch cable - yes, broke one in 1979 while on vacation in California, but even then carried a spare cable, wingnut, and grease.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297 |
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73SlowBug
Samba Member
Joined: November 28, 2017
Posts: 439
Location: PENNSYLVANIA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 2:38 pm Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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[quote="Cusser"]
| Multi69s wrote: |
| I have never had a clutch that "wandered" to no free play. A stretched or braking clutch cable would cause too much free play. |
I now know what caused this problem. Oil from my rear main seal was leaking onto the clutch, causing accelerated wear. My clutch went out around Thanksgiving and had now been replaced. I also needed a new flywheel (not resurfaced) because mine had, according to my mechanic, disintegrated.
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Tim Donahoe
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Joined: December 08, 2012
Posts: 11740
Location: Redding, CA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 2:59 pm Post subject: Re: Slipping clutch... |
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Oil on a clutch disc might make it grab or slip, but accelerated clutch wear? Sounds weird. Once you get enough oil or grease on the disc, it will slip or grab quickly. And I’ve never heard of a flywheel that “disintegrated”. Unless, of course, the mechanic was talking about the teeth; but in this case, you’d have heard a lot of racket when engaging the starter.
Tim
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