My 1965 bug clutch problem

[vwgirl1961a]

Hi friends,
Is there anyone in Phoenix who can help me. I am out of work and unemployment ran out. My sister's income is not helping us out with bills. Her Dodge Neon is not running and she has to use my Lady bug to drive to work. She was having shifting problems which has gotten worse and the clutch pedal is loose and its sitting very high up. We are totally frustrated because Pep Boys charged us $100 for diagnostic on her Neon and said it needs a new fuel pump/filter for $700 and we told them no thanks and a friend's mechanic put a new fuel pump and the car is doing the same thing $350 later which included a new battery.
We don't know how long it will take to fix her car and I am SO worried about my poor Lady ((((
I have never had the clutch replaced since I bought her in 1995 when living in NY.
Maybe moving to AZ is killing my car when I thought the weather here would be perfect for her. Interior is totally torn in 4 yrs living here and now I am wondering if everything else is going to go wrong
I have no idea how much it will cost me to fix the clutch and how I will pay for it (((

Jane from N. Phoenix
_________________
"Age doesn't really matter unless you are a cheese".

[Cusser]

Jane - this is the Cusser, I met you, and saw your VW one day at the nursery, maybe 2 years ago.

So real question is: trouble shifting into gears, or is the clutch slipping ?

The first thing would be to determine (or try to determine) whether the issue is related to the clutch itself, or related to a cable/pedal problem. Typically when a clutch wears out, the clutch disc slips, and engine rpms go up but the VW doesn't really increase in speed correspondingly.

It sounds to me like your sister (and you, I think) is having trouble getting it into gear, is that correct? Or does it feel funny or shudder as you take off on a green light?

What generally can happen is that a clutch cable can stretch/fray, or the pedal hook (inside the tunnel) can bend and/or wear. This was mine:

Has the free play at the pedal increased over the last few months? Has anyone ever adjusted the clutch cable in the last 5 years? What is the free play, estimate/measure by pressing the pedal down with your hand until you feel increase in resistance. Correct is about 3/4 of an inch.

OK, what to do if you don't know: clutch cable adjustment takes 10 minutes, might depend if you have two adjusting nuts or a wingnut on yours.

Replacing a frayed/stretched clutch cable takes maybe 1/2 hour.

If your pedals and pedal hook are not OK, add in to replace pedal hook.

If the issue is with the clutch itself, like slipping clutch, then the engine needs to come out. For slipping clutches I wouldn't just replace the disc, would do new pressure plate, disc, throwout bearing, and get the flywheel resurfaced, as it would likely look like an LP record.

So real question is: trouble shifting into gears, or is the clutch slipping ?
_________________
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

[vwgirl1961a]

Hi Cusser and thanks for responding. The trouble is shifting the gears. I haven't driven the car since my sister Georgette used it Tuesday. The clutch pedal did this one before and I kind of looked at it and jiggled it and it went back to the normal position but now it's set too high.

[Cusser]

OK, so not a slippage issue.

I think you need to try to drive the car a little and see if it does the same. Tell us if the clutch pedal pushes down significantly easier than it did before, and if you can tell how much free play you have in the clutch pedal (if you know how to check)? Your cable may be stretched, that's the "best" scenario.

Sometimes the pedal hook bends like I showed. And sometimes the clutch tube mounts inside the tunnel break.

I sent a PM.
_________________
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

[vwgirl1961a]

Shifting problem. Hard to shift. Reverse grinds. The only way the shifting works is when the car is off. So I keep it in reverse when I have it parked if in a spot where I have to back out and in 1st, as always if I park it to drive away forward.
Thanks again Cusser. Got your pm

[Cusser]

OK, I did the "Samba Good Guy" thing and went over to look at Jane's 1965 VW. There were 3 to 4 inches of clutch free play. I crawled under the VW and found that the clutch release spring was broken, and just siting there loose, so I could readily move that clutch arm with my hand, and feel the looseness in the clutch cable.

I told her to take it in to a VW shop, not sure if this can be readily replaced without removing the engine.

I've only replaced these with the engine out, and it wasn't easy. So I can't take this on. Does anyone know if this spring can be replaced without pulling the engine? I'm going to post as a separate topic, haven't seen this asked before.

$1.25 part
http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=113141723
_________________
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

[Ellis' Bug]

Does her car have the 40 horse? I have an extra clutch but its for a 1600. My son and I could pull her engine if necessary to fix the spring. Does it just need the spring, or does she need a clutch too?
_________________
74 Super drag car
63 Bus, work in progress
65 Bug project
63/64 Ragtop
2006 Beck 356

[vwgirl1961a]

Hi Ellis, this is Jane. My Lady is a stock 65. 1200 engine 6 volts no moderation. I am not sure if she needs a clutch. I am sure Cusser will come here to let us know.
Thank you for offering to help. I don't want anything to happen to her. She is such a good little car. Had her since 1995 and the only major problem she ever gave me was trying to find an honest mechanic after getting ripped off of almost $1000 by crooked mechanics who couldn't figure out what was wrong. It ended up being a generator problem.

[Cusser]

Ellis - thanks for offering to help Jane, nice lady, and she needs the help. VW is in nice shape, so understand why she wants it to run good. I didn't want her to do any more damage, as something was obviously wrong.

I went to take a quick 1st look Friday afternoon, without my jack, jackstands, etc (intentionally). Clutch pedal has tons too much free play, first thing I noticed. Clutch pedal itself is NOT cracked (I've had the original clutch pedals crack on my 1970 and my 1971). So I scooted underneath to feel how much threads were remaining for adjustment on the clutch cable, found that the cable was really loose, and that the return spring was broken.

So obviously the release arm spring is broken, must be replaced. I didn't feel comfortable trying to just adjust the clutch cable while that spring was broken, figured that at best would be a band-aid and didn't want to cause any clutch slippage or transmission issues, she needs to get it fixed right.

So spring, for sure.

Is the clutch cable stretched? Don't know, I say there's need to address the spring first.

Is the clutch hook on the pedal bent/broken? Don't know, again, part of checking out once the spring issue is taken care of.

Does the clutch itself or the release fork need to be replaced? Don't know, again the spring first. She's had no clutch slippage issues.

I work full-time, handle the fixin's at two houses. If this was my own bug, sure, I'd just do it myself, but I wouldn't have any time pressures either.
_________________
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

[Ellis' Bug]

We're at 59 Ave and Bell, were are you Jane?
_________________
74 Super drag car
63 Bus, work in progress
65 Bug project
63/64 Ragtop
2006 Beck 356

[Cusser]

[vwgirl1961a]

I will message you my info. Thanks

[vwgirl1961a]

Thanks again Cusser!

[vwgirl1961a]

I called my mechanic, Mr. Sheldon at Sheldon's Auto Repair. He said he can fix it for under $100 and If I decide he can do this on Tuesday. AND he is so nice that he will let me use his truck while Lady is getting fixed.
Here is a photo of Sheldon's:
https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/37987_1536638346087_4965670_n.jpg

Does this sound reasonable?

[FINEGERMANSTEEL]

damn hopefully you get it sorted out.too bad we didnt live closer,i aint got shit to do all day today.keep us posted
_________________
--MovedFromSeattleArea2SpokaneLate2021-----------
60 bus mango
61 bug. low n slow1200
65 bus project_sadly sold it
66 squareback project..in process..kinda
--CultWagen--slowlow61

[Cusser]

[vwgirl1961a]

Thank you. I will keep everyone posted.

[vwgirl1961a]

Hi Cusser, After I spoke to you and driving back home with my sister when I picked her up from work, the shifting was almost impossible. Even 3rd and 4th gear. At every stop I couldn't get her into 1st unless I shut her off and then put her in gear and started her. Reverse has been a problem the past week but now it's impossible. I will not drive her until she is fixed. I hope Mr. Sheldon can send a guy out here with a tow truck. I'll keep you posted and thanks again.

[vwgirl1961a]

Just called Sheldon's and said the clutch cable needs to be replaced and the spring on the clutch release lever. He hopes that's all that is wrong and will let me know later in the day.
What would be a reasonable price to do this? I haven't discussed the cost with Mr. Sheldon yet.

[vwgirl1961a]

Picked Lady up yesterday afternoon. $225.00 total for new return spring, clutch cable and 2lbs of tranny oil. And $58.00 to tow her there. I think that's what he said and what it says on the bill. He did say the left boot needs to be replaced because of a leak. Thanks again Cusser!