Gas to Diesel clutch lever fabrication.

[yggdrasil]

cant find the diesel clutch lever, wondering if anyone has had any luck cutting rotating and welding one...

I think i can cut slice it rotate and stick it back to gether.
Any comments?

[outcaststudios]

i dont see why you cant use a tig welder to join it. i would use silicon bronze filler rod but stainless would work too. the bronze stretches more instead of snapping. obviously be sure to clean both surfaces and use 100% argon if you can for heat.
_________________
'88Doka JX td
'69 westy
(rip)couple bugs
(rip)three type III"s
(rip) '81 vanagon
a bunch of french stuff,and 9 motorcycles.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2573791

[yggdrasil]

It's cast steel right?

[outcaststudios]

its an alloy of steel thats cast,yes, i havent ever done this to this exact part but i have to other parts. did you test with a magnet? i doubt its aluminum.
_________________
'88Doka JX td
'69 westy
(rip)couple bugs
(rip)three type III"s
(rip) '81 vanagon
a bunch of french stuff,and 9 motorcycles.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2573791

[syncrodoka]

https://www.tdi-umbau.com/getriebe-t3/getriebeteile-vw-bus-t3/kupplungshebel-t3-251141713c.html

[crazyvwvanman]

I wonder if you could just take a gas one and file one of the 4 splines off so it can rotate on the shaft by that amount?

Also Weddle was selling cross shafts for a while that had extra grooves to allow the lever to be mounted at different rotational positions.

Don't know if either approach would do the job but I'd look at them.

Mark

[Sodo]

Is it feasible to cut the cross-shaft, rotate the splined end then weld it?
Then it's only "steel".

Could be mild steel.
Try filing it.
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[syncroserge]

Even simpler to modify the clutch slave bracket. I'll look tomorrow for the one I modified.
It worked fine for years until I found a complete diesel bellhousing.

[ALIKA T3]

[?Waldo?]

[vanis13]

wonder if the slave pushrod length could me modified to work.
_________________
83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make

[?Waldo?]

All of the suggestions to modify OTHER parts in order to compensate for the desire to avoid purchasing the stock readily available parts seem crazy to me. I already posted a link to a complete diesel bell housing that includes both clutch lever and slave bracket and it took all of 10 minutes of searching to find it. $170 is a CHEAP way to avoid an ongoing current and future nightmare!

Imagine being the next owner of the van when one of the parts breaks on a trip and you have no awareness of the customization!

[syncroserge]

I modified the slave bracket way back in the '90s when finding these parts was way harder than it is today.

The minute I got my hands on the real VW parts I slapped them on. I am with Waldo on this.
This stuff is not that hard to find.

On the other hand a slave bracket I modified for a friend is still going strong 20+ years later...

[yggdrasil]

Wow! Great responses, this was putting me into serious depression and now i feel like there are some options.

I like the idea of just adding some splines to the shaft.

I also think idea of grinding down one of the splines on the inside of the lever to rotate it might work.

I did look at the throw-out bearing arms and that would also work but might be a little more work.
I'll let you know.

Syncroserge, let me see photos of what you have done to the slave bracket...
Thank you!

[dobryan]

I am at a loss here. Does your mechanic work for free? It sounds like you are going to be spending $$ with the mechanic to affect a work around when $170 is the right solution.
_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[crazyvwvanman]

If it makes the angle right then this sounds like the way to go.
A little careful work with a file to remove a single spine inside the gas lever.
The risk is low as gas levers are not hard to find.
Plus it still works if you need to replace the cross shaft down the road.

Did you already locate a diesel clutch slave bracket?

I've been meaning to look though my tranny parts piles.
I used to do a lot of work with diesel vans.

Mark

[yggdrasil]

[syncroserge]

It is 0 F here so know that I only braved the cold to dig those parts out of oblivion because
you are from New Mexico and my wife and I are in love with New Mexico

If you put the wbx bracket on the diesel bellhousing it is obvious the difference is small.

Cut the mounting tab at the upper left of the bracket, grind to size, bolt it to the diesel starter
on the diesel bellhousing.
The diesel bellhousing is thicker than the wbx, plus the thickness of the starter so you need to keep
the angle of the bracket correct, tack in place then remove and weld properly.

I don't know why VW made the diesel parts quite different from the gas ones.
But as long as you get the geometry right all the above suggestions will work.

[yggdrasil]

[valvecovergasket]