Hey all,
A few of you may kno that i replaced my gearbox in the last few weeks and its all back in and have been driving it for a week now with a few lil problems that i hoped would go away. more to the point that the clutch is draging! im not a real expert at tinkering with clutch adjustments, would it jus need adjusting that it is doin this??
Hope someone can help me out cause its buggin me bigtime.
Cheers
>Rude<

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1968 Morris Mini Deluxe......sold
1992 Toyota Starlet GT EP82

An adjustment might help, but a whole lot of things can cause clutch drag from oil thats too thick (that wynns stop-smoke is terrible for it) through to worn out clutch mechanism.

Start by pulling the arm out as far as you can by hand then screwing out the little 7/16 bolt until its head is just touching the arm then screw it back in one flat (i.e. one sixth of a full turn). Then get someone to push the clutch in and make sure that the big nut on the end of the clutch throwout arm isn't pressing up against the clutch cover, if it is, back it off until there's a gap. If the clutch clears properly now, its an adjustment problem. If it still drags you've got other problems.

Tim

These sort of problems are almost always due to wear in the clutch actuating mechanism, strip out the arm and check ball end and all the clevis pins for wear, a little wear on each adds up to exactly your problem!

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Sir Alec! we are not worthy!

thing is that it worked perfectly before i had these gearbox dramas and replaced the gearbox, ill try what you said timbo but it sounds a lil confusing to me pics would help lots
cheers
>Rude<

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1968 Morris Mini Deluxe......sold
1992 Toyota Starlet GT EP82

What manuals do you have? There are pictures and better descriptions in all the common ones.

Tim

A common problem with mini clutches is that the actuating lever bends over time. They are normally slightly curved. Can't remember how many times I have had a clutch lever in the vise to bend the curve back in it (with a hammer of course). If it straightens out too much it can stop the clutch from completely disengaging because the slave cylinder reaches the end of it's travel before the clutch is completely disengaged.

Also, the adjustment of big nuts on the end of the throwout shaft is important. Any manual should explain this adjustment. If not adjusted properly the clutch machanism can float around when disengaged and puts excessive pressure on the throwout bearing accelerating the wear.

Worth checking these as well as the adjustment of the 1/4UNF bolt/locknut.

Pete

They actually were straight from the factory, the curve is put in by owners to make up for the worn components like the ball and socket and clevis pin. It gives the unit a little extra throw.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

here is a pic i just took....

cheers
>Rude<

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1968 Morris Mini Deluxe......sold
1992 Toyota Starlet GT EP82

Rodney

your pic will not show any obvious problems. If you had the return spring removed and the lever operated by hand to check the gap between the operating lever and the bolt on the housing, we may get a more clearer picture of your problem if it is at that point. As others have pointed out previously, there are a number of factors that come into play when clutch problems like yours arise. As in PM, the offer still stands, come on over or vice versa, and we can go over every thing to ensure you get back to the enjoyable experience of driving a Mini.

I stand corrected on the curved clutch arm. The 8 minis I have owned all had curved levers so over bending them must be a common practice.

I did notice one thing in your photo worth mentioning. There seems to be a bracket missing from your engine steady. There is normally an S shaped bracket that goes from the outer side of the rubber bush to the hole in the block approx 5 cm forward of it. Without this the bolt might work in the hole and eventually break. If yours is a very late model it may not have had this bracket but I have never seen a Mini without one.

Hope you get your clutch fixed soon.

Pete

Sounds to me that you more than likely have a problem with the idler gear &/or primary gear having not been "End Floated"correctly

that is to say that """IF""" the end float clearance of one or both of those gears is set too tight, then it will feel like the clutch is dragging

who set the end float on both those gears whilst/when re-fitting the gear box job????

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

my clutch was slow to release and was slipping - it turned out to the the small hose from the master to the slave cylinder was not letting the fluid back fast enough.

Not sure if this is the same as your problem, but once replaced it was as good as gold.

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It's not a mini, but still a bloody lot of fun! (and keeps me poor)

do you or anyone else have a picture of this??


that makes no sense to me at all, sorry matt, im not all there with gearbox related things my mechanic who did the majority of the work rebuilding it with me the first time did put it all back together again (also helped in pulling it apart) but he is no mini expert but worked fine the first time we did it....

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1968 Morris Mini Deluxe......sold
1992 Toyota Starlet GT EP82

Nice pickup in the photo peterw, the bracket he needs is made up of items 10 and 16 in pic (below).



Rodney, we all probably have these lying around so I will dig some out for you.

My mini sits in the driveway suffering the same thing. I've replaced everything except the slave cylinder, which I will do when motivation kicks in next.

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