MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

TR parts and Triumph parts, TR bits, Triumph Car Spares and accessories are available for TR2, TR3, TR3A, TR4, TR4A, TR5, TR6, TR7, TR8, Spitfire and Stag and other TR models are available from British car spares and parts company LBCarCo.

Triumph TR6 - Slave Cylinder stroke

The clutch on my 6 engages right off the floor. A friend says I have the wrong slave cylinder.

My friend says that there are 2 different slave cylinders and the strokes are different.

The victoria british columbia catalog ws23 lists only one.

I have a new clutch and presure plate, and the system is bled. As soon as the engine worms up the clutch will not engage enough.

I need your help.
Joe

Hi Joe,
Is the push rod connected to the middle hole on the shaft drop arm ?? ..or maybe you'll need to bleed the system ?
Charlie
Charlie B.

Joe:

The clutch in my '76 grabbed a bit low too but one morning it would not engage at all. This Fall, it seems I had a leak in the slave cyl and the fluid level in the master was too low to generate pressure. I rebuilt the leaking slave cyl with borrowed used parts while awaiting new ones, bled the system and the clutch grabbed right off the floor but still worked okay til I put the car away. I have the new slave cyl but not yet installed. Charlie is giving you good advice to check your push rod position for length of travel and you may want to consider replacing the .070" master cyl with the .075" as all info in this and other forums indicates the larger bore will give you a longer travel and better engagement on the clutch and better performance. I'm planning on a new .075" master before the car hits the road again this spring.Perhaps Steve in Georgia or Charlie or any of the other very knowledgeable guys in this forum could comment on this. In the six months I've been into this forum I've learned more from these guys than in the 12 years I had my TR4A. This forum is better than any manual. Good luck.

Bob
'76 TR6
Bob Evans

The slave cylinders are the same, it is the clutch master cylinders where there are different sizes. The .75" unit was used on the early cars, with the change made to the .70" unit for a reduced pedal effort. The early cars had a much heavier feeling clutch. The larger unit will defintely move more fluid, but there is no reason why the .70" unit will do the job if everything else is properly set up. Going to the .75" cylinder may not address the root cause.

As previously stated check the push rod position. If you did not replace the clevis pins, you may find wear on the pins, the push rods, the cross shaft and even the pedal to be a problem. At one time the master cylinder push rods were available as seperate spares, but alas such is not the case anymore, they are only available with the master cylinder assembly. When rebuilding clutch hydraulics, I just made it a practice to go ahead and replace the push rods and clevis pins while I was at it.
SteveP

Joe
Unfortunately non-members do not have access to the ARCHIVES. So join up.
Like Steve says...There are many "linkage" points in the clutch. All these points must be round..not oblong with age. There is about 1 inch of throw in the slave push rod when the clutch is depressed. Have a helper press the clutch to the floor (engine NOT running) and with you underneith check the length of travel..obviously all safety precautions observed!! The slave cylinder is mounted with the bleed nipple at the top. Is the plastic hose from master to slave new or old? Does the master cylinder need rebuilding? Have you tried double clutching before trying to engage the tranny? Also, since Dr. Bill is on sick leave, I will push his pet peave: Have you checked your thrust washers? And like has been said, maybe a second bleed is in order. Clutches in TR6s always engage close to the floor. Any little problem as mentioned and then no clutch.

Now things not mentioned. You say..." have a new clutch and presure plate," By this, I think you are saying Drive plate and pressure plate. What brand of these 2 components did you buy? Aftermarket Borge & Beck or Laycock? An important question!
Also did you renew the throw-out bearing? The clutch fork and clutch shaft..New...OLD??
Let us know your results.
Rick C
Rick Crawford


Just my two cents since I replaced all of my clutch components:

When I got the car the clutch engaged right off the floor and the gears would grind a bit when engaging.
When I took it apart here's what I found. The clutch cover positioning dowels were missing, the clutch cover bolts were too long and bottoming out in the flywheel causing the clutch cover to seat improperly, the clutch shaft was worn and sloppy, the clutch fork pin was broken, and the clutch was worn. I was suprised it worked at all.

The moral is...all of these little problems stack up and the not-so-great design of a system can't handle it. I'm sure my situation was a little unusual.
Replacing the shaft and bushings as well as the broken pin most likely fixed most of the low engagement problems. I of course replace everything else in there as well. Works great.

When the clutch fork pin breaks you can't tell until you remove it. It still allows the fork to move but it adds extra slop.

So if you checked all of that then good. If not, you may have to go back in there and have a look.

Good luck
Henry
HP Henry Patterson

All things concidered, you give me a lot to think about.

1st The clutch disk and presure plate and release bearing are new and were built by a local company.

2nd Nothing improves when the clutch pedle is pumped multiple times. Which indicates the system is blead.

I am going to check the clevis pin this week end.

How do I tell if the fork is bent.

Last but not least Is it worth try a new Master cylinder. .75

I am going to pull it this week end, any other points to check will be greatly apppreaciated.

PS My In-laws from Winnipeg are coming in June and I want it running and looking good. I believe this might become my favorite site.
Joe

Joe,
Something Rick mentioned would be a good first step in your diagnosis before investing in new parts on a trial and error approach. If the slave cylinder is moving the necessary distance (mine's around 1/2-5/8 inch and works fine-I don't know the official specs), then I think you can rule out everything from the pedal through all hydraulics. The slave travel represents the entire result of all those components. You don't even need to jack up the car to check this.

Since you've had the tough stuff worked on professionally, I would hope your problem is hydrualic. Broken forks are cited here often, but you'd hope the mechanic would notice something like that.

In my case, the plastic hose was replaced (Rick mentioned that too-but you didn't say), the system rebled, and fine ever since. Was it a bad hose, or did I just bleed it better? Don't know. I think it could have just been allowing air to slowly come in.

If the slave travel is a little short, you might get by moving the attachment to the top hole. I got by with that for a while.

Good luck,
Mark
Mark Hauser

Mark
Thank-you...was not sure of exact amount but yours sounds closer. This is a very easy 10 second check.


Joe, So it sounds like you had it rebuilt not new components? Yes? This brings up a question. Did this problem occur after the rebuild of the clutch??
Another question is: Have the master and slave cylinders been rebuilt? It sounds like the answer is no???
The fork I highly dought it is bent. Pretty tough. The areas to look at with the clutch fork are: 1. The dowel pins that engage the release bearing..are they worn? 2. The clutch fork is attached to the clutch operating shaft. Does it have play in it? 3. The shaft has bearings at either end where it slides into the gear box case. again worn? The last 2 items have upgrades to them if you find they need repair.

Do the suggestion Mark says...check the throw of the slave cylinder. The reason I mention the red plastic hose from master to slave is that there has been instances of this ( when old and tired) expanding as the clutch is depressed. Well the hydraulic fluid is used to expand the hose not operate the clutch. So if it is old, consider replacing.
Rick C
Rick Crawford

Might be a long shot but check the clevis pin at the clutch pedal for wear I learned that a 1/16 of a inch here will render the clutch useless. The pin and holes tend to wear oval in shape. Mine needed some weld repair on linkage and a new pin then all was fine.
B.R. Horne

This thread was discussed between 28/02/2005 and 05/03/2005

Triumph TR6 index