OK 914 Gurus.........need theories, clutch sh*t the bed Options

[East coaster]

Took my 914 for a casual cruise today (means I didn't hit triple digits or leave any rubber patches) and I was cruising along at about 35 mph and when I went for the clutch pedal it was dead.......just laying on the floor.

Here's what I've checked:

Clutch cable is OK, clutch tube is OK, pulley is OK, roll pin on pedal cluster is OK.

It seems like something between the clutch lever/fork and the clutch itself. It's a 915 tranny and the linkage is a little different than the typical 914/901 linkage. There's a small lever arm on a shaft that has the throwout bearing fork on it and I can wiggle this lever and hear some metallic rattling going on in the bellhousing. Could my throwout bearing have crapped out??

It happened while cruising in 3rd gear and it ran fine all the way home in 3rd and then I slipped into 2nd to make it up the driveway and the clutch remained engaged and I didn't hear any noises of any sort.

I'm afraid it's pull the tranny time, but I wanted to bounce it of the folks here for opinions???? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[Joe Bob]

Internal....shift fork....

Does it run/drive by speed shifting? Start it in first gear....wuh, wuh, wuh....vroom......shift w/o clutch?

[dlo914]

happened to my buddy one night when we were cruising around. Turned out the friction disk broke into pieces after 10+years of use. Cost like $70 on ebay for a new one. We managed to leave the engine in the car and just removed the tranny.

[East coaster]

Mike, It shifts and runs fine without the clutch if that's a clue? It sounds like you may have been down this path before, what happens to the shift fork? ( I'm assuming you mean clutch fork??)

dlo....the clutch and basically the whole car only have about 500 mikes so far. That's not to say it couldn't have self-destructed!

[Joe Bob]

Yeah....I meant the clutch fork.

Mostly had the problem on my Type Is in the day......HD pressure plates and the famous Mikey abuse and the arm breaks off where the spring hooks on and the TO bearing doesn't work and the pedal goes to the floor.

[IronHillRestorations]

I'd get someone to pull on the trans side of the cable, and watch the pedal, just to make 100% sure it isn't a cable/pedal cluster problem.

[East coaster]

Perry, I verified the pedal cluster is OK by adjusting the slop out of the cable and the pedal is firm, it just doesn't do anything. I pretty convinced it's a problem inside the clutch/flywheel area and I sure wish I was wrong. I was really hoping not to be dropping the trans already.

[IronHillRestorations]

Bummer! (Johnny Cochran voice) If the pedal don't move, your out of the groove!

[rhodyguy]

kaput plastic pieces on the sides of the t.o bearing where it's held by the release arm? spent pivot clip, pivot bushing ball and or and bushing? enjoy the trans pull. bummer.

k

[Wild 6]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)
It's the clutch fork. A very common problem on the 915 gearbox. Pelican sells a replacement for around $100. I had the same thing happenon my 915 box.

[dimitri]

Since its a 915 trans, either the "pull" throwout bearing came apart or the snapring
let go, either way, you will have to pull the trans. Dimitri

[maf914]

My only clutch failure has been a cracked diaphram spring on the pressure plate, but this was on a 901 type clutch. There was a pop when I pressed the clutch pedal and then there was barely any clutch engagement when I released it. I thought clutch cable, but it was the pressure plate. This was with about 50,000 miles on it though.

[Brad Roberts]

... hum

Still thinking


The throw out bearing has two ears on it that have to line up with two "forks" on the clutch arm. If you dont get the throw out bearing rotated all the way into place as you bring the tranny and engine together.. it will work for awhile until it rotates out of the "forks"



B