Rectifying wear in clutch withdrawal levers

[Charles P]

When I get the clutch apart I'll measure the spline length but in the absence of anything to compare it with I'm not sure how I could interpret the result.   Does anyone have a driven plate they could measure?

I guess it would have to be too long to cause dragging so presumably a small amount could be machined off the end but, without being sure that's definitely the cause of the problem, I'd be a bit reluctant to get this done.

John.

I’m sure that I have a couple in my spares shed. No idea if they are long or short, but I’ll measure them when I find them

On the “roller” point, when I made the aluminium clutch cover for my car I had to use hardened steel pins for the fulcrums. Works very well and in my mind an aluminium clutch cover combined with cast iron linings is a great solution for a sporting engine. 

C

[John P]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input.

I'd vaguely heard that there were different spline lengths but didn't previously realise how this would affect clutch disengagement.

I'd no idea that the original 3 speed toggle levers were a different shape to the modern replacements and looking at the photo posted by Dave Mann it certainly looks as though this could certainly affect how much disengagement you get for a specific travel of the thrust race.

Anyway, as soon as we get a few good days I'll try to get the engine and gearbox out and see what I can find.

John.

[Nick Turley]

The main thing to me is to get the distance from the lever tips to a straight edge across the crankcase correct i.e. 1/4 inch no more, no less , all levers need to be dead on the same.

The only successful way I have found to do this is to bend them using oxcy/acetylene to heat (cherry red) the middle of the lever.
After adjusting leave to cool naturally before rechecking measurement  - no quenching !!
All new levers made now need to be pulled out towards the release bearing in this way.
This is of course after taking all wear out of the slots.
This gives a lovely smooth clutch with no drag.

My other tip with the new levers (which are rock hard) is that you can buy a cheap diamond file on ebay (used for filing chips in glasses) to file the holes in the new levers which are too tight as supplied.
Hope this is helpful.