anyone ever seen this? pressure plate meltdown

[Sam_Q]

I was driving the other day and with no warning when I went to push the clutch it it went in way too easy, and sure enough I had no more clutch activation. Thinking I had just messed up my clutch master I drove home without a clutch (the banked up traffic was a bitch) and then checked it out the next day. I found the rod for the slave was popped out so I replaced it but I noticed the fork wasnt in the right place. I took off my T50 box and to my horror I saw this:





the thrust bearing was seized and rubbed against the pressure plate till it melted, it used to be an exedy, what a loss!!! The weird thing is I didnt hear a thing and I didnt have the stereo on at the time.

anyone ever had this happen to them??

[RA35GT]

I've never had that problem before....but that looks damn impressive!

[Sam_Q]

yeah I know!! I would be more proud if it wasnt fo rthe fact I actually liked that clutch. Last time I got a quote to get another it was $430 and its wrecked just because of some shitty $25 part

[allencr]

If it was only the bearing seizing, it would've only chewed through the pressure plate fingers.
Yours has had continuous pressure on it without a chance to cool down, overheated it & lost its temper & bent.

Riding the clutch a bit much, or maybe playing with the MC adjustment?????

[Vios-GT_07]

i have a shredded clutch which i regret not taking pics off.... was due to a mini-spool... i put the broke clutch and its bits in the box of the new clutch and it sounded like a cereal box when shaken

that sure is something to look at... thrust bearing eh? hmm... have to say i've never seen this before, touch wood.... was the thrust bearing new when u put the clutch in? i know some dodgy people in victoria put second hand clutches in and pass them off as new

[Sam_Q]

allencr: I have already thought about this and I think your right, the question is why?? I don't ride the clutch, coudl it be that I am using a ae82 slave instead?? I did notice that there wasnt a gap between the fork and the rod when disengaged. Whats the MC adjustment?

Vios-GT_07: no I didnt change the thrust bearing when I converted to the 20V with the clutch that came with it. I guess I should of.

[CrUZida]

I had a thrust bearing seize just this size of Eucla when on my way to Sydney.

Drove the 1500km's to Adelaide where I pulled the box off.

The pressure plate was barely damaged at all, just a light score mark in it, but goddamn did it squeal like a pig when driving.

[EVOSTi]

why on earth would you not change the thrust bearing when you have the gearbox out? it comes with the kit and takes only a few seconds to change it and grease the appropriate points.

[CrUZida]

Perhaps because the one that was in there was only a few thousand km old.

[4agte]

but like evo sti said why take a chance might aswell replace it with the new one...

[IN 05 NT]

damn, ive changed a few clutches...and nuthing like that ever!.....

was the bering replaced with the clutch?...if so, send exedy an email, get some sot of warranty for malfunction of the poduct...even if its a couple of years old....

damn!. didnt do any damage to the input shaft of the box?

blake

[roadsailing]

as others have said, did you put in a new thrust bearing when changin the clutch? its paranoid doing it each time, but cheap insurance.

also, wher was your take up point? i broke a clutch bellville spring a while back (4AC days) and i think a big contributor was that the clutch release point was too high, resulting in overstressing the spring each time.

[Sam_Q]

yeah you guys are right I should of changed it last time my box was out. I to be honest have never changed one and I thought you only did so if started to make a noise. Infact I have never changed one in any of my cars till now.

The clutch came with my 20V and I just bolted it up.

I have yet to see a clutch kit that does have the thrust bearing with it.

The take up point was half way down

well I atleast know better now. I will be checking to see if there is any minute differences between sprinter and ae82 corolla slaves. I am thinking that the corolla one sticks out further.

[EVOSTi]

if you read post #6 he says he didnt cahnge the bearing, which is crazy to me as it comes with the kit.

also, why would exedy give you warranty? the first thing they are gonna ask is 'did you change the bearing? no? cya later'.

[4agte]

The clutch came with my 20V and I just bolted it up.

I have yet to see a clutch kit that does have the thrust bearing with it.

if the clutch came with the motor then i spose you were lucky and got some use outta the thing before something wore out

every exedy clutch ive bought has come with a new thrust bearing and taking gearboxes out is something i like to avoid so a rule of thumb when a new motor goes in

its a new clutch and pressure plate and thrust bearing

grease up everything and loctite on the flywheel and clutch bolts