Broken Clutch in my RA23

**Panda** · 24-12-2009, 12:10 PM

So yeah, for some reason my clutch decided not to work this morning

and for the love of it i can't figure out what the hell is wrong...

It seems to be locked on, when i press the clutch, it feels like it always did, and there's the same resistance, but you cant put it in gear if the engine is running. If you start it in gear with the clutch fully in it's like there is no clutch.

This makes sense until i checked and the hydraulic fluid is full, and everything seems to work. The hydraulics are fine, there's no air in it and the mechanics all still work ... so what the hell??!?!?

So have i some how dropped it off the thrust bearing or something?

It's a W50 gearbox I'm pretty sure, it's the stock one with an RA23 anyway, which i think is either a W50 or W55? and it's got the stock clutch kit.

But anyway, any help would be great, cause im stumped

Cheers guys

**Tweak** · 24-12-2009, 03:28 PM

Id say the spigot/ thrust bearing has died. Or you have a bent clutch fork

Either way ithe box has gotta come out to inspect it

**ian** · 24-12-2009, 03:57 PM

hi panda
you need to have someone press the clutch while you have a look at the slave cylinder to make sure that all is well there
i had a similar thing happen to my 23
it turned out that the thrust bearing had siezed , and over a period of time it chewed through the fingers on the pressure plate , although it all felt normal it wouldnt go in to gear
also as stated before you may have a bent fork

**Panda** · 24-12-2009, 04:03 PM

Hmm, the thrust bearing might be the problem, that sounds promising.

Did check the slave with someone pressing the clutch and it all looked fine.

But i guess it's time to go out there and drop the box, really hoping i wouldn't have to though

so much effort. Thanks guys! any more ideas would be appreciated!

**Panda** · 24-12-2009, 04:14 PM

So if it's my fork could i just disconnect the return spring on the hydraulics and that should show me whether the fork is in place or not? or is it more complicated than that?

**allencr** · 24-12-2009, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by Panda

...locked on, ...when i press the clutch, it feels like it always did, and there's the same resistance,...

If it was sitting a long time or had been through a lot of water, it may be temporarily 'stuck'.
Foot on the floor, in 1st or reverse - which ever is object free, start it up & see if it slips or frees up completely. If it doesn't break free in10-20m, something is broken, clutch and/or pressure plate and will have to be replaced.
Don't do this with a cold engine or one that doesn't like to start very easily. Warm it up a bit,

**kickstartRA28** · 24-12-2009, 08:48 PM

Had the same problem once the clutch plate, in my case , was stuck to the flywheel had to remove box to fix.

**lexsmaz** · 25-12-2009, 12:33 AM

The other thing that can happen is the pressure plate dies, the diaphragm which is part of the finger assembly can crack near a pivot point & the pressure plate will still lift, but not evenly & not fully on the cracked area, hence the clutch drag issue ..

**Panda** · 25-12-2009, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by allencr

If it was sitting a long time or had been through a lot of water, it may be temporarily 'stuck'.

Ooh, i did end up having to wade though some rather big puddles out at a friends place the day before, didn't seem to do any damage but this might be it. Defiantly a try before i drop the whole thing off.

Thanks Allencr!! This might save my ass