Whats happend to my clutch? Had to abandon in a field!

Al2O3 said:

Suppose there must be a critical point at which a bend in the pipe, holding an air bubble, when tilted allows the bubble to be dragged along with the fluid.

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Not that so much, slave is a cylinder, holding fluid. bleed nipple is at top of the front end, if it is pointed down then the high point in the cylinder is at the back and the air will never go out of the bleed nipple.

Cheers

jamesmartin said:

its angle if the slave, at a certain angle the end furthest from nipple becomes higher

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neilly said:

Not that so much, slave is a cylinder, holding fluid. bleed nipple is at top of the front end, if it is pointed down then the high point in the cylinder is at the back and the air will never go out of the bleed nipple.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Ahhh, it's the simple things that are the brilliant things! Cheers, gents

Al2O3 said:

Ahhh, it's the simple things that are the brilliant things! Cheers, gents

Click to expand...

Like I said......a slap forehead moment...LOL

Cheers

neilly said:

Like I said......a slap forehead moment...LOL

Cheers

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I'm experiencing those at an increasing frequency. It's an age think I reckon
EDIT
For me anyway

zeaphod said:

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm starting to think release bearing or clutch plate. Any unusual noise from that area when you use the clutch?

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If it has been properly bled (sometimes harder than is sounds) and there is a strong feeling pedal but still struggling to change gear I would agree with you. Symptoms sound similar to a clutch spring failure I had. Spring in the clutch plate had snapped and although not dislodged had enough movement in the two pieces to mean the clutch did not disengage every time. Took a long time to trace that intermittent fault. replaced all the hydraulics and pipes, and then decided the only thing left was the clutch and release arm/bearing.

Did the clutch on mine last month because I felt it was getting rather heavy. When opened up I found that one paddle pin on the fork had come out so fork was only pressing on one side of the release bearing.

Well update had the clutch pressure bled and no difference at all.

Gear changes are only easy If I rev-match but 4th gear is out of the question, all gears difficult and 1st and 2nd are intermittent which means that something is almost certainly up in the clutch itself./

Sadly that means off road for some time as a) cost what should I expect?
b) Garage cant book in straight away
c) all the other usual crap!

Is their any other way of doing the clutch bearing in mind I only have hand tools!?

I have checked and their is the correct amount of arm movement etc so it must be something within the clutch itself, which was fitted in 2015. ANoying but oh.

The clutch can be changed on a driveway with hand tools, it's heavy work, but not complicated. You'll need a propshaft tool (cheap) and a 9/16 spanner to disconnect the propshafts. You can leave the transfer box and main gearbox bolted together - that's where the heavy lifting comes in. In a nutshell, remove flooring, disconnect handbrake/reverse/difflock wiring, disconnect props, support the box and move backwards/away. Unbolt clutch, remove and change, refit. Loads of people have done it - have a google.

When bleeding the clutch I use a long clear flexi bleed pipe from the slave cylinder up to the top of engine bay into a container, crack open the bleed nipple and pump the clutch pedal and keep topping up the master cylinder, its easy and works perfectly every time, once all the bubbles are out of the pipe nip the bleed nipple shut and remove pipe. No need to open and close nipple while pumping as pipe will fill with fluid up to the container. Just make sure pipe is secure in container so you dont squirt fluid everywhere. I use an empty half gallon plastic windscreen wash fluid container with a narrow screw top, pipe does not need to be in any fluid in the container as pipe remains full.

I agree with @zeaphod to do it yourself, I would expect a garage to be charging upwards of £500 and last time I checked several places outright said they wouldn't even quote on it.
Beg/borrow/steal or hire if you are feeling flush and engine crane and a couple of straps to do all the heavy lifting. It is then a fairly straight forward process with hand tools. The only special tool you will need is a clutch enlightenment tool, other than that everything is nuts and bolts. I have done a couple of them now and it can be done on your own although is easier with two people, and it can be completed in a day (as long as everything comes off easily) but it will be a long day of solid work.

Couple of write ups:
one from here which no longer has pictures (link)
one from another forum which still has pictures. (link 1, link 2)