Clutch noise

raidmagic

Hey all. My clutch is making a "roaring" noise when driving and when sitting at idle with my foot off the clutch. If I push the clutch in it quits making that noise but when driving it roars. It sounds like if you ever had a drum brake car that sat for a while and the the drums rusted. That scrubbing sound. Any ideas. Before I bought the car the po bought and had installed a new clutch it has about 10 miles on it according to him it was installed on 8-17 of this year and I bought the car 10-3. It was unregistered and not driven since the clutch was installed.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Glowplug

Guessing your throw out bearing is the origin. The clutch release mechanism has a grease fitting which many overlook. Grease the zerk and check again. If the bearing is serviceable the noise may subside.

[Deleted User]

I wonder if he put any clutch fluid in it ? I ran into guys selling Hudsons that had no idea they were supposed to put oil in the new clutch,
Roger

raidmagic

According to the guy I bought it from he did, he even warned me it needs to be changed every 40,000 miles. How can I check the fluid level? I will lift the car tomorrow and see if I can inspect/lube the throw out bearing.

Looking at the receipt he gave me it the work performed are as follows.
(I'll add the pricing just for the fun of it you can tell me if he overpaid)

10" clutch cover gasket $10.00
10" reconditioned clutch disk $175.00
clutch fluid for Hudsons $5.50
41-54 reconditioned 10" pressure plate $165.00
New or reconditioned throw out bearing assembly $150.00

All the above are exact descriptions from the shop that did the work. I don't know the shop but maybe I should give them a call and see if that have anything to say about it.

[Deleted User]

All that sounds about right except the 40,000 miles . That is way over the recomended change interval . Every 5000 miles is the recomended number as I recall .To check the level the easiest way is from under the car if you have a tool to turn the flywheel or a helper to bump the starter.
You take the tin dust cover off the bottom of the flywheel and look on the front of the disk you will see a large plug . Two actually 180 degrees appart from each other. Those are the oil fill and drain plugs . Now its imposible to tell how much in is in it without draining it out completly and measure it. You could turn the flywheel till the plugs are horizontal across from eachother and remove one. Then slowly roll the wheel down till a little oil comes out. If none ever comes out something may have leaked and it ranout.
I think the greasing of the throw-out bearing is a first option,
Roger

raidmagic

Where can I get the fluid? I'd like to have it on hand. Thanks for correcting me on the interval, that could have gone bad for me.

hoggyrubber

i think the hudson club store sells it, also wildrick restoration and ron fellows. older jugs of it are on ebay usually.

Geoff

It's definitely not the throw-out bearing, as it stops making the noise when you have the pedal depressed. It will be the transmission . Most likely a bad front bearing, or worn gears, or layshaft bushings. What year car is it?

raidmagic

The car is a 49 the engine is a 51. I don't know what the trans is how would I find that out?

In the past on stick shift cars I've owned the throw out bearing made noise when not under load ie: clutch out. Is this one different?

[Deleted User]

There is a couple shoulder bolts as I recall that act as guides to hold the bell housing in place. One is the starter mount bolt. If they threw that away and just put a regular bolt in the unit could shift and as Geoff said cause the transmission input shaft to be in a bind. Horible thought I know but I left one of those out once .. .. .. ..
Roger

Geoff

I fail to see how a throwout bearing would make noise when not under load, and be quieter with the pedal depressed, as this is when it would be under pressure. As Roger said, check the alignment of the bell housing. If it is out, it will cause the clutch chaft ot be mis-aligned and this may be the cause of your noise. The '48 to '52 models had a single lever transmission, and you can remove the floorboards and take the lid of the box to inspect. However, you cannot remove the transmission separately.

[Deleted User]

Yes on that model the bell housing is actualy the front of the transmission,
Roger