Clutch Problem (continued....again !)

Old Fogey UK

Well, I've now pulled the transmission out,
Throwout assembly and linkage  all OK with no play or visible wear/damage.
Pilot bearing OK.
No scoring or burning of the drive plate.
BUT...... the clutch disc that my deceased engine rebuilder put in isn't the 10 inch one I gave him, it's a 9 inch disc !
I wouldn't be allowed to post on this forum what I said when I took the clutch cover off !
Whatever other reasons there might be for my shifting problems won't have been helped by this.
 I don't want to think ill of the dead, I know he was doing a couple of other Hudson engines whilst he was doing mine and perhaps he just got mixed up.
However, this situation leaves me in a real fix because the clutch re-lining guy is all ready to go on doing the Kevlar re-lining and while I have a really nice 9 inch disc that would re-line just great, I don't have a serviceable 10 inch that I can send him.
I'm drawing a total blank trying to find one in the UK.
Please does anyone want to swap a good 10 inch disc for re-lining for my excellent  9 inch ?
Alternatively, does anyone want to sell a 10 inch disc that I could get done with Kevlar ?

Courtesy Man

Just asking. Is the Kevlar replacement relining a proven fix - I have not heard of it before.

54coupe

Courtesy Man said:

Just asking. Is the Kevlar replacement relining a proven fix - I have not heard of it before.

Gert, the guys in Australia and New Zealand have been doing it for 30 years. I did one too. No issues.

Huddy42

If going for a 10" plate you will also need the 10" pressure plate assembly.
Had Kevlar in my 42 Hudson for 30 years, no problem.

Old Fogey UK

Huddy42 said:

If going for a 10" plate you will also need the 10" pressure plate assembly.
Had Kevlar in my 42 Hudson for 30 years, no problem.

Hi Les,
The pressure plate assembly is 10" and, fortunately, it's undamaged.

Huddy42

In all my years have never seen a 9” plate using a 10” Pressure plate.
The centre of the 9” roughly 4 1/2” where as the centre of the 10” is 5 3/4” therefore you would not be making full use of the 10” plate surface.

Old Fogey UK

Huddy42 said:

In all my years have never seen a 9” plate using a 10” Pressure plate.
The centre of the 9” roughly 4 1/2” where as the centre of the 10” is 5 3/4” therefore you would not be making full use of the 10” plate surface.

That's what has happened. Because of the smaller hub, the inner ring of corks have "stepped" wear caused by being squeezed into the centre hole of the pressure plate.
I' ll take a pic later and post it to explain.

Old Fogey UK

From these 2 pics, you'll see the 9" disc will fit in place of the correct 10" one.
But the inner row of corks gets squashed into the centre hole of the pressure plate.
I'm guessing this has been the problem with the transmission seizing up after about an hour's running.

lostmind

Looks like you found your problem . To bad so much labor involved , cuts into your enjoyment time.
Good luck.

Old Fogey UK

lostmind said:

Looks like you found your problem . To bad so much labor involved , cuts into your enjoyment time.
Good luck.

Well, lets make lemonade from the lemon - that 9" disc is available if anyone needs it.

Old Fogey UK

A final update on my clutch disc problem.

I obtained a 10" disc for re-lining due to the generosity of Bob Ward (a million thanks, Bob).
I've had it re-lined with a Kevlar material. Again my gratitude to Bob and also to Les Pendlebury for their helpful advice and support on this project.
Gert Christiansen very kindly sent me a set of clutch fingers to replace my worn-out ones (a million thanks to you too, Gert).
A big thank you to everyone else (and there were many) who provided advice and sympathy.

So I'm now ready to put it all back together and get the '34 back on the road. 

For other British Forum members, I had it done by Clutchfix Ltd of Heckmondwike, Yorkshire. They bonded and riveted the Kevlar onto the disc. They hadn't done a Hudson Clutch before but had done numerous prewar MG oil clutches in the same way.

I've tried posting some pics of the clutch disc but the website doesn't seem to want to upload them. If anyone wants to see what it looks like, please message me.

bob ward

bob ward

The photo above is Old Fogey’s kevlar faced clutch plate. 

Old Fogey UK

Thanks, Bob ! 😉

cheyenne7271

That looks great, how do those perform compared to a cork facing and what fluids can be used?

Old Fogey UK

I'm still putting it all back together, so Bob and Les are the guys to give you an informed opinion.
I'll be using Dexron III ATF as my fluid.

Huddy42

Have have had Kevlar clutch in my car for 30 odd years,I would say all the cars in Oz that have had their clutch done use Kevlar,using Dexron 111 ATF fluid. I was the one who started using Kevlar in the first instance.

bob ward

 As a testimony to how good and reliable Kevlar faced clutches are, most of the world’s manual transmission forklifts – and there are millions of them being worked hard every day – have Kevlar faced wet clutches. 

cheyenne7271

Ok sounds good when I have the next one done