Thread: Borg and Beck clutch

Borg and Beck, Valeo, Fiscal and Sachs are all good as well as Exedy.

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Back in June had failure of original clutch plate in 300Tdi Defender that had done about 200,000 km. Rivets that held the torsional vibration damper came out. Don't look like very well installed to me. At the same rate of wear, linings should have gone for 500,000 km. Clutch kit I got from my regular supplier of Land Rover parts had Valeo plate and pressure plate, same as original. I still have this new plate. Enquired at Autobrake what they had that seemed better. Finished up with an Exedy plate - made by Daiken. Centre looks more robust. Also linings held on with two circumferential rows of rivets instead of one. ie 36 rivets instead of 16. (not 32 because in multiples of 3 instead of 4)
Maybe you largely get what you pay for. Also, probably the Valeo plate centre would be more prone to destruction from torsional vibration in a 4 ( or to a lesser extent 5) cylinder diesel than a petrol /LPG V8. So maybe OK for V8 but not recommended for diesel.


Re the extra rivets: I presume that when linings get worn and thin, would be less prone to break / fall off. Especially if for some reason clutch is disengaged at very high revs. Saw once when an idiot with an XB Falcon tried to demonstrate to his mate how good the synchros in 4 speed box were. Did something like slap in into third then second at 100kph. Then was no drive. Just sort of raspy noise from clutch. Linings had thrown off from running at very high speed without pressure plate holding them in place. Pressure plate travel is limited so hopefully clutch will slip and be replaced before rivets gouge groove in flywheel.


Re the Valeo pressure plate: Was replaced with another virtually identical one. No noticeable wear, heat spots or cracks in original. However, fingers were rather chewed from where thrust race had been dragging on them. I had a Series 2A do effectively the same about 40 years ago. Torsional vibration damper in plate fell apart and pressure plate fingers chewed. Built up the latter, which was possible on spring type pressure plate with three big fingers but dubious on diaphragm one. Also welded a hard piece off a thrust race bearing on the collar that contacts them- which had grooves chewed in it. . Note the pre all synchro Series gearboxes up to 1971 had thrust race running in a housing and lubricated with the gearbox oil. Financial bean counters probably prompted change to conventional thrust race in the all synchro boxes. Also, layshaft was cluster gear. Not as in older boxes with individual gears on splined shaft which would cost more to make.


I think some earlier types of LR clutch hydraulic systems may have been non hydrostatic. If adjusted properly would pull thrust race clear of pressure plate fingers when clutch engaged to stop wear on thrust race and fingers. With my Defender while everything was apart, I reinforced the fork- which in 300TDi's is apparently prone to fail and also designed and made a setup so tension springs each side of the thrust race pull it back. Adjustment for how far is by length of rod from slave cylinder. Have two holes in bottom of bell housing to allow visual checking of clearance. One to shine torch in and other to look. Tapped with three quarter inch BSP threads to take small bungs from 200 litre drums. Hopeful end result is thrust race has longer life and pressure plate fingers should wear much less.


On older tractors with mechanical linkage between clutch pedal and thrust race need maybe the first inch of pedal travel free play - before thrust race contacts fingers. As clutch linings wear, this decreases. So needs readjusting at times to maintain correct free travel. With this hopefully worthwhile modification of mine, will need to occasionally visually check and maintain thrust race clearance. If inadequate, will chew thrust race and fingers possibly worse than standard cheap and nasty setup.

As already mentioned any of the leading brands will last.

From memory, Borg & beck became Borg Warner and I think its AP Borg Warner now....

Everytime ya buy a clutch kit the name has changed..

My pick nowdays is Exedy

Regards
Daz

Have installed a Borg & Beck clutch some thirteen years ago and still going strong.

repco kit. don't know who made it. Only changed it as had box out due to clutch arm failure. Springs in plate were pretty sad though with only 2-3 intact.Rest had torsional failures.
looked like original clutch which had done about 190000km and probably could have done a lot more.

Thanks for the replys fella's.
I'm going with one from the local Bursons $270 including gst 12mths warranty. Repco dont list a kit for a defender(oh how woeful has repco become)

Thanks for the replys fella's local Burson store can supply a clutch kit for $270 including gst. Repco dont even list a kit for a defender and couldn"t be bothered chasing one up.