Thread: Td5 Defender clutch issues, any ideas?

Hey gurus,

I'm having a bit of a headache with my clutch, after burning the crap out of it when i had ecu problems causing the engine to stall out on a hill the clutch was biting way too far up the pedal travel. As in, i'd take up the standard free play in the pedal and depress the clutch pedal maybe half a centimetre at most before it would be good to change gears instead of the normal mid-way down the pedal. I had the master and slave replaced with no change (other than the fluid staying clean now with a decent save haha). I've recently done the clutch, flywheel, spigot bush and release bearing all with OEM valeo/nsk gear. The clutch is a lot lighter now, almost like a regular car but damn the clutch is exactly the same, engaging almost instantly on the pedal travel. After the clutch change it was also fairly easy to change gears with no clutch and with no noise/crunch, if getting up to 1800-2000rpm backing of the accelerator and slipping it up a gear, brand new gear oil too.

The pushrod on the slave seems original so doubt it is this being too short. The clutch switch is also unplugged on the master (faulty and none in stock anywhere) so i can't imagine this would effect it. Any ideas on the clutch travel or is this just the way its going to be? Soon to embark on a 20 day round trip to the Daintree.

Thanks in advance!

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

its possible that you have a HD friction plate on a standard pressure plate or you have a newer setup of the pressure plate and friction plate

the newer all the components the higher up the pedal will be, you can adjust the pedals at rest point but dont forget you need to set it up so there is some free play on the push rod or the clutch wont bleed up properly and if it leaks may not self replenish.

if you adjust the pedal position on the rod dont forget to adjust the stop and if you dont have a stop bracket for the pedal return either build a stop bolt onto the tower or put one inside the cab (the brake pedal switch mount from a series is ideal)

Thanks for the detailed response dave, very much appreciated.
The pedal was biting at this point (almost instantly) with all the original clutch components in but seemed to get worse after I burnt it as described. It was a 3 piece OEM valeo kit that I put in so heres hopng they matched the correct friction plate with the pressure plate in their kit, it was all shrink wrapped together in the box. I'll have a fiddle with the pedal through the week, thanks again for your help!