Clutch longevity

[ted44]

Hi all as the title says really.
My landy is a 1996 300Tdi and its done 185.000k's and I've a few trips coming up, the last trip i did to Frasers sandy cape last May 2012, I thought the clutch was slipping a bit but it has been ok since although I'm a bit paranoid about it now ( and to be honest it hardly ever gets driven too often ), so I was wondering what you good folk thought or had experienced, or the best way to check the clutch, or is it just a case of leaving it until it goes!
Cheers ted.

[whynot]

Great question and one that's been on the back of my mind... I'll be watching with interest

ta
Andrew

[Yorkshire_Jon]

Given the information provided, this is easy to answer... Change it!

Seriously, if you think you've heard/felt it slipping you have done, nothing else provides that noise and feeling.

If it was an about town vehicle I'd suggest different, but as your going to be in the middle of nowhere when it fails, don't expose yourself to that risk...

Change it.

R
Jon

Sent using Forum Runner

[roverrescue]

clutches like brake pads and a welcome...
always variable as to how different people will wear them out.

BUT as a general rule, sand would not be the best location to assess the function of a manual gearbox clutch. BIg hill 5th gear any slip?

The clutches are not known for fast wear rates, I have changed a few but only when doing other engine or gear bag work and it seems stupid not to replace a wear item while inside. Lets just say I now have I have a few clutch plates sitting in the shed with plenty of meat on them.

At 185k in a '96 how are other things travelling? I guess you could justify a clutch change if you were gonna do some engine work or gear bag work? Other than that I would most likely let it be until you have to do a rear main or bigend/main bearings or gearbag work.

Steve

[goingbush]

My Td5 has now done 175,000 klm, I had minor clutch flare about 20k ago but turned out to be hydraulic issue, fixed.

I put a borescope up the wading plug hole & the clutch itself looks as good as new (well the edge view anyway) and the pressure plate still looks factory clean with no friction material dust coating it , - you can still see the factory paint - and might I add not a sign of rear main leak either.

I'm happy enough to do my round Aust trip towing the van with it.

If you drive with finesse & dont ride the clutch I can easily see it doing 250k no probs.

[Nomad9]

Hi There,
My TD5, 269k with a full land rover service record I can't find any clutch replacement between 259k and 40k when the previous owner had the vehicle. As mentioned earlier the life of the clutch is very much dependant on the person working the pedals. If for the majority of the clutches life it has been you, you'll know, if it hasn't and you have any concerns then it might be wise to change it out, if you are doing a big trip it would be one less thing to worry about.
If you do replace the clutch you never know you might find something else that might not have lasted if the clutch is OK whilst doing the job.

[Red90]

All true. But the probability that the hydraulics are not dead from 14+ years of life is quite small..... Make sure the free play is set correctly.

If you do change it, change EVERYTHING from the master cylinder to the pilot bearing, because it all fails at some point.

[schuy1]

Changed mine out at 300000k , Complete kit new as it was feeling wonky on occasions. Plate itself was very good, flywheel face very good, Throw out rough, fingers on pressure plate 1/2 worn. The vechile has spent about 40% highway, 40%slow offroad farm work and 20% towing trailers up to 3T. So unless its had a real hard life 200000 should be easy. Having said that it, clutch wear is also very dependent on the drivers mechanical empathy.

Cheers Scott

[weeds]

Mine has been replaced twice.......both times the fork had failed I.e the slave push rod had punched a hole in the fork

190 000km
340 000km

Each time there was no sign of clutch slippage

[JDNSW]

Clutch life is very dependent on the driver. Mine has been replaced twice in 545,000km - first time because the gearbox was out to replace the input bearing, second time because the gearbox oil pump cover warped and leaked oil onto the clutch.

On both occasions the driven plate was hardly worn, and the flywheel and pressure plate showed no significant wear, although the pressure plate was replaced the first time and the flywheel skimmed.

John

[Rick Fischer]

For flywheel, plate and pressure plate:

Handbrake on hard, select highest gear, throw in around only 1000 revs and slowly release clutch pedal. Engine should quickly stall! If it doesn't, then any one of the three will be suspect. If engine stalls then all is well with the three.

Alternatively, while accelerating go from 2nd to top and plant um foot, revs must not surge.

Cheers

RF

[rick130]

300Tdi's are notorious for killing clutch forks, generally the pivot punches through the fork before anything else fails.
My fork pooped itself at 222,000km and when i dropped everything the plate looked fine but all the springs were loose, the throwout bearing was ok but the slipper pivots were half worn away and the slippers themselves were in the bottom of the bellhousing, and the pressure plate fingers were half worm out and the finger heights were all over the place.

In a nutshell everything needed replacing anyway even though the clutch was still biting well.
This car had a hard life for its first 75,000km as it was fighting bushfires in the NT. A counterpose is our Patrol which has 410,000km on it and the clutch is original yet i know of other TD42T engined Patrols that needed clutch changes every 150-180,000km, so as the fellas above has said, it can vary.

[roverrescue]

And just to balance the fork-ology of R380 fame
I think I worked out once I had cracked the 500,000 on two different landies both 300tdi and R380.
Have done three clutches, always when the engine was out.
Flywheel, clutch and pressure plate have had minimal wear.
Fingers worn and slipper pads pretty shot but no fork popping good ness for me?

S

[JamesH]

A mate of mine lost his clutch fork 50 east of Mt Augustus out in the back of beyond. If you think outback WA is flat try driving it without a clutch; up and down hills, through creek crossings. Got to Parabadoo. It so happens that his daughter was flying to join us so was able to travel with the new parts. Then a miracle, a bus booked in from the mines didn't arrive so the mechanic actually had a window to get it in. Back on the road three days later.

Apart from the danger it can easily stuff your holiday. Get it done. Go for heavy duty when you do.

[Red90]

Mine has been replaced twice.......both times the fork had failed I.e the slave push rod had punched a hole in the fork

Yes... make sure you install a reinforced fork or make one.

[goingbush]

The clutch fork is generally not a Td5 issue, they have the same solid forged fork as the V8, The clutch fork punch through only affects Tdi

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/03/535.jpg

you could use one in a Tdi to solve the problem,

As for Pumas, they don't have a clutch fork at all, but use Tilton style hydraulic release, which should be a huge improvement.

[roverrescue]

Going bush the OP has a 300tdi which will have an R380 with the fork that possibly can punch.
The only trouble with putting in a beefed up fork,
is the slipper pads, fingers, thrust bearing are all going to fail at the same time / about the same time as the fork?

That fork above looks like porn but Im not sure if I would stump the cash if it was a mega-bucks more than a pressed tin one?

Steve

[ajge]

Mine has been replaced twice.......both times the fork had failed I.e the slave push rod had punched a hole in the fork

190 000km
340 000km

Each time there was no sign of clutch slippage

Same except 150K and about 290K
410K now and all good
regards
Andrew

[dromader driver]

recently changed the clutch in 300 tdi . reason for opening it up was the clutch pivot had punched through.
Found.

- a number of springs in the plate cracked or broken. Only 3 left looking serviceable.
- bearing a bit rumbly.
- pressure plate slight wear on fingers.

Certainly nicer to drive after the change as it took the clunk out of the engagement.
:cool:

[bitdist]

Just going through this at the moment. TD5 defender 180k on it and complete unknown as I have only done about 2k of the 180k and going up to Cape York in June.
One of the bearings is noisy from time to time in there somewhere so just decided to do the clutch and know it will be one less thing to think about. I'll let you know how worn it all looks in there in the next day or so

[rick130]

That fork above looks like porn...

Steve

:confused: You must be visiting different sites to moi ? :angel:




:D

[uninformed]

clutches havent been a problem for me. First one changed @ 200k. Did have a clutch fork failure shortly after but that was sorted. Still on that clucth @ 330k and in total would have done approx 250k of towing a 1.8t trailier.......my biggest problem is getting engines to last :eek: