MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

TR parts and Triumph parts, TR bits, Triumph Car Spares and accessories are available for TR2, TR3, TR3A, TR4, TR4A, TR5, TR6, TR7, TR8, Spitfire and Stag and other TR models are available from British car spares and parts company LBCarCo.

Triumph TR6 - tr6 heavy clutch

Hello. I have a recently aquired a '75 TR6. Running very good and shifting very good, but the clutch is friggin HEAVY!! Very difficult to depress - my wife will never be able to drive it! Even with the pedal spring removed there is no change.

Any way to reduce the required effort? Perhaps another master cylinder someone has tried? Another spring? Thanks!

Mike
'75 TR6
'77 Spitfire
Mike

All the TR6's I've driven have had fairly stiff clutches, and my good spouse claims she can't drive mine because of it. I have always considered this to be a good thing.

Tony
A. J. Koschinsky

Agreed, the TRs have a heavy feel in all of the controls relative to say, a Spitfire, MGB, etc. To me, it's neither a good or a bad thing, it just happens to be the way things are on these cars.
SteveP

You need to put some hair on your wifes chest.

JP
73 5 speed.
John Parfitt

Ha ha ha. You guys are no help, but you made me laugh.

I know I saw someone somewhere convert it to another master cylinder... I was suprised how stiff it was, compared to my Spitfire. Wow.

Thanks, anyways.
mike

Mike,

There are 3 holes on the clutch lever where the push rod from the slave cylinder connects. It's normally on the middle hole - you could try moving it down to the hole farthest from the shaft to reduce effort. The clutch will be easier to depress but travel less. If it still shifts OK then you'll be a hero.

Brent
Brent B

Hi Mike. Welcome. As the others have mentioned, the heavy clutch is a chauvinistic TR6 feature and cannot be easily changed. However, if you're really serious, you can pull your gearbox and swap out the release bearing carrier with a 'Gunst' kit to achieve a lighter clutch. The Buckeye site has a good primer on this.

I don't think changing cylinders/push rod engagement will help.

Rick O.
Rick Orthen

Rick - I don't think a different T.O. bearing would change much as the "stiffness" is due to the clutch diaphragm spring that is depressed. Also, by moving the push rod "down" a notch the lever rule would make it easier to press in, but at the expense of travel distance. Easy enough for a Girl? Maybe not, and it might not engage as well which could cause crunching during shifts. But still worth a try.

Brent B

It depends which master cylinder is fitted to the car, the late cars had a 0.7" master cylinder fitted and have a heavy clutch, the early cars have a 0.75" master cylinder and have a very heavy clutch. Some later cars might have the larger bore master cylinder fitted by a previous owner as it works better with a dodgy clutch.
It is not a good idea to alter the position of the slave push rod from the central hole, the TR6 clutch was designed to use the central hole, the other two holes were for different cars that used the same clutch setup.
Not so easy to check, but the original Laycock clutch cover gives a lighter pedal than some of the later aftermarket ones, particularly Borg & Beck
Ron
R. Algie

I installed the "Magic Clutch" from TRF last summer, and after 500 miles, it became very sticky and noisy. After several panick calls to Dave @ TRF, it was decided that the throwout bearing supplied, was hanging up on the front cover. I pulled the tranny again and modified the angular edge on the bearing. At the same time, Don Malling organized a buy for Guntz bearings, and I bought two, just in case. Happily, I haven't had to use them yet and have put 3000 miles on the car. The clutch is much softer, perhaps too soft for my liking. Any woman could drive it. Luckily, my wife doesn't know which pedal is for the clutch, and I'm not telling her!
john eckland

Brent--As I indicated, it's the bearing carrier that's the problem in most instances.

Rick O.
Rick Orthen

I have heard that the Borg & Beck pressure plate is for a SAAB and also fits the TR6 as a spare. But it is heavy. The original pressure plates, like Ron Algie wrote, are smoother.

The Ohio Bucheye TR site explains it all :-

http://www.buckeyetriumphs.org/technical/Clutch/ReliableClutch/ReliableClutch.htm

At the bottom of that page, there are links to other clutch articles:

Clutch Checklist
Clutch Release Calculations
Clutch Release Measurements
Removing Broken Clutch Fork Pins
Clutch Operating Shaft Overhaul (and that nasty pin)
Clutch Hydraulics Overhaul
Sticky Clutch
Clutch Release Bearing Woes

Don Elliott, 1958 TR3A
Don Elliott

John -

So the "Magic clutch" did less the pedal effort? It sounded promising. However, for $250, the fact that you had to "modify" the bearing in the kit is troubling. Has TRF resolved this issue?

Lucky for me, my wife likes my old cars and shares in them, so I'd like her to be able to enjoy it in the driver's seat as well.

Thanks.
Mike

John Wrote:

I installed the "Magic Clutch" from TRF last summer, and after 500 miles, it became very sticky and noisy. After several panick calls to Dave @ TRF, it was decided that the throwout bearing supplied, was hanging up on the front cover. I pulled the tranny again and modified the angular edge on the bearing. At the same time, Don Malling organized a buy for Guntz bearings, and I bought two, just in case. Happily, I haven't had to use them yet and have put 3000 miles on the car. The clutch is much softer, perhaps too soft for my liking. Any woman could drive it. Luckily, my wife doesn't know which pedal is for the clutch, and I'm not telling her!
Mike

Hi Mike. The "Magic Clutch" is definitely a softer clutch. My findings can be supported by some threads either on this site, or on "Six Pack". I believe it's a "Sachs" clutch . The modification to the supplied release bearing is not difficult at all. I simply rounded the angular edge using a dremmel and then used some 400 wet paper, followed by 600, just to polish it out. The bearing was then packed with some high temp bearing grease, making sure that all associated components were very clean,(including the tranny housing), before assembly. It was further suggested by Dave(TRF) that the anti-rattle spring be left out as to eliminate any lateral stress on the bearing. I did this reluctantly, but have not had any rattling what so ever! You'll be very happy with the clutch, but if you are skittish about the bearing, I'd suggest installing the Gunst bearing. This bearing only rides on the clutch when it is engaged. The supplied bearing is always in contact, which seems to me might contribute to premature wear. John.
john eckland

Just a note - I've had the TRF "magic clutch" installed for 12k miles. It works great - no problems what so ever. No mods to the throw-out bearing or the "nose" were required. Your mileage may vary....

BB
Brent B

This thread was discussed between 12/02/2004 and 16/02/2004

Triumph TR6 index