Know anyone who has burst their clutch facing?

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Rope-Pusher
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Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 pm
Cars: '08 Jeep Liberty
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Know anyone who has burst their clutch facing?

Post by Rope-Pusher »

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Have you, or someone you know, ever burst a clutch facing by downshifting at too high of a vehicle speed for the gear shifted into?

This isn't necessarily about letting out the clutch pedal and then overspeeding the engine, but that CAN happen too, maybe after a downshift that only partially burst the clutch disk facing or didn't burst it at all.

My first concern is with downshifts that burst the clutch disk due to excessive rpms as the synchronizer speeds up the input shaft.

My second concern is with damaging the engine due to overspeeding it after letting out the clutch after a downshift. This may result in valves kissing pistons, connecting rods snapping and ventilating the crankcase, or some other failure associated with excessive rpm due to an inappropriate downshift on an engine that was thought to have been protected from high rpm failures by a fuel shut-off strategy.
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
IMBoring25
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Re: Know anyone who has burst their clutch facing?

Post by IMBoring25 »

Me, no. Someone I know, maybe. My brother and sister-in-law had a Ram 1500 short-wide with the six-speed...Seems like it was something around a 2005 model...It wasn't around long because it grenaded the clutch while driving down the highway. I never heard if they were attempting a shift that might have wound up in a grossly inappropriate gear, but Dodge called it abuse and got away with it.
Rope-Pusher
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 11607
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 pm
Cars: '08 Jeep Liberty
Location: Greater Detroit Area

Re: Know anyone who has burst their clutch facing?

Post by Rope-Pusher »

A friend of mine burst the clutch in his Porsche 924 by not paying attention to his speed as he was racing around - Downshifted into 1st at about 40 MPH.
There was no facing left attached to the cushion-springs. Pieces jammed the starter drive and he wasn't sure if he had hurt the motor as well, but we cleaned up all the bits-n-pieces of the fractured facings and the starter engaged the flywheel ring gear once again.
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
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