Winter....potholes....and automatics. Ugh!

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potownrob
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Re: Winter....potholes....and automatics. Ugh!

Post by potownrob »

very interesting indeed. closest i've come to no clutch was weak clutch (unless you count very stiff clutch but that's something different). eye had the clutch replaced on two cars - my 94 civic and mein 98 maxima. the clutch still worked at least okay when i had them replaced. the civic was my first manual, and i though the clutch was on its way out the way it was weak to grab gears. to be young and blind. who knows if it really was on its way out, but my mechanic, who was known for being honest, replaced it. the maxima seemed to be shifting well (enough for a manual maxima), but the mechanic we went to, his assistant insisted the clutch was not going to last. looking back, i think he was just trying to make money. the main mechanic himself (different one from the one who worked on the civic) was good and honest, but this assistant he had probably wasn't. he did comment about the car being quick and fun to drive after he replaced the clutch. other than the clutch being springy for a while (uneven pedal pressure while engaging clutch), it felt the same to me. hard to tell since that clutch and shifter weren't as forgiving as a typical honda setup.
ClutchFork wrote:...So I started carrying a stick of firewood with me and that became my parking brake.
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ClutchFork
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Re: Winter....potholes....and automatics. Ugh!

Post by ClutchFork »

IMBoring25 wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 1:13 am The only clutch failures I have experienced have been with the hydraulics. In my experience, they haven't been total failures. Using the clutch normally still produced enough disengagement to help. Rev matching had to be much better than was normally necessary, but still not nearly as exact as is required when clutchlessly shifting a synchro box.

I never had to shut off to stop and launch with the starter. The only time I turned off the engine at a stop was to keep the clutch from grinding itself continuously during a long red light.
I had my troubles with hydraulics, especially the 2001 Ranger. I never want another Ranger because of that clutch. The master was on a steep slope so it was near impossible to bleed. I had two throwouts go out on me and lock up the clutch, about one year apart to the day. Then I had pedal problems and kept having it bled and it would not keep a pedal. I even replaced ALL the hydro components, slave, line, master with the higher quality Ford parts and it still would not maintain a pedal, and that included two different shops monkeying with it multiple times. I put $100 into the hydo and when ClutchDisk offered me his 2001 Chevy S10 I dumped the Ranger for $1000 and took the S10, dead level master cylinder, orignial clutch and hydraulics and 175,000 miles and the hydro in that s10 worked fine for the few years I kept the truck. Sad to sold it but was terribly rusty, I had to add bolts to hold the bed from flying off and a brace under the radiator so it would not drop out the bottom. Probably the cable operated clutch is the best.
Stick shiftin since '77
theholycow wrote:Why in the world would you even want to be as smooth as an automatic? Might as well just drive an automatic...
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Shadow
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Re: Winter....potholes....and automatics. Ugh!

Post by Shadow »

I'd never want to have anything other than a hydraulic clutch after owning a few cars that use hydraulics. I particularly love that I can install a heavy duty performance clutch in my Audi, but it's still easy to depress the clutch pedal. On my old Foxbody Mustang, the stock clutch was about 10 times heavier than a performance clutch on my Audi....and the Audi makes about double the power of the Mustang, so the clutch is obviously very strong. I mean, that kind of power behind an AWD car means that you need to have a strong clutch for sure, as there's really no wheelspin with the AWD system, so the clutch really needs to be up to the task.

And an aftermarket performance clutch on my old Mustang made driving the car like leg day at the gym. No thanks, I'll stick with hydraulic clutches please....LOL
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