The culprit was the original clutch fork that broke at the recess for the release bearing
So, I fitted a new clutch fork, complete new clutch kit and new release bearing.
That was about 3000 km ago.
So, fast forward to the present:...
Last Wednesday afternoon, in rush hour traffic, on Old Joburg Road in Centurion, the clutch died again accompanied by an ominous mechanical clatter.
Saturday, I pulled the engine to find this:
The freaking fork had broken again.
On closer inspection, I noticed some birdpoo type welding that was done during manufacture. There was no penetration of the welding material
To say that I was cheesed, is really putting it mildly; because the offending piece of metal was picked up by the three arms on the pressure plate and in the process destroyed the thrust ring on the pressure plate, rendering it useless.
Because of time constraints, I decided to repair the arm by having the broken bit tig welded back on. For safety sake, I had the remaining arm rewelded as well.
I found a replacement clutch kit that uses the newer multi finger pressure plate, but with a thrust ring fitted to match the old style release bearing. (LUK RepSet R21MK). It is also about R700 cheaper than the three finger kit.
Clutch action with the new kit is a lot lighter than what it was like with the old three finger pressure plate.
Lets hope that I can get more than 3000 km out of this clutch
