Hi all you guys that know so much more than me, hope the year has been good to you so far. I was happy with my new clutch system until suddenly there was an unpleasant sharp sound when the pedal was most of the way down like something hitting something. It was intermittent though so I couldn't imagine the cause. Upon removal of the trans the throwout bearing had some side to side play in the bearing end that contacts the pressure plate. You could also hold the back side and wiggle the front rather than it feeling solid. That already doesn't seem good. moving the contact end side to side seemed to make the noise I was hearing. Could this move the fork a little bit because there was already some edge wear on the 6 month old pivot ball which was lubed with moly when installed? Still seems odd it could wear much at all but seems like not as hard a metal as the one that came out. I can't find a better alternative to the ATP JX-112. Is there a better one anywhere?
The throwout bearing had kind of a bump on one side of the race the fork fits into. Does it matter which way that bump is oriented? Looking at the bearing choices do they all have that bump, or would one without if they exist be better. I hope this is the fix I need and I guess since there is a little wear on the pivot ball it and the fork need replacing as well? Appreciate any and all good advice.
Thanks, Henry

 

Make sure the clutch gear bearing retainer (front part of the transmission) isn't worn where the bearing slides over it. If it develops a lip or a groove, it will make the TOB have a "hitch" whenever it tries to move past it.

The bump on the TOB is to keep the fixed (center) part of it from spinning. The part that pushes on the clutch needs to spin, the part that the fork touches needs to sit still. Doesn't particularly matter how it's oriented; it just turns a little bit until it hits the fork, then lives there for the rest of its life.

TOBs don't usually stay "tight" after use. It doesn't take long for them to develop a bit of slack this way or that. Usually doesn't affect their operation. Usually.

No comment on the pivot ball. In all the years I have driven 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-speed cars, I have NEVER ONCE had a problem with one. Not saying "yours isn't bad", not saying "they don't go bad", not saying "you're full of **it", NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT. Just, that wouldn't be my first "go-to" explanation for any observed phenomonon.

 

Well, the last one wore out after 12 tears of use, here's what this one looks like after 6 months and maybe 2500 miles of light driving usage. This was with a new fork and plenty of moly grease. What
would you think looking at this? And the bearing retainer is smooth with no hitches I can feel with a fingernail.
Appreciate all advice from people who know much more than me, thanks. This is from a ATP-JX112 pivot ball that goes for less than $4 on rock auto, but seems like the only choice out there

 

That ball stud doesn't look too bad. I think I've got one around here somewhere that's wore so far down the bottom of the ball is peened and polished to a razor sharp edge. I wouldn't think that'd cause enough of a problem that you'd ever notice.

 

Well, you know I think I only thought about the fork sliding because that's what happened before. But there was clear evidence of that on the fork and everywhere else. This time the ball is worn a lot faster than it seems like it should be, but the bottom of the fork only shows some of the shinier metal from the ball inside and appears it was still centered on the ball. The clutch was still working fine, the only issue was the snapping noise I could hear when the clutch pedal was most of the way down. It didn't do it all the time either which seemed strange. We were able to replicate the sound by clicking the TOS back and forth while it is sitting on the bearing retainer shaft. That is exactly the sound it was making. It's self aligning feature is only supposed to do that once upon the first depression of the clutch. If that is the sound I heard could a bad TOB do this somehow or would it have to be caused by some problem with the clutch or pressure plate not being right that made it keep trying to adjust? Sorry about all the rambling and freaking out, but this seems like the only thing that could have made this sound. Does anyone know if this could be it ?
Thank you again for your patience and help
Henry

 

Idk, I've had a TOB that was sloppy loose, in a moment of Lincoln pinching, I may have chucked it in the bearing packer and pumped it full of axle grease. Worked fine for the short period before I blew the engine. I wouldn't expect it to be too critical, but Idk.

 

Yeah, well it might have lasted for quite a while, hard to say. But the sudden loud snapping started sounding not good and seemed like I should find out why it was doing it. Oh well, with luck I cam return the whole clutch kit and get a new one since they won't swap out just the TOB. Don't intend to use theirs now anyway. Ah, another valuable life lesson...

 

Last time I had to work on my T5 (brand F) I replaced the cheap Chinesium TOB from the clutch kit with an all steel Timken TOB from Rock Auto, it was dirt cheap and much better than the one in the clutch kit.

 

Say Drew, is that TOB the 614083 one from Rock auto with the tabs on opposite sides unlike any others? What do those tabs do? maybe clip onto the fork, or...?
Thanks, think I'm finally getting this done
Henry

 

Well, obviously when I got it I could see that the pic was a little misleading. Kind of a skinny contact surface, but I'm counting on the good name Timken has had like forever, I'm liking this more than the one from the clutch kit I warrantied out

 

Hey, wait a minute! Upon closer inspection this Timken bearing is half plastic. How can that be

 

Idk, the one I used was all steel, no tabs. Probably a cost savings measure.

 

Yeah, it seems like aftermarket parts are getting worse and worse. To be expected considering the demand I guess...

 

Hi again, It's been a while since I got everything fixed, but never reported my findings or solution, so figured I should tell you fine folks the detail in case it might ever help anyone out.. The pivot ball doesn't look all that bad as several mentioned, but it's how it got that way. After comparing several of those pivot ***** it was clear that they were all different on the round end.. The radius of the curve was mostly much bigger than OEM and didn't really fit down in the indent in the fork like it should. That's why it wore the way it did, the fork was riding on the edges of the pivot and actually wearing it down to the shape it should be.
The problem was that since the fork couldn't sit all the way down on the pivot, the free play between the TOB and pressure plate was down to little or none which I think caused premature and excessive TOB wear.. The snapping sound I was hearing was the sound of the TOB self-adjusting against the front bearing retainer very loudly whenever I pushed the clutch in. I always thought it strange that I had to let the clutch pedal about all the way up for it to engage. Tons of looking everywhere I could think of resulted in the near miracle of finding an OEM pivot in nearly new shape.
The fork turned way more smoothly on this pivot and returned the clutch action to the way it always was, WHEW! shouldn't have just thrown it all back together without more carefully checking the fit and function assuming it was all good. While those pivot ***** may work OK if you make sure they are shaped to fit like they should, but it still wore down pretty fast. Now it will probably last longer than the engine or me!!
Thanks again for comments
Henry