ALFAGTV6.COM

[Steve R]

Hi all,
Hope you're all keeping safe and well in these strange times.

Seeing as we all have lots of time at home at the moment I thought I'd change my clutch, but have run into a problem - mainly with my own lack of knowledge !

Question - What is the correct method for removing the Alfa pull type release bearing from the pressure plate, without damaging anything in the process?

I have two clutch assemblies to hand; a single plate 3.0 version and a GTV6 style twin plate assembly, both appear to have the same bearing, but I don't seem to be able to remove either from the pressure plate fingers. FYI I'm swapping out the single plate set up and fitting the twin plate version instead as I understand it has higher torque handling capacity.... as the factory 3.0 single plate is barely borderline behind a supercharged 24v.

I've viewed a few videos and descriptions for removal of the pull type bearings, but these differ from manufacturer to manufacturer.... Therefore I'm hoping one of you enlighten me "how to" with my GTV6 please.

Thanks in advance!

[KevinR]

Hi Steve , hope you have come right on that keep us posted.

[75evo]

Steve,

Isn’t the bearing just held by a circle- or snap ring on the opposite side of the clutch? I haven’t done a clutch in a while but maybe it requires one persuasion once you expand the ring/circlip.

Zamani

[Steve R]

Cheers guys.
Spoke with Kevin.. was very simple:
Unbolt pressure plate, turn it upside down so it's resting upon the release bearing and push down a little. The circlip holding the bearing to the pressure plate becomes easily removable and the bearing lifts (or falls!) out.

I took some measurements whilst it was in bits, posting them here for future reference:

New twin plate clutch driven plates. Nearest flywheel 7.0mm. Nearest pressure plate 6.8mm
Intermediate flywheel plate = 12.5mm
Complete twin plate assembly with bearing and alloy gearbox housing ready to fit = 14.1kg
Complete single plate 3.0 assembly with bearing and housing ready to fit = 14.9kg
Twin plate release bearing height = 36mm
Single plate release bearing height = 43mm

Those last two measurements are important as I thought those parts were interchangeable, but no.
The extra 7mm's are all in the neck where the pivot arm fits, the rest of the bearing is identical.
The release bearing can be dismantled and the neck swapped to a unit with a good bearing (or clean and repack with grease if you know it's OK).

Now to bleed the stubbornly remaining air from the clutch slave - Nose down, rear up really high... and the car too.

[Steve R]

Found and fixed another problem....

After putting it all back together again I started it up for the first time to find made the most God awful loud screaming / squealing noise from the clutch area. Similar to nails on a chalk board but way louder. Depressing the pedal made no difference to the noise. Ran the motor for about 5 seconds or so. Out it all came again.....

Turns out I didn't know that the pilot tube for the release bearing to slide upon must be of differing lengths for single plate vs twin plate clutches, with mine having the longer (single plate) version bolted to the gearbox. Removal is easy once the clutch is out (3 small bolts), I shortened the tube by 12mm, this being just enough to fully un-shroud all of the gearbox input shaft spline length. Cleaned it all up to remove steel filings, reinstalled everything and it's perfect now.

The mismatch meant the center boss of the driven plate was touching the pilot tube at all times... activating the clutch effectively tried to force the boss to chew up the pilot tube end. The hideous screaming noise was moving metal on fixed metal. Photo of the center boss clearly showing wear and the pilot tube showing high temperature heat markings :-

The attachment wear pic1.JPG is no longer available

[Steve R]

heat markings :

wear pic3.JPG (26.55 KiB) Viewed 5051 times

[Steve R]

Found a quick and easy method of bleeding the stubborn last air from the clutch slave, this is more effective than a pressure bleeder and mostly a one person job too :-

1. Lift rear of car and secure it safely for access underneath. Axle stands or similar are essential for safety.
2. Refill and bleed clutch in the normal manner until some fluid is coming out of the slave - but you still have some air in it. Second person no longer needed after this point.
3. Tie the clutch pivot fork securely towards the front of the car (string, wire, bungey cord, whatever) so that it can't just fall out over the next steps.
4. Grab the actuation rod between the slave and the pivot fork, mole grips (self grip pliers) are easiest.
5. Push some clear tube over the bleed nipple with the other end in a container to catch waste fluid.
6. Ensure the bleed nipple is at the top, the whole slave cylinder rotates fairly easily to achieve this.
7. Crack the bleed nipple open (7mm spanner) and immediately push the actuation rod slowly and fully back into the slave cylinder - this expels fluid and air from the cylinder via the bleed nipple.
8. Whilst the rod is pushed in,tighten the nipple shut and only then let the actuation rod return under it's own spring force to it's extended length where it touches the pivot fork. This pulls new fluid down from the master reservoir via the main system pipework. You are effectively using the slave cylinder as a hand pump to suck new fluid down and expel it along with any air from the system.
9. Repeat stages 7 and 8 four or five times at most.... this will only take about 1 minute.
10. Check fluid level in master reservoir and top up.
11. Repeat stages 7, 8, 9 and 10 until no further air is seen to be expelled.

Job Done !