Thrust Bearing Issue

[70herald]

I

I'm wondering if that constant pressure had anything to do with the accelerated wear? I went 53,000 miles and had .008", including what ever it was when it rolled off the line and to go to .012" in such a short mileage seems a bit quick to me.

Any thoughts?

Unlikely that the constant pressure was the cause. The constant pressure is very low, way less than 10 lbf (probably ~3-4) when the clutch is applied, it jumps to several hundred lbf. At low pressure, the bearing will be running on oil. The problem is that at higher pressure, particularly with higher spring rate clutch plates, that the oil gets squeezed out. Then you get metal on metal. I would modify the main bearing cap to add additional bearing surface. This will accomplish two things, one, the safety of preventing major damage. two, if the crank is properly running against the full bearing surface the pressure will be reduced in half, and even with a high spring rate clutch plate the crank / bearing surface will be running on oil.

 

[Brosky]

Good advice. Thanks...

 

[TR3driver]

Can't find it at the moment, but somewhere I've read that someone contacted AP and was told that the commonly sold pressure plate is the wrong application altogether !

Here's a link to the article I mentioned above :
https://www.mntriumphs.org/Tech_Info/Clutch%20Folder/clutch.pdf