Clutch engagement

[fastd]

I’m having some trouble with my clutch / hydraulic throw out bearing

With the car on jack stands, is it normal for rear wheels to spin with the trans in 1st gear (or any gear) with the clutch fully depressed?

After about 1000 miles on a new clutch, I couldn’t get the car into gear while the engine was running; problem developed fairly quickly. 3 drives ago, trans reluctantly went into gear after cold start but no problem getting gears after the first struggle to get in gear. Got only slightly progressively worse until it wouldn’t go in gear at all. I figured that the new clutch needed adjustment but adjusting the master cylinder push rod did not help. I bled the system several different solo ways but the old fashioned two person technique worked best.

The car goes into gear now after bleeding but the tires spin when trans is in gear and clutch fully depressed. Is this normal?

Thanks.

[Tommy]

Turning the wheels on jackstands may be ok, but it shouldn't have enough grip to move the car on level ground. . . . . Instructions for setting the pedal stop on my HTOB was to bleed the system and then have one person slowly push down on the pedal while another attempted to turn the rear wheels by hand (on jack stands). The pedal stop was set to allow the pedal to travel 1/4 inch beyond the point where the wheels could be turned.

It is not normal for the HTOB to work normally at first and then not after only 1,000 miles. I'd guess two possible reasons. One is the pedal stop was not properly set at the beginning and the HTOB was overextended at some point, causing it to leak. The other is that the gap between the HTOB and the clutch fingers was not properly set at installation. You may be able to check for a leak with a small inspection camera system, but you'd need to pull the transmission/bell housing to check the gap.

[t walgamuth]

There could be an air bubble in the clutch system. I'd try to bleed it first unless you changed the stop screw setting when you had it apart.

and no imho it should not spin on jackstands.

[Daytona Dek]

Surely there must be some adjustment of the push rod from the slave cylinder to the clutch fork? I had a similar problem getting it into gear particularly reverse without plenty of grating. Solution was to adjust the push rod.
Dek

[PDUB]

on this particular installation he has an HTOB, which stands for Hydraulic Throw-Out Bearing, so there is no adjustment rod or clutch fork on that end of the system. Good thought, though. We never heard how he did with it, or what was the actual problem...

[eschaider]

If your car is hard to put in gear or shift, the clutch is not completely disengaging — you need more travel on the throwout bearing.

[strictlypersonl]

I've added a bit pertaining to the concentric bearings to our clutch troubleshooting page:

https://www.erareplicas.com/427man/clutch/trouble.htm