What causes clutch plate take-up springs to break?

[dnb]

As title. I'm fairly convinced someone is not telling me the whole truth...

[oakdale]

If you mean the spring in the driven plate, they can break up for various reasons. They can catch on flywheel bolts when the plate is very worn and they can go due to abuse.

[dickkark]

Some times they get a bit weak and move about slightly in their slots and wear thin and break.
Especially if it`s a remanufactured clutch,the tight buggers dont bother changing them most of the time.


Usually what causes it is what you thought it was in the first place
If you mean the fingers on the cover then its ether adjusted too much or someone has been riding the clutch,
You dont let your O/H drive it by any chance?

[dnb]

I do mean the springs in the friction plate, not the cover fingers.

I have my suspicions about what caused the problem, and no-one has yet suggested what I have been told the problem was...

[trackcar]

could be anything: fatigue, harmonics, wear, poor qality materials. I doubt you would ever really know!

[dnb]

I am fairly sure it wasn't my gearbox having worn bearings and not having a spigot bush in the flywheel...

My money is on the clutch not being up to the job

[oakdale]

These are not really clutch take up springs, they're there to act as a torsional vibration damper in the drive train. (the springs work in both directions, clockwise and anticlockwise)

[oakdale]

dnb said:

I am fairly sure it wasn't my gearbox having worn bearings and not having a spigot bush in the flywheel...

My money is on the clutch not being up to the job

Assuming you mean it has no spigot bush by design like a lot of cars these days, then excessive movement in the input shaft could, I'm afraid cause damage to the plate hub and springs. (the plate would be clamped by the pressure off centre to the flywheel causing lots of stress to the plate hub and springs)

[oakdale]

Mind you, the people who fitted the clutch should have noticed the wear.

[dnb]

I fitted the clutch, and there was indeed no wear in the gearbox (Tremec T5). It's a Rover v8, so the spigot bush is a requirement, and it was indeed in place.

I first noticed the clutch was failing when it started to slip at high (for a Rover!) RPM. It finally gave up on a dyno at a low RPM, but high load. Hence why I suspect the clutch was not rated correctly for the engine and not that it was due to things being worn out. The car was always smooth pulling away etc (no juddering like my Impreza did when the gearbox and spigot bearings failed spectacularly on the M3...) the only symptom was the clutch slipping under load.

[oakdale]

Yes, sounds like the clutch not up to the job, the slipping will have course, caused the springs to get hot and lose their hardness/tension.