David Bishop

944 NA.... We did a clutch job; replaced old rubber-center clutch w/ new Sachs. Replaced throwout and pilot bearing, fork bearings, fork pivot pin. Resurfaced flywheel.
We followed online tutorial advice & put 1 shim in because we took 1 shim out.
After driving <100mi, the car developed a whirring/grinding noise when pressing in the clutch pedal; we disassembled everything and removed the clutch.
There's obvious wear inside the throwout bearing -- would this be from too-few shims? (or something else?)
When we reassemble, should we put as many shims as we can get in and still get the circlip to seat? Advice online seems to be mixed. Will this change pedal travel / where the clutch grabs?

V2Rocket

having just been through this, put as many shims as you can (up to 3) while getting the clip to seat.


if you need any more shims I can mail you some, I have a bunch of extras.

tempest411

How would wear like that be connected to the number of shims used? I'd have thought the shims might only effect fore-aft free play in the linkage. That wear looks more like the bearing was installed on the guide tube completely dry. I have never done a clutch job, however...

kwikt

Looks like something else caused that!

David Bishop

We have plenty of shims; thanks.

We put 3 shims in -- max while still allowing the clip to seat. It makes the throwout bearing movable, but with little/no play.

But that damage we got on the bearing -- doesn't seem like the lack of 2 shims would cause that, or would it?

V2Rocket

There's a ton of radial play in the bearing on the PP without all the shims. It's still there even with all the shims but its harder to move around.
So if the bearing was a little looser than it should've been, without any lube on the bearing ID or bearing guide tube OD, the bearing was wobbling around and dry-rubbing the tube.

Picture the motion of an orbital sander, and then imagine your bearing doing that.