I am hoping that someone might have an easy/cheap solution for me. I just finished a clutch job on my 82 and I have a grind in revers, hell I can't even get it into reverse unless I shut the engine off. The car runs fine in all other gears with no grinding and smooth shifting. Is this normal until the clutch brakes in? I'm thinking that the clutch is dragging but I can easily push the car forward & backward on a flat surface in gear with the clutch depressed. I've adjusted the "Ts" all the way back twice, according to the other threads it sounds like I might need a new intermediate plate but I hesitate in spending that much without exploring other options.

The car has 107K miles and Devek rebuilt the tranny 2K miles ago. I had to have the car towed because the throwout bearing was trashed. The tow truck driver strong armed it into reverse off the truck.... would this have anything to do with it?

Items Replaced:
brake master, clutch master, slave, all clutch lines, pilot bearing, both disks, pressure plate and thowout bearing (Sachs clutch kit).

Items Tried:
Adjusting intermediate
Adjusting clutch pedal
Clutch is bled and firm (works fine in all forward gears)

Any thoughts? The more I think about it the more I have a feeling I'm gonna be spending $600.00.

 

Just kidding

Here, give these a read, I've been there a few times. I think I took my clutch out / in over 20 times in one week chasing this down. I'm good enough at it now I don't drop anything on my head except maybe dirt:

My solution towards the last page, ended up being a broken release bearing:
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=273590

other threads on my saga:
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268926
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=279123

 

There are no synchros for reverse (at least before 84), it is a gear to gear mesh. The rebuild by Devek - what did they replace?

 

Sounds like you haven't bled all of the air out yet. What process did you use to bleed the clutch? Reverse is grinding because there are no syncros in this gear, all other gears have syncros so the dragging is not evident. How did it feel when you adjusted the IP forward, were the "T" adjusters somewhat tight or very loose. If they were tight you are most likely ok.

Bleed again. If the clutch continues to drag after properly bled, you may want to double check that the friction discs are installed at the right spots. Disc with smaller thickness should be installed at the flywheel and the thicker disc (due to larger liner springs) should be installed at the pressure plate.

 

It could also be:
1. sticky shaft
2. busted release bearing
3. master not moving all the way
4. blue hose is blocked, shorting the sysem of fluid
5. wrong parts
6. incorrect ball cup or arm
7. wrong grease used to lub the parts
8. I forget what eight was for
9. just plain dirty causing stuff to stick
10. broken slave
11. guide tube blocking something

My list goes to eleven

 

Darn, was hoping I wouldn't have to drop the clutch cover. Didn't want to deal with taking the cat off again. I have to get it smogged this Saturday so I'm going to leave well enough alone till Sunday.

My method of clutch beeding comes from my 88 944. The key is to watch the amount of fluid you get through the bleeder as you can only blead out about 2 ounces before having to Top Off.

- Put the front on rams
-Take SUV jack and make the right rear higher than the front
- Fill fluid to the max
- Attach the pressure bleeder
- Depress Clutch
- Open bleeder until air is released
- Top Off Fluid
- Pull clutch out
- Open bleeder until air is released
- Top off and make sure clutch works
- Removed excess fluid by bleeding out through left front caliper.

I have yet to have this method fail me but this is my first 928, I will check the measurement of the slave throw to verify it is fully actuated.

 

If you are using a pressure bleeder, I doubt it's an issue with air in the line.

 

8. I forget what eight was for

Man, you really are from Wisconsin. Just like Gordon Gano.

Matt

 

I was hoping someone would catch that

 

I was never able to get the clutch slave to bleed. The only way I have ever got one working is to disconnect it and push the rod back into the cylinder a few times. Before doing this make sure the clutch pedal is all the way up.

Try first putting the transmission into fourth before heading for reverse. If this works then your clutch is not dragging. If you still cannot get reverse then something in the clutch is dragging.

A bad intermediate plate is diagnosed by adjusting the clutch and driving the car. If after a few miles the clutch is out of adjustment then the adjusters on the intermediate plate are worn. The intermediate plate is an expensive sucker. If this is the problem you might consider applying Cheney style shortners to the intermediate plate with a hammer taking the play out of the adjusters. Crude, but worth a try condering the limited down side and huge up front expense.

After that it could be a bad transmission. Rebuilt only means rebuilt - not necessarily infalable. A can of duralube or some such brand will help hold oil on the gears and make the syncros smoother and last longer. Kragen sells a product for this purpose.

 

Jeez...when I first saw the title thread I was a bit...curious...but like always...I have nothing of real value to add.

 

Please explain - no matter what gear you are "starting" in, reverse should not grind, ever. There is a delay time to allow all of the parts to stop moving, but if the car is in neutral for a few seconds, reverse should be smooth as butter.
As for a bad transmission causing this, I guess it's possible but unlikely.
My 81 was doing the exact same thing, over and over. It ended up being the release bearing - pics in the link I posted above. The damaged release bearing was actually pushing the intermediate plate out of adjustement. Why did I not catch this right away? There was no way to tell the release bearing was busted until I took it off the pressure plate. I didn't check this "first" since the thought of a release bearing causing this made no sense. So not until I replaced everything at least twice did I decide to try see what the release bearing was doing. Live and learn I guess, next time I'll check the bearing first!!

 

Some have great difficulty purging trapped air if it lodges in the master cylinder: there are procedures in the archives for disconnecting the MC piston rod under the pedal cluster and withdrawing the piston until brake fluid drips on your forehead ... button up at that point and bleed it conventionally.
The check that all is well is to observe the slave cyl piston stroke from the lower bell housing inspection port - with some helper on the clutch.
Another remote chance is that the slave cyl piston rod is not properly set into its respective cups .... although this usually causes a weak engagement.

 

Since you have a new MC and adjusted the pedal, did you readjust the linkage preload?

Dennis

 

Update:
I started the car today and it shifted perfectly! Got the smog done and after idling for a good thirty minutes at the smog place it started grinding/dragging. Decided it must be a bad bleed job because I drove it more and the hotter it got the worse the clutch drag. I Let the car cool down and attempted to reverse bleed through the slave. Took it out and it worked perfectly until hot, there is a very slight drag. I guess I'm going to tear into the master tomorrow. This is a royal pain!!!!

On a side note I passed smog without any problems!