Drive with bad throwout bearing

[Sveinandre]

Hi mates.
Thoughts of driving my 2002 3,2 with a bad clutch throwout bearing? You see that i have to commute about 10km to work and the shop is closed due to vacation leave. I have alredy in inventory a new bearing but wondered about if it was possible to drive without risk for some 2-3 weeks? It will only be for 10km 2 times a day until the shop is open for me to use.

Since this is a pulltype clutch the bearing always rotate with the flywheel. But i would think that the most wear on the bearing is when it pulls the springs on the clutch. And that is not so much on my trip. When i start my trip the car is fast in the 5th gear and will stay so all the way to work.

Sincerly hope for som good thougts abt this.

thx for reply
br svein norway

[El_Freddo]

G’day br svein,

You could suck it and see, it might last, it might not, it’s really too hard to determine what would happen.

If it does let go and you lose use of your clutch, how good are you at rev matching between gears? This could allow you to continue driving until you can see your mechanic - but you’ll need to be able to start the car in first gear at the very least!

I’d imagine starting and stopping in gear won’t be particularly fun. When stopping you might be able to slip from 1st into neutral then use the brakes to stop the vehicle. The back into first and start the engine to get you going again.

I hope you don’t have stop/start traffic over your way!

Cheers

Bennie

[pharb]

I don't think the bearing does actually rotate continuously even though is pull type. The inner section of the bearing that loosely connects to pressure plate also sits on the nose of the input shaft housing. If it was spinning all the time it would be wearing extremely quickly into this alloy nose.
I think as you apply pressure when releasing clutch the spring clip that connects the inner bearing section to the clutch fingers cetralises the bearing assembly minimising the contact with the housing nose.

A tell tale sign is if you can hear bearing noise when your foot is not on the clutch. No noise would mean no rotation, although if it has got noise it could be the bearing is absolutely trashed.

We have a Triton in the family (push type clutch) that has run around for months, maybe a year or more with a noisey throw put bearing. Noisy due to rubber boot around clutch fork failuring allowing water into bellhousing during creek crossings.

[erad]

The only time the throwout bearing comes into play is when you put your foot on the clutch pedal. Theoretically, you could modify your driving habits to minimise the time that you use the clutch ie jab the clutch pedal down and change gear quickly. Obviously you need to take a bit more time when taking off, but at other times, flick it into neutral or another gear and get the pedal back up as quickly as possible. Worst case scenario - something falls apart in the bearing - well there isn't anything in there which can explode - the bits would eventually drop down to the base of the bell housing. The clutch pedal may then take up at a different point on its throw. Again, worst case - you may not be able to disengage the clutch.

You can drive and change gears without using the clutch, but taking off is a different matter. In my younger days, I had the slave cylinder in my car crap itself. I travelled from Ferntree Gully to Spotswood each day for work, crossing the Melbourne CDB diagonally from one corner to the other. Typically, by the time I got to the CDB, the master cylinder had run out f fluid, so I adjusted my driving speed and chose the gears to allow me to get through without stopping at traffic lights. Occasionally I had to stop, and I engage 1st gear and hit the starter motor and I was away again. I did this for 3 weeks until I had enough money to buy a new slave cylinder. Matching engine speed and gently feeding it into the next gear was relatively easy. It is important if you are doing this to make sure that there is no load on the engine (either driving or over-run) before you take it out of gear without the clutch. I eventually got sick of filling the clutch system with fluid, so I used water for a few weeks and then stripped it all apart and cleaned it all up.

In later years, I even towed my caravan over the Snowy Mountains (by night) with no clutch. In this case, the oil pipe to the clutch slave cylinder cracked on my wife's TM Magna. I was able to take off using the clutch, but after a few hundred km, all the fluid had leaked out and I had no clutch. We got home OK and I drove the rig into the driveway instead of reversing, and replaced the line next day. Having a tacho makes it slightly easier to change gears, but it is still a case of GENTLY lay the gear lever against the next gear and match the revs. When it is ready, it will go in OK.

[BruceandBobbi]

As erad has said. You can drive without a clutch. I did it in my Holden one tonner when the clutch cable snapped. I was an ex truckie so that helped. Crash boxes were fun.

[pharb]

The only time the throwout bearing comes into play is when you put your foot on the clutch pedal. Theoretically, you could modify your driving habits to minimise the time that you use the clutch ie jab the clutch pedal down and change gear quickly. Obviously you need to take a bit more time when taking off, but at other times, flick it into neutral or another gear and get the pedal back up as quickly as possible. Worst case scenario - something falls apart in the bearing - well there isn't anything in there which can explode - the bits would eventually drop down to the base of the bell housing. The clutch pedal may then take up at a different point on its throw. Again, worst case - you may not be able to disengage the clutch.

You can drive and change gears without using the clutch, but taking off is a different matter. In my younger days, I had the slave cylinder in my car crap itself. I travelled from Ferntree Gully to Spotswood each day for work, crossing the Melbourne CDB diagonally from one corner to the other. Typically, by the time I got to the CDB, the master cylinder had run out f fluid, so I adjusted my driving speed and chose the gears to allow me to get through without stopping at traffic lights. Occasionally I had to stop, and I engage 1st gear and hit the starter motor and I was away again. I did this for 3 weeks until I had enough money to buy a new slave cylinder. Matching engine speed and gently feeding it into the next gear was relatively easy. It is important if you are doing this to make sure that there is no load on the engine (either driving or over-run) before you take it out of gear without the clutch. I eventually got sick of filling the clutch system with fluid, so I used water for a few weeks and then stripped it all apart and cleaned it all up.

In later years, I even towed my caravan over the Snowy Mountains (by night) with no clutch. In this case, the oil pipe to the clutch slave cylinder cracked on my wife's TM Magna. I was able to take off using the clutch, but after a few hundred km, all the fluid had leaked out and I had no clutch. We got home OK and I drove the rig into the driveway instead of reversing, and replaced the line next day. Having a tacho makes it slightly easier to change gears, but it is still a case of GENTLY lay the gear lever against the next gear and match the revs. When it is ready, it will go in OK.

Oh the educational experiences of being young and broke.

Good times 😌

[disco stu]

My wife was driving home once and the clutch suddenly wouldn't disengage. She just fanged it home in 4th. NA pajero incidentally.

Turned out one of the springs in the clutch friction plate came out and lodged behind stopping it moving.

After that incident I practiced changing gears without the clutch and got pretty good at it. The NL doesn't seem to like it as much

[erad]

Pharb wrote, in part "Oh the educational experiences of being young and broke."

Only difference now is that I am old and broke... One day, when I have a lot of spare time, I should sit down and write up all the unusual events I have experienced. Everyone should do this - it is amazing what would surface. One example was riding a bicycle in up-country Thailand (working on a dam project on the River Kwai), I came round a corner at speed and was faced with kerb to kerb elephant poo across the road. A bloody big heap it was too. That was after retreating from 3 savage dogs (Potentially rabid?) and managing to outrun them. I led a boring life...

[pharb]

My wife was driving home once and the clutch suddenly wouldn't disengage. She just fanged it home in 4th. NA pajero incidentally.

Turned out one of the springs in the clutch friction plate came out and lodged behind stopping it moving.

After that incident I practiced changing gears without the clutch and got pretty good at it. The NL doesn't seem to like it as much

Same happend to me in my NJ, with 2t of firewood on trailer. And to son's MK Triton. Ironically both with about 350,000km on original clutches.

[disco stu]

Same happend to me in my NJ, with 2t of firewood on trailer. And to son's MK Triton. Ironically both with about 350,000km on original clutches.

Wow-there you go. I hadn't heard of it before or after that issue so thought it was a bizarre one off

[pharb]

Yep. I thought it was a one off as well when happened to Paj.
Assumed a case of high mileage with lots of high torque and 4 cylinder vibration, but lots of open road, highway, country running creating minimal friction surface wear.

Then a couple of years later petrol MK did same thing at similar kms.

[erad]

I had one spring in the clutch plate come loose in my wife TM Magna at 340000 km. It didn't jam, but it made some funny noises so I stripped it down and replaced the clutch plate. There was still about 1 mm of facing material left above the rivets at the time as well. It was the original clutch plate.

[Sveinandre]

G’day br svein,

You could suck it and see, it might last, it might not, it’s really too hard to determine what would happen.

If it does let go and you lose use of your clutch, how good are you at rev matching between gears? This could allow you to continue driving until you can see your mechanic - but you’ll need to be able to start the car in first gear at the very least!

I’d imagine starting and stopping in gear won’t be particularly fun. When stopping you might be able to slip from 1st into neutral then use the brakes to stop the vehicle. The back into first and start the engine to get you going again.

I hope you don’t have stop/start traffic over your way!

Cheers

Bennie

hi Bennie, first thx for the reply. That sounds good, rev matching i think is not a problem. And also thankfully not much start stop traffic, The worst part of my trip i would say is a 50meter high 200m long bridge. Beside that it should be ok.