cracked clutch fork

99 Legacy Brighton 2.2L manual 5spd California emissions, cable clutch, 185k miles. Shifting into gear became increasingly difficult over the course of a week, and trying to shift into reverse would be met with a wall of grinding gear. Had to turn engine off, shift into reverse, turn on again to reverse. Shifting gears with engine off is fine. Turned the clutch cable adjuster nuts in 1/4" and everything went back normal, no grinding into reverse, normal shifting while driving.

 

Couple days later, took it to a mechanic I've used before, he said it's fine, maybe the synchros are getting bad, but the clutch is fine and he'd just live with the difficult shifting if he were in my shoes. Drove home and got worse by the mile. All previous conditions returned.

 

Trans fluid hasn't been changed in a while. Thinking maybe that could help. Drained 3050mL old oil and refilled with 2900mL Pennzoil Synchromesh. A few iron filings collected on the drain plug magnet but nothing insane. No sign of bronze/yellow metal from synchros. Old gear oil didn't smell good but wasn't burnt or anything.

 

Drove to work, became almost impossible to shift into first, reverse same problem as before. Screwed in the clutch cable adjusting screws again, 1/4", problem fixed again.

 

Decided to tear off the clutch fork dust guard. Look inside, what do you know. Pivot cup on clutch fork is cracked badly. Test the clutch pedal, can see the cracks propagate in the clutch fork metal. Bad. Decide to try to drive it home 15 miles at 10pm, no traffic. Most conservative shifting ever. Tried to keep it in second or third the whole time without hitting any lights and always waiting for fork to shatter when using clutch pedal. Worked. Amazed. Parked car at home until parts arrive.

 

 

What parts should I get for this job? How much should they cost? I'm going to lift the engine rather than drop the transmission, and figure I should do the clutch kit while I'm replacing the fork, throwout bearing, clutch cable, and shifter joint if I can access it without dropping the trans. I should probably also r&r both front driveaxles (one boot ripped on both) but might be lazy and do that another time (they work fine).

New clutch fork is about $30 thru ebay. I've had several clutch fork crack on me (hydraulic) one from a forester (high mileage) and my 98 bd gt with act clutch. I would recommend changing the clutch fork specially for this older cars when doing clutch job. Clutch kit ranges from $100 and up depending on the brand you get. Make sure you resurface your flywheel

Yeah, I'm going through all this specifically to replace the clutch fork. I'm tempted to weld more metal onto the outside of the new fork pivot cup so that it can't fail like a cracked egg again. I'll have to look through other threads to see what rear main seal part I should buy.

 

How much should a flywheel resurfacing cost? I can probably do this myself (I'm a member at Techshop, not a good machinist but perhaps good enough) or it might cost less to just buy a new one. $70 on amazon [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Sachs-NFW6605-Clutch-Flywheel/dp/B00199G0NC/]Amazon.com: Sachs NFW6605 Clutch Flywheel: Automotive[/ame]

 

Just bought these three things:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/390982742630?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201215181998?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001B5E5XQ/]Amazon.com: EXEDY 15010 OEM Replacement Clutch Kit: Automotive[/ame]

Do you need a completely new clutch? Can the clutch fork be removed and replaced thru the hole in the bell housing? I wish I could remember how the retainer spring attaches, to the TOB or fork?

I don't think I need a new clutch, but the throwout bearing is probably at the end of its life too, and I don't have the surgical skills necessary to replace the fork through that tiny 3 square inch window in the bellhousing.

 

So the engine's coming out and a new clutch is on the way whether I need it or not at 185k miles.

Two images (via facebook, hopefully they display right): got the engine separated from the transmission bellhousing, close-up of the cracked pivot cup on the clutch fork. There don't appear to be any clips on the sides of the fork and neither my new fork nor clutch kit come with them. Drat! https://subarupartsforyou.com/p/30539AA000-1917

 

 

I don't have any replacement throwout bearing clips. There were none on the assembly when I opened up the bellhousing. Are they necessary? A friend said instead of clips he uses wire wrapped and tied off on each side. The purpose of the two clips is just to keep the tines of the clutch fork and the throwout bearing together, right? Without the clips, the clutch fork will retract and leave the throwout bearing just barely touching but in continuous contact with the pressure plate diaphragm spring fingers?

Hello;

Yes, you need the clips! See if you can get them from a Subaru dealer. In my case I made them from an old spring that was in my junk box. I found the old springs laying in the bottom of the bellhousing and copied the good one. Good luck, Steven.

Finally got everything back together. Going to try to start up tomorrow. Can't figure out how to tell when the clutch cable is adjusted correctly with engine off, just guessing.

Hello;

There should be a small amount of free play on the clutch pedal when in the up position. Thinking that this should be about 3/8", Steven.

Did you remove the radiator to allow more room for the engine to come forward? In the pics that's what it looks like to me. Thanks!

Yes, I did remove the radiator. Can't imagine doing this without removing it. Also deleted the air conditioning bits in the engine compartment -- condenser attached to radiator, lines, compressor.

 

Clutch cable situation:

I've got it loosened so that the release bearing is just barely not in contact with the diaphragm spring when the clutch pedal is disengaged (I can see this because I removed the clutch fork boot last month), but this means that the pedal inside feels weird to me -- it travels 3 inches (not 3/8") in before the bearing fully contacts the diaphragm (slack in cable + fork-to-bearing lever + bearing-to-diaphragm space), and then beyond that I go another 2 inches all the way to the floor to push in the diaphragm. The clutch pedal feels better to me if I tighten up the cable nuts at the fork so that the bearing is always in contact with the diaphragm. No problem shifting / wall of gears with either clutch cable setting though.

I've kept the clutch cable set like this for two weeks now. It seems to work fine. I have a different problem now though, for another thread.

Yeah, I'm going through all this specifically to replace the clutch fork. I'm tempted to weld more metal onto the outside of the new fork pivot cup so that it can't fail like a cracked egg again. I'll have to look through other threads to see what rear main seal part I should buy.

 

How much should a flywheel resurfacing cost? I can probably do this myself (I'm a member at Techshop, not a good machinist but perhaps good enough) or it might cost less to just buy a new one. $70 on amazon Amazon.com: Sachs NFW6605 Clutch Flywheel: Automotive

 

I don't recommend welding anything onto that. While it may seem that building up material would make it stronger, you run the risk of changing the temperament of the metal. I'm not sure if that thing is supposed to be hardened or not, but that could lead to more problems down the road :\

 

A lot of metals need just a bit of flex in them to do what they're supposed to do. Specifically, bolts.

I didn't weld anything to the new one. But I'll probably weld the old one so that I have an emergency spare if I'm ever travelling far from civilization.

I feel you, I just went through this myself, split right at the pivot cup.