As many have said over the years, these are tough, enjoyable little cars,
but with a few (endearing?) quirks. Ken, your clutch problem and the rear
end clunks bear a little investigation. First, the clutch disengagement
system has a little weak spot in a tapered pin that attaches the clutch fork
to the cross shaft that is rotated by the clutch slave cylinder. A broken
pin can cause the clutch to exhibit the symptoms you described, and would
not be obvious to a mechanic changing the clutch if he wasn't familiar with
Triumphs. However, as this is a fairly serious job to remedy, I would first
make sure that the master cylinder is full of your favorite brake fluid (see
other recent messages discussing the merits of various fluids) and bleed the
system carefully to eliminate the possibility of entrapped air causing the
problem. Also, you should ensure that the mechanical parts of the linkage
are in good working order without excessive wear and that the slave cylinder
is mounted on the rear of the mounting plate and the push rod is in the
middle hole. If all these things are okay, it is likely time to pull the
transmission out and fix the broken clutch fork pin! As far as the rear end
clunks go, I agree with Dick that clunks are more or less typical of these
cars at their advanced age. However, there is one more weak area that bears
investigation and that is the differential mounts. The steel mounting
brackets on the frame are fairly light in construction and prone to
cracking - particularly the right front bracket due to torque stresses.
On my car, it had a badly cracked right front diff bracket when I first
bought it that made a clunking sound similar to a badly worn u-joint. The
problem could actually be observed by lying on the driveway and watching the
diff twist fore and aft as someone pushed the car by hand! The fix is to
drop the diff (not too bad a job) and have a competent welder repair and
reinforce the bracket. Install new mounts when refitting the differential,
as old soft rubber mounts can help cause the problem to reappear. Well,
good luck, Ken. Let us know what you find out.
Rex Townsend
too cold and rainy on Bainbridge Island for good TR6 driving at the moment!
|