Hi List:
Dick wrote the following in an email to me. As you all know he does a
wonderful job of succinctly explaining things so rather than trying to
paraphrase or improve on what he wrote I have included it below.
Dick writes:
Aaron---I don't have a dog in this fight, since going to the Toyota 5
speed, which has a completely different clutch mechanism, as you may
know. But for your survey and file info, you can report this if you
wish.
The Gunst bearing and sleeve came to me from Nelson Riedel. He got two
of them from Mr. Gunst. Nelson knew I was doing test work in this area,
(clutch release pressures in pounds at the pedal and at the clutch
proper, etc.). He asked if I would like to try one of these. I agreed,
and he sent one. This was probably four + years ago. Following the Gunst
instructions, but using a relatively new Blue Dot B&B pressure plate
(cranked fingers) and disc, including the preload spring and strap I
might add.
I could tell the bearing quality, like the KOYO I took out, was top
notch. The Gunst was smaller than the KOYO, so it was easier to get it
to spin full time with the preload.
There are only a few major causes for ANY clutch to squeal. One would be
if the balls in the bearing were protesting (skidding instead of
turning) when contacting the pressure plate fingers. The anti-spin pin
must be intact so the sleeve doesn't spin.
Second cause would be with the nose of the bearing making initial
contact with the fingers, as the bearing came up to speed.
Third would be the bearing running in a different circle than the
clutch. Misalignment between the two units, for lack of the locating
dowels in either the three pins in the clutch itself (as in Gary Faqua's
recent case) or the two dowels locating the bell housing to the engine
backplate. OK, there are two more that locate the engine backplate to
the back of the block.
That's it! The pressure plate design should not enter into it. If for
instance it was the B&B cranked fingers that "whiste" then it should do
this with the RHP. The KOYO is a fine enough bearing, but it doesn't
fit the B&B finger angle too well, and being heavy doesn't like to spin
with even moderate preload. (I tried two different ones, with and
without preloading)
So, my friend, since you are taking the time to do all of this plotting,
I also wanted to add a little more to this. I have no interest in B&B or
the Gunst company. I just got tired of my RHP bearings failing
internally, and the Koyos balkiness. The preloaded Gunst was flawless
and silent thruout the 10,000+ miles I used it.
As an aside, there is another "Kit" on the market that bi-passes the SC,
fork and it's pin, cross shaft and bearings. A hydraulic line comes
straight from the MC to a hydraulic t/o bearing and works with the stock
Triumph clutch (about any brand) and transmission. More later on this...
Dick
Aaron Cropley
71 TR6 (Throttle Body Injection!)
http://www.triumphowners.com/108
Topsham, Maine
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