RE: CLUTCH CHATTERING ATTN ALFRED KOOS

["Graham, George W (GE Energy)" <george.graham@xxxxxxxxx>]

Since no one has mentioned this yet; I will.   I have had personal
experience with 6 new Ram clutches that developed a chatter after anywhere
from zero to a couple hundred miles.   Notice that the original post stated
that the disk was replaced; not the PP.   All of these cases turned out to
be a junk pressure plate (diaphragm type).   Some of the fingers had bent
slightly; just enough to cause the face of the pressure plate to engage
off-parallel to the flywheel.   Any time that happens; chatter city.
Swapped in a Centerforce; no more problems.

George Graham
VP - AMC of Houston

-----Original Message-----
From: akoos@xxxxxxxx [mailto:akoos@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 9:41 AM
To: mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: CLUTCH CHATTERING ATTN ALFRED KOOS



-- "Armand Eshleman" <aje1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>Al,
>I have a question for you on this subject, what 
>if the transmission mount were to be solid but 
>still have a central pivot bolt so the engine/
>transmission could rotate back and forth but 
>there would be no up and down "give". Might 
>this also cause clutch chatter?

In my experience, it is both 'side-to-side' and 'up-and-down' movement that
causes the chatter.  My best example is the '78 Concord Hatchback that I
used to have (258/4-speed).  I ran that car hard (could catch rubber in
three of four gears) and broke the transmission mount about once a year.
When the mount would wear out or break, the driveline would 'wind up' under
load, causing an enormous chatter that felt like a bad clutch or excessive
wheel-hop.

If you've ever used a sewer snake on a clogged drain, you will be familiar
with 'wind up' action.  If the snake gets caught up in the drain (your rear
tires get a good bite under load), the snake will 'coil' itself around the
perimeter of the pipe (the tranny/driveshaft start to bind and rotate
around).  If this is extreme enough, the snake will bind and tangle up (the
transmission mount will break).  

The solution is to replace the mount, which is easy compared to clutch or
rearend work.  In more extreme applications (like the SC/Rambler mentioned),
a more robust solution like the 'chain leash' can help keep everything
square and limit this problem.  Race cars solve the problem by using a
mounting plate between the transmission and the engine, but that tends to
transmit a lot of vibration to the body.

Alfred Koos
Alamo AMC
San Antonio, TX
akoos@xxxxxxxx  

, causing an enormous 'chatter' which felt like 

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