What would cause a throw out bering to wear out premature. I am replaced my whole flywheel clutch set up today and noticed that when you spin the old throwout berring it spins like it is ovaled.

 

I'd like to know, too. I had the exact same problem with my '76.

 

slight clutch fork pressure on the bearing all the time, uneven clutch fork pressure, clutch springs bad..

 

Usually no pedal freeplay will wear it out early or misalignment.When you said ovaled are you talking about the outside because it is on the outside thats a selfadjusting bearing

 

High RPM shifting. If you drive it hard, it won't be long before you hear that familar noise. The voice of experience...

 

I did not have enough freeplay. The inside is ovaled. Do you think this could be a cause of me blowing up my richmond 6 speed three times?

 

Nope.

 

Then what do you think might cause the explosions.

 

How does this happen?

 

Tough to tell without a LOT more information, but a preloaded T/O bearing won't cause any type of transmission failure.

 

Long story as short as possible.

79 vette 385 stroker, 3600lbs with me in it. 475 to 500 hp, + occasional 100 shot. Stock flywheel, mcloed 12 button kevlar on flywheel side organic full face on pressure plate, 2400lb pressure plate. Richmond road race six speed. 411 rear heavy duty clutch pack. Vbp performance plus suspension. All new halfshafts ujoints all around. Rebuilt training arms. 28 inch nitto drag radials in rear, 26 inch in front.

Today my new set up is a mcloed 12 inch steel flywheel, 100% full faced organic clutch, 2400lb pressure plate, new adjustable throw out berring.
Off the subject but I installed this, this morning and was putting the shift linkage arms on the richmond and twisted the reverse stud off. They are sending me every thing I need but I have to take the rear of the tranny apart. F#$%, S%^$, AS#, anyway I am waiting for parts.

I am putting the richmond back in my car after blowing it up three times, with my new flywheel and clutch set up, the first set up was too harsh. First time throwing it into 6th gear at 7000 rpms, second time throwing it into 2nd gear at the track. Third time wide open throtte at 5000 rpms in 5th gear(mainshaft broke). Both other times sheared off gears. All fixed under warranty. Most likely when I blew second I cracked the 5th and 6th mainshaft.

Any way what do you think?

 

fork may be warped, retainer clip missing/misaligned on bearing

 

I know the retainer clip is not missing, but how can you tell if it is warped.

 

when the pedal linkage bushings get old and wore out, they can cause the T/O bearing to wear out prematurely also.

 

Have you checked the concentricity for the amount of run-out between center of crank & bellhousing flange to tranny case. If there is too much run-out it could wear-out the front tranny input shaft/bearing since it is spinning off-centered.

 

How come you didn't go with McLeod Dual Friction Clutch Disc?

 

Money.

Plus I heard they are hard on input shafts.

 

Sounds like a nice car! The Richmond 6 speeds are rated for 475 ft Lbs of torque which is HEAVY DUTY! If you are powershifting with that much torque in your engine plus the NOS. and a HEAVY clutch, BOOM! Time for new trany. Any manual trans will detonate if subjected to repeated impact shock, and the higher gear you are in the less torque and impact shock it can handle (shift into 6th gear at 7000 RPM). Either the Auto Gear Super M22 or the Tremec TKO 600 would be best if you are running that muck power, and drive to try and minimize driveline shock or you will tear it out too. Good luck on the richmond but it is not rated for the power you are putting to it. Especially with a high torque engine, sticky tires and a racing type clutch. This is one of the reasons most serious drag racers are using automatic transmissions. You downsized the clutch a little, get rid of the drag radials and put something on it that will break loose to reduce driveline shock.

 

Too much torque & RPM with a sticky set of drag radials. You're doing your best to twist the transmission in half from both ends. Apparently, you're succeeding! You M-I-G-H-T be able to get away with a TKO-600 with that combination, but I suspect that if you're set on sticking with a manual, a LOT more $$$ are in order.

 

Stroker,
The fix is usually a lot simpler than most realize. If the bearing has worn out prematurley its probably because it is spinning all the time, which it's not designed to do, and has thrown the grease out from too much heat.

This is usually cased from a missing spring between the upper Z-bar and the steering column flange. Remember the General never put one item in these cars that was unneccessary.

Its purpose is to keep the pedal weight off the throw out bearing. I've found this spring to be missing on more Vettes than you'd believe. Also the two springs on the lower adjustment rod from the Z-bar to the clutch fork.

The weight of the pedal alone is enough to keep the bearing spinning and wear it out in no time.

A .99 cent fix.

Good luck,
Greg