McLeod RXT Clutch - My Experience
03-16-2014, 07:29 PM
#62
03-17-2014, 12:12 PM
#63
OK credit where credit is due, I received my rebuilt RXT from McLeod Thursday. It was covered as a warranty repair - no charge (the pressure plate fingers were not retracting beyond the rear most portion of the pressure plate). I wish I could say all was good. Unfortunately after putting the clutch in this weekend it is dragging. As I did it myself this time I can guarantee that all torque values were followed to the tee. I shimmed the slave with a .055" shim to close the gap to 1/32". The master and slave were replaced when the original RXT was installed. My only guess at what might be the issue is the slave (everything else has been swapped more than once). So down it goes again. One thing to note is that it does seem to disengage completely when I rev the engine above about 4000 rpms...
03-17-2014, 12:15 PM
#64
One thing to note is that there is virtually no chatter (chattered once) and the engagement is smooth. Very similar to the last RXT install. Again I keep coming back to the slave. The original master and a new master exhibited the same behavior on the original RXT install.
03-17-2014, 05:52 PM
#65
OK credit where credit is due, I received my rebuilt RXT from McLeod Thursday. It was covered as a warranty repair - no charge (the pressure plate fingers were not retracting beyond the rear most portion of the pressure plate). I wish I could say all was good. Unfortunately after putting the clutch in this weekend it is dragging. As I did it myself this time I can guarantee that all torque values were followed to the tee. I shimmed the slave with a .055" shim to close the gap to 1/32". The master and slave were replaced when the original RXT was installed. My only guess at what might be the issue is the slave (everything else has been swapped more than once). So down it goes again. One thing to note is that it does seem to disengage completely when I rev the engine above about 4000 rpms...
You either need more of a shim or there is air trapped in the slave.
03-17-2014, 09:27 PM
#66
I hear you but i measured three different times to get a clearance of 1/32" of an inch. Adding another shim would make the clearance negative. I bled 16 ounces of brake fluid through the system. I thought it was air the last time as well. It wasn't. At this point I am popping for a power bleeder and using new fluid. If that doesn't work I will drop it and put a new slave in. If that doesn't work I will pick up an adjustable slave. I will get this POS running soon.
03-17-2014, 09:31 PM
#67
I hear you but i measured three different times to get a clearance of 1/32" of an inch. Adding another shim would make the clearance negative. I bled 16 ounces of brake fluid through the system. I thought it was air the last time as well. It wasn't. At this point I am popping for a power bleeder and using new fluid. If that doesn't work I will drop it and put a new slave in. If that doesn't work I will pick up an adjustable slave. I will get this POS running soon.
03-17-2014, 09:49 PM
#68
TECH Fanatic
Thread Starter
Charles, glad you were able to get something going on this. I've got about a thousand things going on right now and have not been able to deal with this yet.
I hope you get it worked out. Did they replace the friction disc's and floater as well? Did you get any piece of your original unit back or did they send you a completely different one?
I hope you get it worked out. Did they replace the friction disc's and floater as well? Did you get any piece of your original unit back or did they send you a completely different one?
03-18-2014, 09:54 AM
#69
I am bleeding the clutch manually. 5 rapid pumps, crack speed bleeder, 3 slow pumps, refill reservoir, close bleeder and repeat.
Damian,
I got brand new friction discs and resurfaced pressure plate, and flywheel. The adaptor ring was used. The floater may have been new (tough to tell). Whether or not the adaptor ring and pressure plate were my originals is tough to tell. The originals had a blue alignment stripe. The ones I got back have a white. However, the white looks as if it was painted over a different color. No matter what I got back, new vs old, the original problem I had (pressure plate fingers not retracting below the rear of the pressure plate surface has been fixed) was fixed and I am happy with the state of the product. I will say they were not very communicative during the process but that is really picking nits. I would MUCH prefer they work the issue rather than tell me what is going on every step of the way (it takes more time to execute all of the comms).
Damian,
I got brand new friction discs and resurfaced pressure plate, and flywheel. The adaptor ring was used. The floater may have been new (tough to tell). Whether or not the adaptor ring and pressure plate were my originals is tough to tell. The originals had a blue alignment stripe. The ones I got back have a white. However, the white looks as if it was painted over a different color. No matter what I got back, new vs old, the original problem I had (pressure plate fingers not retracting below the rear of the pressure plate surface has been fixed) was fixed and I am happy with the state of the product. I will say they were not very communicative during the process but that is really picking nits. I would MUCH prefer they work the issue rather than tell me what is going on every step of the way (it takes more time to execute all of the comms).
03-18-2014, 11:10 AM
#71
I hear you but i measured three different times to get a clearance of 1/32" of an inch. Adding another shim would make the clearance negative. I bled 16 ounces of brake fluid through the system. I thought it was air the last time as well. It wasn't. At this point I am popping for a power bleeder and using new fluid. If that doesn't work I will drop it and put a new slave in. If that doesn't work I will pick up an adjustable slave. I will get this POS running soon.
If I'm following correctly, you received an undamaged clutch from McLeod. A new slave cylinder was installed along with the clutch by a professional. You properly did the break-in of the new clutch. At some point early after the install ~500 miles you then experienced chatter and suspected disengagement issues. The problem persisted and you pulled the clutch for inspection and found damage.
If your problems are hydraulic related then do you suspect the clutch master cylinder?
03-18-2014, 02:01 PM
#74
Could be but according to tick you don't need to close the bleeder on the upstroke. On other clutches with the tick speed bleeder this worked fine. Keep in mind the bleeder is immersed in brake fluid. I could have a bad one I guess. I'll give it a shot.
Phili,
The professional forgot to install my new master and speed bleeder the first go round (part my fault and part his, they fell out of my parts box into the trunk and he just missed it). I put something in the trunk about a week later went WTF? Contacted the mechanic and he said bring it in and he would make it right (should have mentioned int the first time as I paid for it). He was backed up and one month went by before he could fit me in. While driving that one month it began to drag. I contacted the mechanic he said bleed it. I did and it got better. By the time I got it to him it had begun to drag again (not sure why it would work then drag). One month later he tells me it is done (he also had to finish up the tune - multiple phone calls in between stating he had been talking with McLeod and done everything they recommended). So I get there and I expect it to be fixed. It was not. I drove it about 15 miles home and park it. I tried to find leaks in the lines (because it worked initially then needed bleeding but couldn't find anything) Once I get out from under work I pull it and begin a complete re-install. The fingers would not retract beyond the rear surface of the pressure plate. Called McLeod. They said send it in. I did. They replaced it.
So to directly answer your question I do not suspect the master as it did this with two different masters. The old that he left on and the new.
BTW - this is just a summary of the issues I have had with this build. I will not be using this mechanic ever again. He is ASE certified and has multiple years building high hp ls engines and is widely known for ls transplants (which in my opinion is the toughest of all). My suspicion is that he is pretty good but very busy and his employees, well, not so good (at lest the one that worked on mine). Roughly $2000 dollars in labor later I will be re-doing everything I have paid him to do. Keep in mind that $2000 is for initial dyno for hp capture for baseline, tuning, clutch and all hydraulics, and a fuel pump swap. I will say he did help on a vacuum leak that I stupidly couldn't find. I have been hesitant to mention any of this because I haven't had the time to run down all of the problems. I could find out that everything he did was spot on and that there were defective parts causing all of the issues. However, I have already found several examples where that is not the case. I suspect I will resolve the other issues and have similar findings. Either way don't ask me to tell you who I used. I won't. This is how he feeds his family and won't interfere with that. As always caveat emptor.
Phili,
The professional forgot to install my new master and speed bleeder the first go round (part my fault and part his, they fell out of my parts box into the trunk and he just missed it). I put something in the trunk about a week later went WTF? Contacted the mechanic and he said bring it in and he would make it right (should have mentioned int the first time as I paid for it). He was backed up and one month went by before he could fit me in. While driving that one month it began to drag. I contacted the mechanic he said bleed it. I did and it got better. By the time I got it to him it had begun to drag again (not sure why it would work then drag). One month later he tells me it is done (he also had to finish up the tune - multiple phone calls in between stating he had been talking with McLeod and done everything they recommended). So I get there and I expect it to be fixed. It was not. I drove it about 15 miles home and park it. I tried to find leaks in the lines (because it worked initially then needed bleeding but couldn't find anything) Once I get out from under work I pull it and begin a complete re-install. The fingers would not retract beyond the rear surface of the pressure plate. Called McLeod. They said send it in. I did. They replaced it.
So to directly answer your question I do not suspect the master as it did this with two different masters. The old that he left on and the new.
BTW - this is just a summary of the issues I have had with this build. I will not be using this mechanic ever again. He is ASE certified and has multiple years building high hp ls engines and is widely known for ls transplants (which in my opinion is the toughest of all). My suspicion is that he is pretty good but very busy and his employees, well, not so good (at lest the one that worked on mine). Roughly $2000 dollars in labor later I will be re-doing everything I have paid him to do. Keep in mind that $2000 is for initial dyno for hp capture for baseline, tuning, clutch and all hydraulics, and a fuel pump swap. I will say he did help on a vacuum leak that I stupidly couldn't find. I have been hesitant to mention any of this because I haven't had the time to run down all of the problems. I could find out that everything he did was spot on and that there were defective parts causing all of the issues. However, I have already found several examples where that is not the case. I suspect I will resolve the other issues and have similar findings. Either way don't ask me to tell you who I used. I won't. This is how he feeds his family and won't interfere with that. As always caveat emptor.
03-18-2014, 02:03 PM
#75
From Tick Website:
Another huge improvement is our SPEEDbleeder end - allowing you to simply crack it open one time and close it once the air is out of the system, instead of having to open and close the bleeder with every pump of the pedal.
I will try it with the bleeder closed but like I said Tick claims it is not needed.
Another huge improvement is our SPEEDbleeder end - allowing you to simply crack it open one time and close it once the air is out of the system, instead of having to open and close the bleeder with every pump of the pedal.
I will try it with the bleeder closed but like I said Tick claims it is not needed.
03-18-2014, 02:15 PM
#76
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I have bled my clutch 3 times since I got the speed bleeder. I crack it open, 3 pumps check fluid, repeat until new fluid comes out. I close it when I'm done. Worked perfect every time. Took 5 min by myself
03-18-2014, 03:01 PM
#78
BTW - thanks to all who have responded. I am getting to the point where remaining logical and methodical takes a good bit of effort. Trying to bleed with the bleeder closed on the up stroke should have already been tried.
