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I purchased a clutch from SScootin98, through this for sale thread.
His name is James Ford.
I set up a rule for myself, never buy a used clutch.
Well, I was trying to diagnose a problem with my driveline, and narrowed it down to either clutch or center bearing in my driveshaft. Rather than spending the full amount for a new clutch and it not fixing the issue, I decided that I could purchase a known good used clutch, and when it wears out from the previous owners use, and mine, I could send it back to McLeod and get it rebuilt.
Well, after some negotiation, he sold it to me for 400 shipped, a small price to pay when throwing money at a problem to see what fixes it. He assured me on the phone that everything was excellent, and he'd send me pictures as soon as he pulled it out of the car. Well, he pulled the trans out, sent me a picture of it still on the engine, and like an idiot, I said great, and sent him the money.
I got it a few days later, and as I unpackaged it, I noticed there was some hardware missing from it, just some small spacers and washers, which I was able to source (but I shouldn't have had to), and made him aware of it. He responded that everything was there when he shipped it... oh well.
I started to install it, flywheel went on great, but as I started to install the pressure plate to the adapter ring, I noticed that the studs weren't torquing down properly. I took it out, and immediately noticed that the studs that were installed by him, were grossly overtorqued and the threads were ripping right out of the plate at 17 ft/lbs. The threads pulled out so easily that at first glance I thought I just pulled a helicoil out.
(For those that do not know, the gold ring bolts to the flywheel, and the floater in the middle secures one clutch disc to the flywheel, while the pressure plate secures the upper disc to the floater)
Note in this image, that he said "can't you just insert new helicoils"?
I took it to a local shop the next day, and had the three holes that were overtorqued repaired. 20 dollars per helicoil, and 3 dollars each. Could I have done it myself? Probably, but when you are dealing with something that's rotating as fast as these parts do, you don't want any errors - left it to the pros.
If I were the seller, I would have GLADLY refunded the 70 bucks to the buyer, hey, **** gets overlooked, and it's dealt with now. I then went home to finish installing the clutch, and sure enough, the other studs pull right out of the adapter ring. It's at this point I say "you know what, this dude isn't working with me on this, I'm sick of dealing with the clutch, I don't want it anymore" - I then ordered a brand new McLeod RXT from summit racing because I was tired of dealing with the aggravation.
As the PayPal dispute goes on (keep in mind, I was more than willing to forget the 70 dollars I paid the machine shop, and cover return shipping to get the lions share of my 400 dollars back), we start providing information, and he hits them with the fact that I had a machine shop helicoil the adapter plate AFTER HE TOLD ME TO.
Sadly, I lost the dispute and this scrub won my money, so I'm taking the ring to the machine shop, paying to have the remaining threads repaired, and hopefully will be able to sell it to recoup some of my money.
I had no intention of putting him on blast in a public forum, but, I got a PM from a member who wanted to buy a transmission from him, and hey, if this dude isn't willing to take care of something small like this, what's going to happen if there's a problem with the transmission?
here's the message I was sent from this potential purchaser:
"Wow that's not good at all. He kept being hesitant about sending me pics of the trans and still hasn't."
I always try to work with people I sell stuff to, if an issue arises. Unfortunately, this is not the case with most people, anymore.
In closing, I knew what the risks were buying a used clutch (maybe there's a little more wear on the discs than I anticipated, etc), but NEVER did I expect to have to pay 140 dollars to get something repaired that I was told worked perfectly.
Dude sorry to hear about your misfortune. I had the same thing happen to me when I bought a used monster clutch stage 3 from a different guy on here. The sellers on here is getting ridicolous. I was told the clutch has less than 1500 miles and 2 track passess. Comes to find out, it has less than 50% clutch life, Flywheel is warped to **** that regular machine shop couldnt even resurface it. And ofcourse paypal sided with him since he claimed that I installed the clutch and use it. How am i supposed to do that when my engine is still in the machine shop. Have you tried disputing with your CC? Most of the time they will take your side.
09-18-2015, 09:12 AM
Avoid SScootin98. 
