Opening Pandora's box...

[lastchancegarage]

Maybe someone with experience can shed some light on what I found in the LH final. Here are some pics. Excuse the fuzz on some of them. I haven't figured how to manually focus my daughter's digital camera yet.

This is the edge of the steering clutch pack. The last steel plate is just about perfectly flush with the steering drum. It looks like plenty of clutch material between pressure plate and first steel plate but I'd rather hear from some one who's seen more than I have of these things. (That would just about include anyone else on this site. )



This is the inner teeth on the LH sterring clutch pack...



This is the throwout bearing assy with the inner shaft sleeve. Is the end of the sleeve supposed to be flared like that? The bearing face also does not spin at all. When the steering lever is pulled, the assy rotates and a dull clunk is heard as the assy cocks to the right slightly. The bearing face doesn't travel outward much at all when you pull the steering lever all the way back. Maybe 1/4" at most. Is there something behind the bearing assy that should cause the bearing to travel outward more?



These last two shots are of the brake band so you can get an idea of how much material is remaining. The first shot is the forward side of the band, the second is the rear.




If anyone familiar with 440's could lend some insight as to what exactly I'm looking at here, I'd appreciate it. My gut feeling is something went wrong with the throwout assy and the steering clutches haven't been worn much at all. If that's the case, can they just be sanded lightly and reassembled or should they be replaced from just sitting there aging?

Thanks in advance for any info given. In all honesty, if it wasn't for reading about finals being removed on this site so many times, I probably would never have done something like this. The details you guys give in your explanations give basic understanding to the rest of us knuckledraggers.

[Lavoy]

You need to remove what is left of your throwout tube and install a new one. At the same time, remove the throwout bearing holder and clean it up to remove all the rust. Install a new throwout bearing and make sure that the holder will slide in and out on the throwout tube with just hand pressure easily.
As to clutch height, yes that looks good, but if the fiber discs have absorbed any moisture, they grow. Based on the amount of rust in there, I would say that you definitely have a moisture problem.
Brake band looks real thin to me, but kind of hard to tell.
Unless you like pulling finals, fix everything that looks questionable in there, or you will just be going back in shortly.
Lavoy

[lastchancegarage]

Thanks Lavoy,
I was kind of leaning towards replacing everything seeing as I have no way of determining how old this clutch pack assy is. Like I said in a prior post, I don't think the previous two owners did much in the way of maintenance on this machine. Do you have throwout tubes and bearings or am I looking at dealer only parts? As far as the tube goes, would steel exhaust pipe at the right diameter suffice? Is the tube just a straight tube? Is it supposed to have that flare at the end or was that caused by compression against the outer shaft end? If it hasn't been functioning, would the pressure plate still be good with maybe a light sanding of the surface? The other aspect to putting things back right is to disassemble the steering lever shaft components which all seem to be pretty well frozen on the shaft. Also, when you put your finals back on, do you run a bead of RTV or other type of sealant around the perimeter to seal the internals from moisture? You mentioned moisture as a culprit and as far as I know the final has never been opened up. Just a thought. Thanks again for the feedback.

Scott

[Lavoy]

Scott,
I should have everything you need on hand, any questions, let me know.
Lavoy