I replaced the original clutch assembly and flywheel with new parts from carquest. Around 2000 miles later the clutch blew apart a second time. Thankfully the clutch i bought has a lifetime warranty. I replaced it again thinking it was a faulty part because the spring configuration was different on the second new disc. I got around another 2000 miles or so and it blew apart again. Any ideas on the possible causes other than ragging on the car? The most abuse it gets is pulling an aluminum boat on an aluminum trailer.

Had the same problem on '95 Legacy. It was a failed bearing in the trans. The input shaft was coming out of the trans at an angle (pointing upward) putting alot of strain on the clutch disk. Push down on the input shaft and see if you can feel the rear end of it raise up inside the trans. I believe the bearing is $130 last I checked.

It does, but I was starting to wonder if that was the issue or not because I picked up another trans that is supposed to be out of good working car with less than 200,000 miles on it and the shaft on this one moves around the same amount. The front bearing is 30 bucks already ordered one but am trying to find the easiest fix before splitting the case on mine.

When I replaced the clutch, the cable adjustment was all the way to the fully adjusted point. At that adjustment the clutch pedal was in line with the brake pedal and there was a good inch or so of travel at the top of the pedal. when releasing the pedal the clutch would engage almost imediately off the floor. Is there something out of adjustment there?

Edited June 10, 201213 yr by Coyote

You might check out this thread,

 

http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=121963

 

Good instructions on cracking the trans open. Does/did your trans make a growing noise at all? The big double roller bearing tends to wear out on these trans. There is a lot of unsupported shaft in there in the same place that the 4wd stuff was on the earlier models that had it (same case design pretty much)

 

I've had trouble with mine in the past as have other people, but I didn't loose any clutch discs because of it. Anyway, it's a good read to tell you how to open things up.

 

Will-

 

Also, if you do searches for "transmission bearing replacement" you'll find other threads with good pics.

Edited June 10, 201213 yr by lostinthe202

Thanks, I will read up on that. There was no noise at all, shifted smooth except popping out of fourth when coasting or when letting off the throttle.

The berring on the end of main shaft is the one that fails but will not damage clutch have seen many fail but never seen it do clutch damage sounds like poor sping quality in disk to me i see lots that springs are hamered out cheaper clutchs ar't always a good deal try a exedy one

It must have been making some noise. The mainshaft roller bearing wears out all the time on these and causes exactly as you describe. I just replaced one that was in the early stages of failure at about 190k miles. Have one starting to go in the transmission that's in my car now that's around 180k IIRC. Old transmission from the same car the MSB started rattling like a bad rod bearing at just over 190k, but it had been making noise since around 170k. Have a FWD trans with a completely shot MSB (input shaft can be slid forward/back far enough to engage gears) at 225k. There were big chunks in the oil on that one.

The springs in the disk are actually in place and look fine when the clutch plate goes out. The part that is breaking is the metal plate that the fiber disc is mounted to is breaking out so it's in two pieces, the center hub with the springs and the outer disc with the fiber plates on it.

It's not supposed to be doable on these, but maybe you're putting the disc in backwards? Most have "Flywheel side" printed or stamped on them, but some cheaper discs may not.

 

How about some pictures of this broken hub?

I thought the same but if the disc is in backwards the springs rub against the flywheel bolts. I triple checked that the first and second time I put in the clutch. I tend to second guess myself when doing somewhat technical work. I showed the disc and pressure plat to a sube mechanic this last time and he thought somehow the throwought bearing was putting too much pressure against the disc and causing fatigue, but I don't see that as a possability since the clutch adjustment felt like it was working proper. If the input shaft bearing failure can cause that kind of damage then I will tear into one and try that unless someone has another thought.

I'm not sold on it being caused by the MSB but I can't say for sure. If the pilot bearing is good any side to side movement of the input shaft will be minimal. It can still move fore/aft but the disc is designed to slip, so unless there is a groove worn into the input shaft or the disc doesn't slide across the splines easily, that shouldn't cause a problem.

 

It's certainly caused by some sort of misalignment putting excessive side loading on the disc and overstressing the hub that holds the friction ring.

 

Was the flywheel resurfaced /replaced at any point? Was it removed to replace oil seals? Any way it could have been put back on crooked?

New flywheel when I replaced the clutch the first time about 4000 miles ago. Followed the torque specs and pattern in the book. No abnormal wear on the input shaft,

What exactly happened to the original clutch? Did it break the same way?

yes, and there is no noticeable noise when it goes. the first two times anyhow went when I was shifting from 4th to 5th. Let out the clutch and there was nothing there rolled to a stop. this last time it went a little slower it was shifting hard one evening while pulling the boat so I thought maybe the sychro's were going out because of it slipping out of fourth for the four months I've had the car. the next morning I drove it around the block without the boat and it shifted fine so I headed to work, pulled into a gas station and noticed it was still pulling in 1st when the clutch was in. Checked the cable adjustment and it was fine so I decided to limp it home shifted fine while moving, came to a stop light and shut the motor off, put it in first gear and started it when th light turned green and got moving a bit and no noise it just quit pulling foreward.

3 failures of the same manner, nothing that really stands out mechanically that might cause it. Knowing there's play in the input shaft, that seems the most logical. Guess you get to take a transmission apart.

thanks for the help.

should the seal be replaced at the same time? its not leaking at the moment.

The front seal is only $10 or $12 iirc. just replace while it's apart since it can't be done otherwise.

riding the clutch ? or just cheap rivits watch out for china clutches the rivit steel quality is very low

I think trying to put it on backwards the clutch center part strikes the flywheel or something like that.. I tried one day on purpose just to see.

It's not the $60 bearing on the front of the input shaft. It's the larger $130 bearing on the rear. It's a big ole' bastard. Imagine the Titanic going down bow first... the angle of the stern changes right? That's what's going on with the input shaft. The bow is towards the rear of the trans and the stern is the part you can grab. Now get some pics of that trans split apart. I wanna see how bad the bearing is.

It's not the $60 bearing on the front of the input shaft. It's the larger $130 bearing on the rear. It's a big ole' bastard. Imagine the Titanic going down bow first... the angle of the stern changes right? That's what's going on with the input shaft. The bow is towards the rear of the trans and the stern is the part you can grab. Now get some pics of that trans split apart. I wanna see how bad the bearing is.

 

I'm taking my really bad one apart tomorrow if it doesn't rain. You'll get some carnage joy from that one I guarantee it!

It's not the $60 bearing on the front of the input shaft. It's the larger $130 bearing on the rear. It's a big ole' bastard. Imagine the Titanic going down bow first... the angle of the stern changes right? That's what's going on with the input shaft. The bow is towards the rear of the trans and the stern is the part you can grab. Now get some pics of that trans split apart. I wanna see how bad the bearing is.

 

I had mine blow up ended up falling between the gears (bearings) and locking the tranny up sometimes.

Half way there, just got the rear split from the front. Silver paste is never a good sign.