[DeTomaso] New Clutch Issues

JDeRyke at aol.com JDeRyke at aol.com
Tue Apr 6 02:07:06 EDT 2010


In a message dated 4/5/10 7:05:25 PM, cengles at cox.net writes:

> I am a dummy. I have heard of clutch chatter, but I don't what it is 
> exactly. I understand that it is generally a bad thing, but what malfunction 
> does it indicate?
> 
Naw, you know what it is- you just didn't associate the words with the 
malady. The flywheel is spinning at 900 or so rpms. The clutch disc attached to 
the ZF input shaft is stationary. When you select a gear and 'let out the 
clutch', the spring-loaded clutch plate attempts to press the stationary disc 
against the spinning flywheel. If things aren't close to perfect, the disc 
will repeatedly catch-and-slip, catch-and-slip, or sort of 'plane' across the 
spinning flywheel, causing a violent vibration known as clutch-chatter. The 
violent vibrations tend to shock-load the whole drivetrain all the way back 
to the tires and even loosens bolts & nuts. 
There are a whole host of things that can cause the catch-and-slip action. 
Sometimes you can mitigate it by VERY delicate footwork on the clutch pedal; 
racers just raise the engine revs and dump the clutch so the moment of most 
likely chatter is over too quickly to really begin. Cheers- J DeRyke



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