Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 20:40:41 -0400
Reply-To: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject: Re: Different clutch kits
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.31.0110081829470.25581-100000@ux7.cso.uiuc.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> I need to replace my clutch and I noticed that Bus Depot has two
> different kits. One is the stock Sachs kit and the other is a premium LUK
> kit. I was wondering if the LUK was worth the extra $70 and if anyone
> knew what was better about it?
Actually, I carry not two, but THREE different Vanagon clutch kits.
The "entry-level" one, at around $114 with listmember discount, is the basic
Sachs kit, same as sold pretty much everywhere else under the sun. This is
what the vast majority of Vanagons have on them now, and is what I have on
my own Westy. There have been some claims on this List in the past that the
Sachs kit can be prone to "clutch chatter." In many cases, the cause turned
out to be unrelated, such as worn motor mounts, a flywheel that was not
resurfaced, etc. I have had not one iota of trouble with the Sachs kit on
my own '89 Westy. On the other hand, I had the identical kit in my '85
Vanagon a few ears earlier and it did chatter. Worn mounts? Uneven
flywheel? Hot spot on the disk? Who knows. Personally I'm not convinced
that the Sachs kits have any real problem with clutch chatter that couldn't
be explained some other way, but some would disagree. Maybe for some odd
reason they're more susceptable to it, who knows. Which is why I started
carrying the LuK kits. If you want to blame the Sachs kits as being more
"chatter susceptable," or just "don't want to chance it," buy the LuK.
The "middle" kit is the stock LuK kit, at $143 with discount. This is LuK's
competition to the Sachs kit. (For any who are unaware, both Sachs and LuK
are OE suppliers to VW, so they both have equal legitimacy, although Sachs
has a better-known aftermarket name here in the US.) I have not yet heard
any reports of clutch chatter with the LuK kits at all. (Of course there is
a far smaller installed user base of them, so it would follow that there
would be vastly fewer complaints anyway.) Certainly there is no downside to
the LuK kit as compared to the Sachs. So, best case, you get a more reliable
kit, and worst case, you wasted the extra $29. Not a lot of money
considering the cost/hassle of the clutch job as a whole.
The "high-end" kit is the heavy-duty LuK kit, which is $190 with discount.
This kit has been erroneously referred to on the List as a "Syncro only"
clutch kit. In reality, it is the kit that VW switched to in mid 1989 (and
used thru the end of Vanagon production in 1991) on both 2WD and Syncro
models. Neither LuK nor Sachs sell this kit in the U.S. anymore; instead
they now "supercede" it to the earlier version (the two kits above). So I
have to import this one directly from LuK in Germany. As I understand it,
the main improvements in the later style were a slightly stronger center hub
area, and a slight redesign that reduced the required travel of the clutch
pedal. This may be a nice benefit, as I must admit that I am guilty of
sometimes failing to push the pedal all the way to the floor when shifting;
it does have quite a bit of travel with the original design.
As I said, I have the Sachs kit in my Vanagon and have not had a problem
with it. That said, if I were going to do it again, I'd buy the $190 kit.
(At the time I installed mine, I did not yet have the LuK kits available, so
there was no choice.)
Why? Well, a clutch job is a major pain-in-the-ass that I don't want to go
through often. My line of thinking is that considering the small difference
in price (about $75 between the cheapest and best options), weighed against
the cost of having to do the job again prematurely (or worse yet, losing my
clutch 300 miles from home), it's just money well spent. Replacing a part
that takes half an hour to replace (and won't be dangerous if it fails)?
Might as well try using the cheapest part because you have little to lose
Replacing a part that will take half a day to replace again if it fails, and
might even leave you stranded? Not worth cutting corners on that one. With
any big repair I think it's just good insurance to use the best quality
parts possible. At the absolute minimum I'd go the middle ground and get
the $143 kit.
But as I said, the vast majority of Vanagons have the cheaper Sachs kits
(since almost nobody but me sells the LuK ones) and they work just fine. And
of course there's no saying that if you put in the most expensive part, you
still won't be the one in 1000 who gets a bad one. So in the end, as always,
it's your money and your decision.
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
(215) 234-VWVW
www.busdepot.com
_____________________________________________
Toll-Free for Orders Only: 1-866-BUS-DEPOT
| 
