Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2014 14:32:11 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Clutch slave cyl. replacement: What could go wrong?
Well.....Friday sort of.
In-Reply-To: <540A2B1D.8080106@turbovans.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
That slave (ATE) was just two years old...Pretty poor service life, if you
ask me. Now I have to buy another to keep around as a spare...is there a
better brand that might last a while?
On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 2:29 PM, SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott ) <
scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
> re 'rear mounting bolt' on the clutch slave ..
> it's very easy to convert that bolt to a stud...which makes it really easy
> to undo that one spot.
>
> unless one is a really fantastic welder...
> either the bracket or the whole trans needs to be out of the van ..
> then it's easy to arc weld a bolt into the bracket , which makes it a
> stud.
>
> if bracket is in hand ...not neccessary, but it's useful to add some
> reinforcement in the form of a gusset.
>
> Beware of cases where people have left the forward support bracket off.
> Leaving that part off can eventually lead to a cracked slave bracket and
> lost motion.
>
>
> On 9/5/2014 11:16 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
>
> I'm pretty sure my clutch slave cylinder failed yesterday. No clutch
> action, bled it and drove some but this A.M., I checked in theslave's
> rubber boot and it was full of hydraulic fluid. The brake fluid reservoir
> would not hold pressure very long from my Motive pressure bleeder
> either.....
>
> "No problemo" says I..."I have a spare under my seat" I've done these
> before and while it is a nasty messy job and frustrating with the rear
> mounting bolt, it isn't rocket surgery....
>
> So first I have to fix one of my jacks tands, it's been semi-broken for
> some time...the pawl would release, but only with fiddling. I find the
> roll pin is broken connecting the shaft of the pawl and the lever to
> release it. OK, so I do that.
>
> Dig into my brake bleeding box and find my bleed hose...It's turned to
> gum and is no longer serviceable.. It feels like an eraser now, not
> resilient at all, won't stay on the bleed screw. OK, fix that.
>
> I decide I should inspect for leaks in the whole brake/clutch system. I
> fill my Motive pressure bleeder bottle and screw it onto the brake
> reservoir above the steering wheel, then pump it up to about 20psi and
> crawl under to look for leaks.. After about 3 minutes rolling around on
> my creeper I find no leaking but.....I hear a "Phut...psssssssssss,
> ker-thump!" "Uh-Oh!" I roll out and find the hose between the pressure
> bleeder and the brake res. has popped.....and there is brake fluid sprayed
> from end to end....inside the van...All over everything. Including my
> very pricey bike, some sailboards, clothes, upholstery, pillows,
> headliner...it even got to the rear hatch window! What a mess! So a
> couple of hours trying to clean the brake fluid off every-frikken thing...
>
> Next, I decide "OK, no leaks...I'll just put on the new slave and bleed
> it with my mighty vac and be done" but of course, the Mighty vac (or
> whatever harbor freight calls theirs) also has rotten gummy hoses that need
> fixed. Then it sucks fluid into the 'squeeze pump' rather than into the
> cannister that it's supposed to go into...So I have brake fluid running up
> my arm into my pit....as I try to bleed the air out of the slave....Now I
> am a REAL mess, the shop floor is puddled and the inside of the van is
> trashed. Hopefully I got all the brake fluid off my Colnago, which is
> worth more than my van..
>
> So next, I take my spare Blue Hose hydraulic line and put that onto my
> Motive Pressure bleeder to fix THAT, and finally.....finally....bleed the
> slave without anything blowing up or leaking all over everything...Oh,
> wait....when I go to remove the excess fluid from the reservoir, the horse
> syringe I use....the plunger comes all the way out and I dump brake fluid
> on the floor of the van...no worries.... as it's already saturated from my
> recent blow out of the pressure bleeder...
>
> Sheesh! What could go wrong on such a simple task?....those are some of
> the things that did go wrong....
>
> (at least it isn't a windy day and I am not missing out on windsurfing
> time to take a brake fluid bath....Ha!)
> Don Hanson
>
>
>
>
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