Clutch issues

[chrisc23]

Hi everyone I'm having a bit of an issue with my 82 Aircooled T25, I’ve recently rebuilt the engine as well as doing a few other bits but I’m having an issue since replacing the clutch. When I put everything back together and start the engine it is as if the clutch pedal is always depressed even when it is not, if I try and select a gear even without pressing the clutch pedal I can no problem with the engine running and it doesn’t grind etc. I have replaced the clutch, throwout bearing (twice), slave cylinder. I spoke to a garage and they suggested the clutch could be in back to front but this isn’t the case. Is there something I'm missing? Seems like a strange one to me

[Mocki]

Certainly sounds to me that the clutch is either assembled wrong, or faulty .

[Aidan]

if you remove the slave cylinder push rod from the lever arm ( you can just push it up with a pry bar/big screwdriver until it pops off the ball) do you then have a little bit of free movement in the clutch lever arm, ie you can push the lever arm up a little bit by hand ? did you change the lever arm and fit a diesel one by mistake ?

[chrisc23]

Thanks for the reply, I never changed the arm or removed it, all I done was replace the release bearing and the clutch along with the pressure plate. The slave cylinder is moving the arm but I don’t know how much the arm should move but it doesn’t seem to move very much

[Aidan]

arm should move 10-15mm depending how fresh the clutch is
my point about free movement is to figure out if the clutch fork is for some reason jammed so the release bearing is pressing against the pressure plate springs so your clutch is in the disengaged position
Did you change the guide tube the release bearing slides on ? The cheap aftermarket ones are complete rubbish and getting worse and I have heard of the release bearing jamming on them, and having to be pried off the tube to be replaced. Unfortunately the oem manufacturer will no longer make them and sell them in Europe hence the rubbish ones filling the gap in the market, I can (or could haven't bought any for a while) still get the oem one from one of my suppliers in the US, but Shaeffler UK says it doesn't exist
Ditto the release bearings, Sachs no longer make the high quality one that was original to our van, made in Germany, the ones in the Slovakia boxed (maybe manufactured ? ) clutch kits are from either E Europe or China they are not marked, and LUK are getting out of the clutch market so what's in their kit now I don't know and they don't generally sell the release bearing on its own, so god knows what the other boxers have in their kits or will in the future as most of them reboxed the LUK stuff.
Next time you take the gearbox out to sort the issue post up some pics and show what exactly you have and how it is fitted and we might get to the bottom of it before you refit the gearbox