1925 Clutch Issues

[dibarlaw]

Success!!!

Reinstalled the transmission tonight. I installed it by myself with my wife watching in case I needed help. Dropped it down from above. It was amazing how much lighter it was with the shift tower, universal, torque ball, and main-shaft removed. I had thought it better to flush out the case and check bearings and such. Bearings appear good but of course the gear teeth show some wear. Something I will have to live with. I made new gaskets and put in fresh 600W. Now she clutches, de-clutches and shifts without any clashing! It was magical to start her up in neutral, put the clutch in and have it drop silently into 1st gear! Next to get that torque tube and rear axle back in

[hidden_hunter]

Success!!!

Reinstalled the transmission tonight. I installed it by myself with my wife watching in case I needed help. Dropped it down from above. It was amazing how much lighter it was with the shift tower, universal, torque ball, and main-shaft removed. I had thought it better to flush out the case and check bearings and such. Bearings appear good but of course the gear teeth show some wear. Something I will have to live with. I made new gaskets and put in fresh 600W. Now she clutches, de-clutches and shifts without any clashing! It was magical to start her up in neutral, put the clutch in and have it drop silently into 1st gear! Next to get that torque tube and rear axle back in

great news mate! I vaguely remember reading that there is a felt seal supposed to stop the clutch getting oil/muck on it - did you replace it?

[dibarlaw]

I thought that there were seals from the transmission but there are none. The oil is supposed to ooze out over the input shaft spline. Just a bit passing thru the ball bearings. The oil from the engine is controlled from the oil pan rear main cork seal. Then the bottom flywheel cover has a sheet steel plate with a felt seal which slows the leakage. I riveted a seal of felt like carpet padding and oil absorbent matting. I will see how it works. There are holes in both the flywheel cover and transmission bell housing for oil to escape. Considering that these cars only rarely saw paved roads I don't believe the engineers were all that concerned with all the oozing and dripping. After all it did kept the dust down.

I guess I will have to be more vigilant in cleaning every so often the accumulation of oil from the crankcase above the rear main. But, in my case the oil damage to the clutch came from the throw-out bearing.

Best Regards:

Larry

[Jim Bourque]

I thought that there were seals from the transmission but there are none. The oil is supposed to ooze out over the input shaft spline. Just a bit passing thru the ball bearings. The oil from the engine is controlled from the oil pan rear main cork seal. Then the bottom flywheel cover has a sheet steel plate with a felt seal which slows the leakage. I riveted a seal of felt like carpet padding and oil absorbent matting. I will see how it works. There are holes in both the flywheel cover and transmission bell housing for oil to escape. Considering that these cars only rarely saw paved roads I don't believe the engineers were all that concerned with all the oozing and dripping. After all it did kept the dust down. I guess I will have to be more vigilant in cleaning every so often the accumulation of oil from the crankcase above the rear main. But, in my case the oil damage to the clutch came from the throw-out bearing. Best Regards: Larry[/quote.

Larry

Did you check the running clearance of the big brass bushing in ballpoint that the U-joint runs in? My 25 Master 6 was way beyond the .004-.007 it should have been. If too loose it will give you a vibration.

Jim Bourque

[dibarlaw]

Jim:

I had checked the universal output bushing and it was around .005. So far no vibration.

But!!!! Yesterday the wife and I got the rear axle in so I spent the remainder of last night cleaning the spring to axle clamps, greased them as required and bolted them back up. Reconnected the rear brake rods and set Beulah down on all 4 wheels since June 14th. The wife gave me a pitying stare as I came in from the garage at 1:00 AM. This morning after breakfast I put only 2 of the floorboards in so I could watch the clutch action with the inspection cover off. We drove about 4 miles doing errands getting acquainted with our new car. It surely felt like a new car without all the fussing around I had to do before to get it under way. The clutch worked smooth as silk! Another day of Buick Bliss!!!

Today I made up 2 transmission mount studs. They were about 2 1/2" long and cleared the flywheel by about 1/8 inch or less! Also both ends were 3/8-16 the outside thread should be 3/8-24. I hate it when fasteners were mixed to just make do. Also ran out of all my old style lock washers replacing all the broken ones as I would remove a bolt or nut. Thankfully I did not strip out any fasteners. I really wanted to get her back together before we left for Portland. As I did not want to return home to that monumental job. Now to clean the garage...

So maybe "Beulah" and us will finally become friends.

[Leif Holmberg]

Larry.

Glad to hear you have "fixed" the cluch on your "Beulah"(don`t know what that meens).Now you will have a wonderful car to drive after all the truble you have had.

Good luck to both of you,and Beulha of course.

Leif in Sweden.

[dibarlaw]

Leif:

Us silly Americans have a habit of sometimes naming our cars. Particularly if there is a long term relationship with that car. Joan and I chose to name the 1925 "Beulah". Actually the Beulah we think about was a character on an old American radio show from the late 1930s-40s "Fibber McGee and Molly".

I believe it is more polite to name the car than to use curse words directed at it. As I most surely needed to do over the last 2 1/2 years.