When the clutch goes.

Cute!

My mate was driving his Pajero along a sandy track and went between two hills (right at the bottom) and without even using his clutch it let go without warning.

A phone call to me and about 6 snatche attempts, 8 tyres at 10psi and some traction mats we got him over the hill behind the surf, towed him out to the highway, switched over to the 9tone tow strap and towed him home.

My other mate with his feroza did just what you were talking about, however it gave out as we left the servo after smoko halfway down to margaret river. One of the guys in our convoy managed to adjust the clutch cable which got it going again, it made it to camp where it subsequently died again when he tried to move it to put his swag down. The solution to this one was a call to the RAC and a flatbed truck ;-)

So the answer IMHO is drive an auto! LMAO!

Thanks Willem. Being mechanically challenged I would of thought that if the clutch facing was too thin/burnt to drive the engine normally, then it wouldn't make any difference i.e. You could start in any gear you like but forward momentum would be zero. No ?
(But I hope you're right :))
Good to see you on board again. You must still be rained in at Alice ?

G'day Footlose

Yes it has rained in Alice but not enough to make the Todd flow. Staying here for a couple of weeks to do as few mechanical repairs and to relax from the rigours of going on holiday ...hahahaha

When your vehicle starts and the engine turns over, the gearbox is running as well. The gear drive is connected to the engine via the spigot bearing in the flywheel. The clutch facilitates the changing of the gears and disengages the engine from the gearbox or vice versa during a gearchange. So when there is no clutch then you can crash the gear changes into place. Not the best method but it will work in an emergency.

If you need to be in 4x4 mode at the time then I would suggest crankstarting and staying in that gear until the terrain eases off.

Thanks Willem, I will remember that. Lets hope I never have to use it, but handy to know. I suffered one clutch failure years ago and luckily it Just got me home (but no further).
Don't worry asbout the Todd. I hear they still want to build a dam there. AFAIK its been knocked on the head a few times but they still keep pushing it.
Well your oddassy is almost over. Mine has yet to begin. I'm beginning to wish I'd of gone before the rain, as I'm not sure which areas have had how much rain. Ah well, some will have dried out in 2 weeks...I hope.

Not sure of the mechanicals of it but I have seen 3 clutch failures (or at least badly worn The first was when doing work experience with a park ranger on the EP and when checking out some of the cons parks on the way back to Lincoln it was as Willem describes, key start and crash changes. other was I n one of the POS work utes Centaur mining had and it was a matter of selecting first and feathering the accelerator as the clutch slipped and slowly gained momentum until you were at a high enough speed that it seemed to work ok and the last was the Hilux described above where the clutch on that slipped and smoked and stank without forward movement

And if it's there's a lot of obsticals and a longish trip you'll be replacing your starter battery and possibly starter motor too!

But it's probally still cheaper than paying for a recovery!

My work car doesn't even need a clutch! LOL Work cars are cool.

G'day again
I just fondly recalled a surfing trip when I was 16, 3 of us went to the foot of yorke peninsula (around 300k's from adelaide) in a friends EH holden 3 on the tree, the clutch pedal system failed on our arrival. I ended up driving around for the 3 days to all the surf spots and back to adelaide. Thanks dad
Geez, I once bought a an FC Holden wagon with no brakes and no clutch pedal operation and drove it home. Young and foolish :-)
cheers
Rod
PS sorry for dribbling on

Willem
Am I reading your post incorrectly? If there's no clutch plate left because it's burned or worn out there's no friction and hence no drive.

Your explanation is only valid where there's friction but no clutch movement. Then, you start by engaging first gear, engage the starter and drive away. It IS possible to change gears but it helps a lot if you've grown up driving vintage cars or trucks with non-synchro boxes.

Technique is to ease the accelerator and simultaneously move into second etc. It's also possible to change down but this needs a heap of practice. You ease the accelerator, slip into neutral, take foot off clutch, increase engine revs and simultaneously slip into the next lower gear. Get this right and it slides in like a hot knife in butter. Get it wrong ....

I do this routinely in the OKA (but grew up with a 1927 Bentley so am very used to it).
Collyn Rivers

The other main clutch failure that I've seen is the Thrust bearing, which can bleep ter crap all over the inside of the clutch and makes some really cool noises, well their cool when it's somebody else car anyway! ;-)

Cool noises... like someone skinning a bloody loudly screaming cat under your bonnet.
aah the looks from pedestrians when driving through the city...