Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

Driving the 30 Town Sedan to the Belltown Motorcar Meet and suddenly I was coasting. Thought the car had slipped into neutral but would not engage any gear. After the tow home I opened the inspection plate and found the clutch disc demolished with the springs at the bottom of the bell housing. The disc was new 3000 miles ago when i had the engine rebuilt. My concern now is why did this happen and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. I would appreciate any input.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

Sounds exactly what happened to me two years ago one night. Your disk failed most likely because it was one of the cheaper replacements without the reinforcing tabs around the springs. This is what happened to me.
Brattons has the good one.
https://www.brattons.com/clutch-disc.html

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

Ken, hope you can share some photos of the post mortem.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

Here's another thread with a similar problem.
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showt...ghlight=clutch

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

If you have a lightened flywheel and they took turned the surface down far enough to remove the "groove" on the surface, the springs will hit the flywheel mounting bolt heads and give you the exact results. That is NOT the place to remove weight.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

The flywheel is stock Model A. The disc was from Macs with some Chinese writing on the box. I still have the disc I replaced, marked USA with 8 springs around the spline. I may reuse that one. Hopeful that some other issue did not create the disaster. I will post a photo when I collect all the pieces!

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

You had one of the discs made in China which have been a problem for many years.

Bratton's have had the quality original style discs correctly re-made. Get one from them.

Chris W.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

Macs has two discs. The one with the cage is cheaper.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

Thats a lot of work because of a bad part. I too would only use the caged spring disk.

I stopped buying from Macs decades ago.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

https://www.macsautoparts.com/model-...-385984-1.html

https://www.brattons.com/clutch-disc.html

Both look the same.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

It is anybody's guess if he actually got that disk.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

Hi,

1 1/2 years ago I bought the clutch friction disc for $ 40 at Brattons. Since then 2000 mls without problems.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

I'm wondering is it possible that the disk was install backwards and the springs were hitting the flywheel mounting bolts? Just a thought.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

See attached article. The price of the clutch has gone up since the article was written.

Tom Endy

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

Good article Tom. Mac's sell the same type of clutch disk with the captured springs. I don't think any of the other vendor's do.

https://www.macsautoparts.com/model-...-385984-1.html

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

I have never heard of this happening on anything other than a drag car.

That attachment...I think I have one of those original Model-A discs that appears to be brand new.

One of the guys in our club refuses to buy from Mac's, says it is all Korean junk. I buy everything I can from Snyders. Good service, and only had one issue with an obscure imperfection in a chromed part. I called them up, sent it back, and the lady called the very morning they got it, and said the replacement part is on the way we are sorry about that. You can't beat quality parts, at a fair price, with good (honest) customer service.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

Good afternoon...Low Price and High Quality rarely sleep in the same bed...Ernie in Arizona

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

Not necessarily the case. I've got one from Snyders that's going in the bin.
https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/i...ize/A_7550.jpg
The cheap one from Mac's is the good one.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

I would purchase one from Bratton's.

They are the ones who recognized early on that there was a problem and caused a excellent quality USA made clutch disc to once more be made available.

So much stuff from Mac's is made off shore and is such poor quality. Electrical items are especially suspect.

It appears to me that Mac's now is also selling the one from Bratton's but I still would buy it from Bratton's, not Mac's.

My opinion.

Chris W.

Re: Clutch Disc Exploded!
 

I bought one from Brattons.

However, I bought some steering parts recently from Macs that are not available from other sources. As far as I know Macs gets the steering parts manufactured including RHD. Probably from overseas. And yes, I have experienced the Macs counter service ...