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Advice on clutch and CRB


regroo

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Hi,

 

My SLR engine is coming out tonight and this time around I am planning on changing the clutch and CRB. I have the earlier clutch arm/bearing which I was told was stronger by the guys who refurbed the gbox last year. Its more a case of changing becuase the engine is out than for any particular reason although I have no idea of the age of either of the parts and want to protect against future failure.

 

What is the current thinking on the CRB/Clutch of choice these days for a 220HP K?

 

Thanks *thumbup*

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Regroo, did you read the article in this months Low Flying about an uprated CRB option from Burton Power. It's not quite that straightforward but if you have access to a local engineering shop it might be of interest.

 

I am not sure about clutch, particularly bearing in mind my current woes with clutches but I am using the Caterham uprated (AP) cover and plate.

 

Will be interested to see other responses as I have just upgraded to a 200BHP K.

 

Graham.

 

R7 GPK

Superlight #85

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  • Support Team

Current AP clutch from CC is fine. Uprated CRB as per lowflying article seems to work although I've only had mine in a few months so I cant comment on longevity.

 

Yellow SL *cool* #32 - member of Drowned Rat Racing

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Graham

 

You say not that straighforward - I'm just about to change mine and was thinking of going down the route of the Burton unit. Are there some pitfalls not highlighted in the LF Artice?

 

Steve

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SPW, sorry I could probably have worded it better what I really meant that it is not a simply buy and fit solution, it does require access to a local engineering facility. I don't know enough about the solution to be able to comment on it directly.

 

Graham.

 

R7 GPK

Superlight #85

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what I really meant that it is not a simply buy and fit solution, it does require access to a local engineering facility.

When I got mine from Burton (this was 6 years ago mind and before I had a lathe *smile*) they got it machined next door for me - cost was negligible. Maybe they will still do this, even if via mail order . . worth calling them.

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IMHO, provided you ensure that the CRB is properly pre-loaded, you shouldn't suffer any problems using the bog-standard item. The March LF article by Michael Calvert graciously mentioned a previous article of mine from 2004. Try a TechTalk search on "CRB and pre-load" for acres of info. BM me if you'd like a copy of my 2004 article.

 

JV

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Steve, YHM.

 

I don't know whether the Burton CRB requires a pre-load (but out of interest I've just emailed them, so I'll post their answer when I get it). Assuming the construction is similar to the INA/SKF items used by CC (that is, a metal contact face running on a ball race in a sea of high-melting point grease), I'd expect the answer to be yes. For info, the INA item requires a pre-load of 80-120N. I'm told that the SKF item requires around 50N.

 

JV

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I have used the Burton CRB for the past 4 years and it does not require any additional pre-load apart from that already in place with the standard Caterham set up. The main advantage is the carrier is ally and not nylon/plastic so it will not separate from the bearing.

 

Mark D

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  • 2 months later...

An update....

 

After a lot of chasing, I got a reply (below, verbatim) from Burton Power, though not a very helpful or illuminating one:

 

I have made numerous calls to our suppliers about this, they have final come back with they are unable to give any technical details about this bearing.

 

The only thing I can suggest is contacting one of the main roller bearing manufactures and seeing if they have a bearing of similar spec that they can give you details of.

 

Sorry I am unable to provide any technical assistance.

 

Given that the design principle of all these CRBs (Burton, SKF, INA) seems to be the same (grease-packed ball-race carrying a pressure plate), I imagine that some degree of pre-load is essential.

 

JV

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FYI there are different clutch forks, as I learned last year. 1.4, 1.6K's have a lighter weight fork (i.e. thinner) and VHPD's came with an uprated fork. I learned this after my CRB and plate self destructed on a blat near Sydney and I had a 80 mile recover from the Bush.

 

Plate, cover, CRB I'd already ordered from Dartford to Oz, when I was doing an overall cleanup. Matey was over helping and he picked up my clutch fork and said WTF?

 

Front 1

Front 2

Back 1

Back 2

 

I called Dartford and their view was VHPD's have a higher duty cycle and what I emailed them was not that unusual, so I bought another as the car was 6 years on the fork at that point.

 

New one was improved from the previous one above, so you gets what you gets...

 

 

 

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my current opinion is to consider these CRAs as service replacement items (about £80) - and at the very least regular inspection if the engine often comes out. I had no idea the higher frequency of failure until last year. This is dry sumped K series engines such as my R 500. Looks like this here

 

In the picture, the greater arching is of the old damaged item, literally bent out of shape (also cracked).

 

My recovery was hundreds of miles - though no kangaroos sighted in France.

 

Anthony

 

Edited by - anthonym on 19 Jun 2010 12:05:09

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  • 2 weeks later...

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