clutch cable 'break'- something to check.

[tim]

On Friday the wife was driving the White One (TXD 19) up t'road. The clutch had been losing its adjustment and I suspected the cable, but before we could do anything about it she came to a set of roadworks in the village, got into neutral for the lights, first gear when they went green - CRUNCH - and second wasn't having it. Nor was neutral. She lurched into the adjacent blacksmiths forge, dumped the car as neatly as she could and went home for the pushbike.
I turned up that evening with a bag of spanners and a new cable. I followed Haynes view that you have to remove the pedal bracket assembly (brief diversion - is this TRUE or can you hook on a new cable to the pedal link through the bulkhead hole??? - answers appreciated), and managed to get out the old cable. Nothing wrong with the bugger. So I looked at the bracket again. And behold, one half of the slotted mounting bracket for the outer of the cable had bent up at 90 degrees and a fresh tear was showing. As a result the cable had jumped off. This had obviously been failing for a while and had finally given up. Not the the first time manufacturers have skimped on the metal; my VW Scirocco (old type) had the bulkhead metal as a stopper for the clutch outer and this failed over 20 miles leaving me clutchless.... quite common, they said.
Anyway, walked three paces, handed offending bracket to blacksmith who welded it in 60 seconds, and there we go. Moral - check yours! And have a breakdown in the right place.
The old cable's nylon stopper was thoroughly mashed after working at an awkward angle for a while so it had to go in the bin.
I just took the Red One up to Wales and back, about 1000 miles over a week and not a hiccup. Not bad for a graveyard revival....

[rmattila]

Have you ever lubricated the gearbox end bracket?

http://www.bxclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13926

If it does not move well enough, that might be the root cause for excessive loading of the entire force chain from pedal to the bracket itself.

[tim]

End bracket is nice and loose so no, I doubt that was the culprit. I do wonder if the cable wasn't properly seated into the bracket and so, rather than having the load evenly spread all round, the nylon cap was only working on the outer part of the split section. That would have been enough to set up a failure point, I suspect. Likely?

[ken newbold]

I've known them fail at this point before, but it's usually down to a stiff clutch. i.e. tired old clutch. You'd be surprised how the stiffness creeps in without you really noticing it.

[toddao]

/\ Ken is right, when the clutch is knackered and all is under a lot of tension something will give, either the cable or the lever which bends and breaks. What's the history of this clutch?

[docchevron]

I followed Haynes view that you have to remove the pedal bracket assembly (brief diversion - is this TRUE or can you hook on a new cable to the pedal link through the bulkhead hole??? - answers appreciated),

yes, you can, but it's not easy!

[citronut]

i find this easier appart from the lack of space down the back of most engine variations,
and obviously that stuppid nylon ring you have to snap into place to lock the outter cable to the pedel box,

regards malcolm