Replacing that blasted clutch return spring..

A certain tranny rebuilder who shall remain nameless to avoid more flaming was unable to replace the spring on mine with the tranny in his work jig. Good luck!

otherwise

I gave up trying to assemble the stock spring onto it. Instead, I used the spring on the pedal assembly. It's not as strong, but it will return the arm and can be installed while the tranny is in the car (barely). You have to be a little creative in making a hook on the end.

Of course, one could always "rig" a screen door spring to the thing.

Speedy Jim

I got some great advice via email to rig a wire from the spring and around the torison tubes, going all the way down to my foot where I fashioned a sort of stirrup.

Idea being to get all the peices in there together, then pull the spring into place with my foot while I guided the spring into place with my hand.

Looked good on paper, I just lacked the oomph to do it.. I put so much force into the blasted thing I stopped because I was afraid I would pull the car off the stands. Was a good workout though, my whole body is sore. :P

Maybe I got a bum spring or something, seems goofy for it to require that much tension. Will have to secure alternatives, will probably end up going with one of the pedal assembly springs.

I did install new spring to my -73 beetle this summer. The engine was = out,=20 but the tranny was in. I took the throw out bearing out also. The clutch cable was ofcource taken loose from the tranny end.

I have to say that it took some major perkeles to install it. Used two large screwdrivers to twist the hook around the lever. More or less installed it first to the place in position should be and then twisted the lever to where it should be. It took some time, but once the=20 correct position of the screwdriver found, it went quite easily. Unfortunately, I now don't remember which was the right way. Maybe, if I was again standing there with a screwdriver and a loose spring.

But that may be quite difficult with the engine in. It needs space for the screwdriver to fit and turn.

Detach the clutch cable and remove the old spring pieces

Leave everything else in place and slip the loops of the new spring down over the clutch arm. Work the spring into sort of a horizontal axis, so that it's facing the right way and push the straight end of the spring and the coils into place one at a time. It may be useful at this point to use a screwdriver and hammer to tap the coils into place.

Once the straight end of the spring and all the coils are in place, take a 10mm box end wrench and hook the box thru the hooked end of the spring wiht the shaft of the wrench pointing straight forward and laying against the inboard side of the arm. Now grab the front end of the wrench and lever it outwards, which will pull the hooked end of the spring forward and around the arm. You will eventually end up with the spring in place and the wrench caught between the spring and the arm. Wiggle the wrench around and work it out of there.

This takes less than 5 mintues. I find that most of the time is spent getting the clutch cable free from the arm.

Next time I do this I may try to see if I can work the spring over the arm with the clutch cable in place, but this is probably silly, because the reason this is hard is because the adjusting nut is rusted in place. This job is hardly worth doing if you're not going to adjust the cable once you're finished.

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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