From the life of a journeyman mechanic - it's not always the clutch
One day, a customer rolled into the workshop with his Simca Aronde. The car had not yet covered much mileage and had always run perfectly. Recently, however, the clutch had started to slip when starting off. When the customer came to our workshop, he was therefore expecting a clutch repair and was understandably not very happy about it. A short test drive confirmed the customer's perception.
Our foreman did not have the clutch removed straight away, but instructed a mechanic to check the engine-transmission mountings (three-point linkage). During the visual inspection, however, no defect could be found in the suspension. To be on the safe side, the mechanic then shook the engine and found that it did not move flexibly in the suspension elements, but bumped somewhere. A further examination of the rear suspension element attached to the gearbox - this version is a combination of rubber block and coil spring, which is attached to the gearbox flange and a screwed-in cross member - revealed the cause of the complaint.
Somewhere and at some time, a stone about the size of a chicken's egg had been thrown up from the road and had found a quiet spot on the cross member mentioned.
However, it had lodged itself between the crossmember and the gearbox flange, thus eliminating the spring effect of the suspension element on the gearbox. As a result, the engine and gearbox block were rigidly supported when starting up.
The removal of the stone was a complete success. The clutch worked softly and smoothly again. And the customer left highly satisfied with the quick and skillful help. As unbelievable as it may sound, a stone in the wrong place was the actual cause of the clutch clunking.
This text comes from issue 16 of the 1959 edition of the magazine "Krafthand".
