Greetings R50 owners,
I replaced a gear cluster and bearings in my 5pd gearbox a few moths back. I had the Clutch replaced a few moths prior to that, so the clutch looked good and the fork looked ok too, (one time had to replace that.)

Now, my 2002 mini, is having and issue where the pedal is having to go further and further to the floor to make the shift. And now the reverse gear will not disengage from spinning with the clutch touching the carpet.

Does this sound like clutch failure/sticking,
bent clutch fork,
air in the slave cylinder,
floating bearing?

It seems to be getting harder to actually push the shifter into any gear also.

Anyone experience this?

 

Hi guys, I managed to get this down the driveway. Gads, grinding reverse ...nice.

Here's what the clutch slave looks like

Does this travel distance seem normal? All of the shifting can only occur in the last tippy tip of that clutch travel. And then we are at the "end" of getting that thing in gear. I had this box all apart a few months ago. i can't remember what the feel of that clutch was like, moving by hand. When I push on the clutch bar arm it doesn't move. Wondering if I have a bent fork or throwout bearing that is sticky or it perhaps this slave just isn't giving the "throw distance" it needs.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Box was working great after the rebuild too!. Shucks!

 

Is it easier to shift if you pump the clutch? I'm thinking that it just needs to be bled, or you might even try leaving the clutch pedal depressed overnight (hold it down with a length of 2x4 wedged against the seat)

 

Pumping didn't seem to make a difference. Seems a lot like the dreaded bent fork issue I dealt with a few years back. But I'm going to try that overnight idea now! Does that allow air to sorta find its way up to the tank? Another thing, this reservoir might not hold pressure. Is that mandatory? Not leaking but if it is pressure dependent, might be an issue. How does that video look? Thanks for you fast reply! Gotta fix this week

 

bleed the slave before you do anything else, I would do brakes too if you have not done them lately

 

Yeah, the idea of leaving the clutch pedal depressed over night is it gives any air ample opportunity to make its way up and out of the line. I don't have a clue if that's normal travel for the slave cylinder and I'm 1,000 miles away from my mini at the moment so I can't really check.

I think if it were my car, I'd do the overnight clutch thing, if that didn't help I'd bleed the slave and brakes, and if that didn't solve it, I'd probably seek professional help.

 

As stated, start with a bleed of the slave (if the slave isn't leaking, if it is, replace it and bleed). If that doesn't fix the problem chances are you're pulling the trans to do a clutch or throw out bearing. I've only seen one damaged clutch fork on the R50, and that was because the throw out bearing blew up and threw shrapnel throughout the bell housing as well as the customer tried to drive it with the bearing blown up.

 

Did the overnight pedal to the floor thing. No go. Then bleed the slave. Forced a little pressure back through master to get stray bubbles out. the Save is working fine.

Jumped in with both feet and pulled the box out. I love dropping the sub frame!!!!!

As I suspected....Broken fork. argh!
I'm on my second shift fork.
Has anyone had good luck with a non OEM shift fork?
This design is weak.

Will replace the fork AND plastic bushings too. Trow out bearing looks sorta ok, not really familiar with what to expect. It is only 17 months old. Clutch pressure plate spring fingers have circular wear. Does the plate and bearing look reusable? Or is this plate supposed to "not" have that sort of wear? If not, what causes that? Too much constant pressure, like riding 1st gear?

https://www.flickr.com/gp/88150091@N07/L2MC22

 

sparkyj - sorry I can't help you but I'm curious how long it took you to get at your clutch and what process you took to get there? I've watched the Mini Mod videos. Thanks

 

The Mod Mini videos are great. Just follow that 2 part clutch series to the T and you'l be golden. Getting the cables off the shifter is 'interesting". Get a pair of those bent pliers or some nice had pry bars. Those shifter cable ends are easy to rip. And if you rip one, you'll find my hillbilly mod somewhere on this forum. Most of my time is spent walking around looking a stuff and chasing sockets all over the place plus my space is sort of inconveniently shaped but you should have the sub frame off and organized in a day and may even get the box dropped and out out on your first go. Mod mini does it in under 1.5 hours. Amazing. And a super nice guy too.

Use high quality floor jacks and watch the "creep" from jacking the car up. Easy to get it teetering on the jacks on the other side. yikes! I do it in 4 passes, to get everything stable.