can fitting a shim to solve smf issues on 02m box?

turbovan+tdi said:

It moves the same but its closer to the PP.

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What is closer to the pressure plate?
The working parts are all in the exact same place and move the exact same amount. This is the WHOLE benefit of a hydraulic clutch "linkage"

majesty78 said:

I have made the same experience with using an aftermarket SMF clutch, in my case a SPEC stage 3 which would start creeping after a few days and forced me to shut the engine off to get out of gear or to put 1st gear in.

I have then added the OE shim on the wheels side of the transmission which minimized the axial play in the main shaft. Since then it drove fine for a few month, until the point was reached where the clutch wear was big enough to cause the same problems.

I think this is a basic design failure of some aftermarket clutches which need to much travel to fully disengage the clutch, leading to creeping and sticking in gears.

I swapped to a Sachs Race then and had no more problems ever since......

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you still running sach dmf mate?

No, Sachs SMF, as the clutch came as complete kit.

gmo,

Care to try a simple reserve travel test?

Engine running, push clutch pedal to floor, select 1st gear and hold clutch pedal to floor.

Now, carefully and slowly start bringing the clutch pedal up and observe how far the pedal comes up BEFORE the clutch starts to engage and the car starts to move.

A healthy clutch reserve travel might be 25-50MM or so. If it starts to pull right off of the floor then need to think about an air bubble or release system problem at best or a clutch issue at worst.

Good luck,

Gary

GCBUG00 said:

gmo,

Care to try a simple reserve travel test?

Engine running, push clutch pedal to floor, select 1st gear and hold clutch pedal to floor.

Now, carefully and slowly start bringing the clutch pedal up and observe how far the pedal comes up BEFORE the clutch starts to engage and the car starts to move.

A healthy clutch reserve travel might be 25-50MM or so. If it starts to pull right off of the floor then need to think about an air bubble or release system problem at best or a clutch issue at worst.

Good luck,

Gary

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cheers for input mate but tbh the biting point of the kit is right at the top and you dont have much room for error , its alway been like that since i got it . tbh im now toying with idea of sticking with the dmf and going with sach sre kit as ive seen a few pd builds push 400lbs with this set up and not have any sticking issues .

Engagement at the top of the pedal indicates that the pressure plate has plenty of plate lift or air gap. Also might mean that the disc does not have any or not much of a lining spring between the facings. Look at a stock disc and compress the facings with your fingers, you are compressing the lining springs. A big aid in smooth engagement.

Something that can be easily overlooked and causes random difficult shifts is a clutch disc that does not slide freely on the input shaft. As the disc sometimes hangs up and is still being driven by the flywheel, difficult shifting. Happened to me long time ago and it was corrosion in the splines. sometimes it hangs up, sometimes it drags. Disc must float freely during shifts, not driven by rubbing on flywheel.

None of this really addresses noise issues. If gearbox is sound then the torsion damper or DMF is responsible for filtering noise out.