Used wrong torque specs on new South Bend Clutch

BeetleDragon737

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Location
Bend, OR
TDI
'99.0 New Beetle
A couple friends and I took out my old OEM clutch/flywheel/pressure plate last weekend and installed SBC's Stage 2 Daily. Unfortunately, I missed the part of their instructions that specified new torque values, so I just used the OEM ones. However, now that the job is finished, I see the OEM pressure plate had 12 bolts holding it on, so 10 ft-lbs was enough. With half the bolts, SBC says 20 ft-lbs.

Am I screwed? My friends and I went through a good deal of frustration doing the job, so I don't want to ask them again. I know it's gonna cost almost as much as a whole clutch job to get a shop to do this though. 10 ft-lbs for 6 bolts isn't enough, right?
 

GCBUG00

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Jun 9, 2013
Location
Hartsville SC
TDI
2000 Beetle
LOOOOONG shot idea.

Remove the plug for the FW timing inspection and setting. Use a timing tool camshaft rotator, slowly roll the engine over and if the bolt shows up in the window.

If the bolts back out, rotating clutch cover hits transmission case, ugh, clutch slips, yuck.

This is a massive long shot but what the hey.
 

CTD_Chevrolet

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May 31, 2011
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Montucky
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'15 Jetta S DSG, '02 Jetta ALH 5spd
I did the exact same thing but with the flywheel bolts. Like any job it takes half as long the 2nd time you do it. The most annoying part was getting more TTY bolts from the dealership since I was in a hurry and they could get them next day.
 

BeetleDragon737

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Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Location
Bend, OR
TDI
'99.0 New Beetle
LOOOOONG shot idea.

Remove the plug for the FW timing inspection and setting. Use a timing tool camshaft rotator, slowly roll the engine over and if the bolt shows up in the window.
Which inspection cover do you mean? I'm only aware of the holes in the bottom, which I'm fairly certain look straight up at the bottom of the flywheel (not helpful) and the hole with the swiveling cover plate that allows you to look in from the passenger side. This gives a view of the flywheel teeth from the engine side, but that's about it. I don't know of a window that would give a view of the pressure plate bolts.

EDIT: Ohhh, I know what you're talking about now. I have no clue if anything can be seen from that hole, but I guess there's not much harm in checking!
 
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BeetleDragon737

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Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Location
Bend, OR
TDI
'99.0 New Beetle
Oh boy, I took that plug off, and there was a bolt staring me right in the face! An answered prayer if there ever was one. Thanks GCBUG00!

Now I probably need to cut a box end wrench open so it'll fit over that 12-point bolt head.

I'll update here with progress in that direction.

It's worth noting for anyone reading this that I also used OEM torque for the flywheel bolts (44 ft-lb + 1/4 turn). SBC specifies 55 ft-lb for their flywheel. I'm going on a limb and saying that extra quarter turn was probably good enough to get close to 55 without taking the whole gearbox off again. Plus it's the same number of bolts holding the flywheel on as before, so it shouldn't be too different.

Edit: Also, upon looking up the bolts from SBC, they are the 7mm ones, so they only require 15 ft-lb, which isn't way too far from 10 ft-lb for OEM, so it's not as dramatic a difference as I initially thought.
 
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[486]

Top Post Dawg
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Mar 1, 2014
Location
MN
TDI
02 golf ALH
did you loctite them?
Don't worry about them if you did

another port of entry would be the starter hole, drop that thing out and you can get straight on them with a normal socket and torque wrench
 

GCBUG00

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Jun 9, 2013
Location
Hartsville SC
TDI
2000 Beetle
Interesting and a bit of luck and experiences from others seems to have saved an R&R.

One thing about the clutch cover bolt torque, its not just that the bolt doesn't back out the bolt must fully compress the clutch cover to the flywheel to allow it to fully compress the disc for full torque capacity, and release no slipping allowed.
 

BeetleDragon737

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Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Location
Bend, OR
TDI
'99.0 New Beetle
Update:

I was able to get to the bolts through the inspection hole and a bit of jerry rigging with a stubby 9 mm combination wrench and a long 9 mm hex extension from the torque wrench. Torqued them all down to the proper setting. Thanks guys. We didn't put loctite on them, so I wanted to make sure they wouldn't back out. The starter hole would have been a good solution too.

Unfortunately, before we were able to do that, something wonky happened to (I think) my clutch. I went over a small bump at low speed, something seemed to get loose, and significant vibrations started coming from the engine compartment area. There were also clunking sounds upon increasing and decreasing engine RPM. Thinking the pressure plate may have caused this, I immediately got the torque set on those bolts, but it didn't solve anything. I didn't want to risk a misdiagnosis, so the beetle is currently at the shop. :(
 

GCBUG00

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Jun 9, 2013
Location
Hartsville SC
TDI
2000 Beetle
Pressure plate is rotating, not too likely to make "clunking sound". Also you didn't report any clutch malfunctioning.

Yourbuddystatin has a darn good clue there IMHO.
 

Yourbuddysatin

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Oct 28, 2016
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Pennsylvania
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2013 Jetta tdi
I know in my past mistakes. When I put the dog bone back in I over tightend the 2 bolts that go into the trans case and stripped them out. Maybe after a week or so they ripped out.
 

Ol'Rattler

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Jul 3, 2007
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PNA
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2006 BRM Jetta
did you loctite them?
Don't worry about them if you did
LockTite is not a substitute for proper maintenance. Very bad advise. If the OP didn't torque the bolts correctly, he needs to dissemble things and take care of that. Most things on a car do not even require LockTite as it does not guarantee proper clamp up of parts.
 

[486]

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 1, 2014
Location
MN
TDI
02 golf ALH
if he loctited them, then they'd need to be removed, wire wheeled and the holes chased before the loctite would properly hold again
kind of a pain

too much work for minimal gain in clamp load pp/fw

BTW, another vote for motor mounts or inner CV axle flange bolts
have someone rock the engine forward and reverse with the cable brake on while you watch underhood to see what's moving
 

BeetleDragon737

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Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Location
Bend, OR
TDI
'99.0 New Beetle
I know in my past mistakes. When I put the dog bone back in I over tightend the 2 bolts that go into the trans case and stripped them out. Maybe after a week or so they ripped out.
You're right on the money there! That's nearly exactly what happened, except with the bolts to the subframe. My friend was the one who put that on, and he doesn't remember what exactly he did, but he did say that one of the bolts didn't seem to be threading right. It's also possible he didn't torque them down. There was nothing wrong with the clutch. The shop called me and said both those bolts were either gone or totally loose (I don't remember).

While the bug was in the shop, I took the opportunity to get a few other things done, so it wasn't so bad. Now it's running great! Thanks for all the help guys!
 
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Yourbuddysatin

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Oct 28, 2016
Location
Pennsylvania
TDI
2013 Jetta tdi
Well that’s not too bad of a fix. All those bolts are stretch bolts so in reality they should be new after you take them out. But who does that?!?!?
 

travis45

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Dec 25, 2009
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Wisconsin
TDI
14 Sportwagen, 96 Passat TDI Sedan
That's why I love this forum. Great place to help others and learn something new. Glad to see your rig is tip top.
 
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