Clutch Pushrod ball - destroyed?

[Hyde]

Hey folks - new member who has successfully survived quite awhile on the awesome "history" housed in the forums. Rebuilding an 82 basket case which has gone well so far, heh. Decided to button up my clutch knowledge going through the tech post. Then pulled out the pushrods....voila



The ball mid-engine is pretty much destroyed. Rod pic isn't great but the short has light pitting on the end, not ground out as I'd expect fro mm the ball dmg. Anyone seen this before? Perhaps want to take a stab at cause? I will be ordering the long rod from Mike's and new balls as the PO of said basket case already lost the worm and clutch side balls. Just looking for thoughts.

 

[angus67]

Maybe in the past the original ball was lost, replaced with softer one

 

[Royboy]

Actually looks like a lead weight or maybe 00 buck shot? Can you scar it with your thumb nail?

roy

 

[Hyde]

Hey Roy, tried scraping it with an exacto blade - not even a scratch. Managed to get a better pic of the short rod. The dimple is still in place, its just light pitting around the perimeter. Right rod is the longer which is pristine. Can still see a light trace on the ball where the longer pressed up. The other side though, yeah that shot shows just how much it crushed in.

 

[Paul Sutton]

Must be the wrong ball bearing - too soft. With all the oil it sees it cannot have discoloured that much unless it was a cheap replacement. If you are going to change the pushrod then there is a good thread on here about how to replace the brass bush as well. Also have a read about deburring the edge of the seal housing before putting a new pushrod seal in. The edges are razor sharp and will cut the seal to bits.

Best of luck and enjoy yourself.

 

[Hyde]

Thank you all for your time and input. I'll check out the brass bushing replacement thread. Believe a gent here posted an excellent vid on YouTube deburring for the new seal also. Pretty sure paranoia is kicking in. After polishing out the clutch cover this weekend I was cleaning out the oil passages to the pump....and found some of the blown out mesh in there. The clutch ball tipped me heh.

 

[MaxPete]

Good work on that ball - everything will work better once you've replaced it I'm sure.

Hey - can I ask - what are you going to do about the clutch actuator worm? I have checked Mikes and they are listed as "out of stock". I'd like to get a new one too - have you found a source?

Pete

 

[wrenchjohns]

I found my NOS on ebay. Also read this http://www.xs650.com/threads/31554 all the way through. It is not light reading but it is most excellent information. john