Mk9 clutch lever

[CM/FFdriver]

Hello All,

I'm just going through my car and checking all the boxes to make sure the car is right, one of the things was the clutch slave cylinder bracket has 2 new holes to reinstall the clutch slave cylinder well that means that the adjustable rod is max out. So I said can I reposition the clutch lever on the out side of the Mk9 and then noticed the lever was bent and then rewelded back on, does only one have a picture of a new one that I can reference from and can you get new ones in case this one is bent.

thank you for any info

Ben

[Steve Demeter]

The lever on any MK9 that I have had was modified by welding a reinforcement "block" on the bottom to prevent exactly what you are experiencing. IIRC it was about a 1/2" square bar stock simply welded on the bottom of thwe lever in such a manner that uit did not interfere with anything.

[tlracer]

From your picture that looks like a standard Hewland clutch lever. They are cut/welded so they line up with the slave cylinder using the OE Hewland mounting bracket.

Your lever looks like it's rotated too far down on the cross-shaft splines. Correct installation is to have it angled slightly upwards in the 'rest' position, so the operating movement is over-centre.

Set up like that you should have enough fine adjustment on the threaded lower 'bullet' of the pushrod.

If you haven't one already, then it's worth downloading the manual for the Mk9, which is available on a number of websites. The maincase drawing shows the correct slave/pushrod/lever configuration.

[Steve Davis]

That rod looks basically like ALL clutch arms on VW trans. If you have a torch, it's pretty easy to heat it (NOT ON THE CAR) and gently bend it, in which ever direction it needs to go. Just get it 'just past red' hot in the middle area and it'll bend no problem. Let it air cool (DON'T Quinch it!). Don't overheat it and don't try to bend it too close to the end where it's been welded. It'll take O/A gas or mapp gas. Don't think a std propane torch will get it quite hot enough .. but it MIGHT if that's all you have. Just don't force bend it .. you shouldn't have to put "too much" force on it to bend it - say, pulling a 25# spring or so?

Steve, FV80

[Robert J. Alder]

Yup. these levers can bend or break. Often they break right where the lever meets the base which slips onto the splines of the protruding throw-out bearing shaft. This is because ALL the Hewland levers are welded that way. The stock VW lever would pint straight down, not at 90 degrees as they do to operate in conjunction with the clutch slave set up. Plus when they are cut and re-welded the are also tweaked by putting a bit of a curve in them to better wrap around and clear the bell housing. Thus it is a weak point.

You indicated the lever is bent thus causing you to run out of adjustment. Be sure it's the bent lever cuasing the issue. Sadly sometimes the ears on the throw-out bearing shaft (which hold the actual throw-out bearing) can "come adrift" from the shaft. Be sure that isn't the cause of the lever having to start its thing too far down. Then you've got a whole 'nuther problem (remove tranny to fix). Hopefully it's just the lever which can be replaced of fixed as others have correctly suggested.

[kea]

This is how we have set them up since the 80's

[bzneil]

When I got my new to me FF the clutch lever was bent in a similar fashion. I did as others had suggested and heated it red and bent it back to position. I then tig welded some 1/8" by 1/2" flat stock to the bottom to strengthen it like an I beam web. I have heard that the stock Hewland lever was fine for a stock clutch but would bend when using the stronger Tilton clutch.

[Robert J. Alder]

Kea,
Nice fix.
Bob