in our workshops yesterday and they were fitting a clutch on a 06 plate axor , manual telligent gearbox with 160,000 kms on the clock
according to our fitters they usually last till around the 200,000km mark and the best they have had is 260,000.
now surely if you were leasing a motor over a 4 year period then you would have thought the clutch would be good for the length of the lease based on 100,000 kms a year.
or do these so called electronically controlled gearboxes put more stress on the clutch.
My last Actros (an ‘05’ plate 2544, fitted with Telligent 16 speed 'box) had 430,000 km on the clock when they took it away from me ( ) and that was still going strong on the original clutch.
I’d be round to Intercounty asking some questions!!
The guy who bought one of my old vehicles when it went back to Volvo had to have the clutch replaced a couple of weeks ago. It’s an i-shift, a little over 5 years old, with 600,000+ kilometres on the clock.
flying_fenman:
Doesn’t sound right to me.
I’d be round to Intercounty asking some questions!!
went round the other day with mine for a recall. my seat belt warning buzzer was staying on all the time and apparently theres a bolt in the gearbox that is either weak or not secured properly and can fail at anytime .
because they had a few of ours in already i have to take it back sometime this week.
the good thing is that they have got a new coffee and snack machine that actually work.
It can largely depend on the drivers and work done. I know a Scania 142 that worked 5 days a week for over 10 years on the same clutch [its still in there now] but that was all with just one driver.
Slightly related, I know an 07 Ford Ka thats done less than 300 miles and is now on its 4th clutch! The first three have all been burnt out.
mechanic77:
It can largely depend on the drivers and work done. I know a Scania 142 that worked 5 days a week for over 10 years on the same clutch [its still in there now] but that was all with just one driver.
Slightly related, I know an 07 Ford Ka thats done less than 300 miles and is now on its 4th clutch! The first three have all been burnt out.
Not surprising when you see fully loaded wagons being held on the clutch at traffic lights on hills and such like.
My 85 needed a clutch within it’s 1st 6months, the driver was a good driver, brought up on twin splitters and fullers. Turned out there was nowt wrong with the clutch, it was the clutch pack, that was faulty
I did 540000 odd kms in a 3 series before the clutch started feeling weird. It was the arm bush that had gone. When they took it apart to change that and looked at the plate is was very low so they replaced that too, but it wasn’t actually gone. Others with the same truck on the same job had had two or three clutch changes by then. Funny thing about that was, the first day I got it back the clutch cylinder went and I had to drive it the rest of the day without a clutch So they had to take it all apart again anyway to change that.
DAFMAD:
I did 540000 odd kms in a 3 series before the clutch started feeling weird. It was the arm bush that had gone. When they took it apart to change that and looked at the plate is was very low so they replaced that too, but it wasn’t actually gone. Others with the same truck on the same job had had two or three clutch changes by then. Funny thing about that was, the first day I got it back the clutch cylinder went and I had to drive it the rest of the day without a clutch So they had to take it all apart again anyway to change that.
My 3 series only had one clutch in it’s life, It was always ok if you didn’t ‘ride it’ it wouldn’t stnd that at all. When it went, I went down to meet the driver near Ferrybridge, took his trailer off him, with the hope to send him off solo. He promptly ‘floored it’ and dropped the clutch, obviously going nowhere We swapped and I took it back to Darlo, no real probs at all. I got it from Liverpool to Darlington one night too, after the pipe from the master cylinder had gone. That and the old DAF 85, were two of the toughest, operator/driver friendly wagons ever. You nearly always got em home, those were the days
978.463 on one clutch and original brake linings on a superspace 430 daf fitted with a engine brake. 2 weeks after i packed in the job the centre plate collapsed on the new driver and he had to have a full brake reline
in our workshops yesterday and they were fitting a clutch on a 06 plate axor , manual telligent gearbox with 160,000 kms on the clock
according to our fitters they usually last till around the 200,000km mark and the best they have had is 260,000.
now surely if you were leasing a motor over a 4 year period then you would have thought the clutch would be good for the length of the lease based on 100,000 kms a year.
or do these so called electronically controlled gearboxes put more stress on the clutch.
Dont sound right to me at all dave. My actros has done almost 400k on an original clutch with telligent. I suppose it could be down to the driver, if he’s in the habit of doing loaded hill starts in 3rd high for example, and holding on the clutch as has been said then it wont last for a long time. i find , at least 80% of the time, that very few revs over tick over are necessary to pull away even when loaded if you have the correct gear and are gentle on the clutch. Although the number of guys you see/hear who must rev it into the yellow before letting the clutch up is surprising.
mercedes tried a twin plate clutch kit to counteract this problem(but that didn’t seem to cure it)…it can happen with man’s if the computer is not reset after replacing the clutch,the new one fails very quickly…but it’s a common problem with all shared vehicles…if you want to cut costs then 1 driver 1 truck is the way forward.
Too many variables to give an accurate lifespan for a clutch, but they will last a hell of a lot longer if you use them properly. All modern lorries have a feature called Idle-Away, as you release the clutch pedal at tickover it provides enough fuel to the engine so that it doesn’t stall. When you are moving you should then change in the normal way, starting off in 1st gear also helps, after all what’s the big rush
My old Actros did over 400,000 Km on the original clutch. It had to have a new clutch pack (whatever that is!) and I assume that the clutch was replaced at the same time.
Mercedes recommend that you always pull away in 2nd (the default choice for the selector) - must admit that empty I pull away in 3rd.
I used to be a road tester for one of the trade mags & a bloke at Renault showed me some statistics on the relationship between clutch temperatures & starting off gear, pulling away in 3rd gear in the old B18 Renault box gave a temp of something like 2000deg C, against something like 500 for 1st gear, I’m no scientist but that can’t be good
When I first learned to drive a wise old sage told me to treat the pedals as if they had nails sticking out of them, be gentle & they dont bite you or the lorry, then again, get a decent constant mesh box & the left pedal is redundant if you do it right
