I have gone through about 4 clutch cables over a 2 year period and my current one feels like its on its way out. The symptoms always start with grinding when putting it into reverse and then the 4 forward gears get progressively worse.

I have tried everything I can think of including re-routing the cable (with as few bends as possible), reinforcing the clutch fork and I even replaced the transmission with a reconditioned one about a year ago.

Anyone have any experience/thoughts on a hydraulic setup for a 140? My '78 245 has a hydraulic setup that works like a dream and as far as I know the 120's had hydraulics as well.

cheers
evan

'72 142
'78 245
'89 740

If your release bearing matches the pressure plate, and the cable is not taking any weird kinks, my only suggestion is that sometimes the pivot point of the clutch fork gets very worn, this might be causing the problem.
--
Patrick, '68 220, '83 245, '92 Eurovan (work truck).

Really don't want to offend you...

- Have you remembered to grease the mounting pin at the pedal while installing? (Yes, I know it may sound "too wild" but never-the-less, it's a real killer for the cable when the angle of the bracket at the cable end "jumps" with many kilos/pounds of pull..)

- Yeah, a bit hard to explain in english..

Well, I suggest you check the setup for faults in angles, greasing and correct installing - something must be wrong..


OH!!.. I know almost pretty sure what is wrong in your setup..
You say you have changed clutch.. Did you change the release bearing too? -Are you VERY sure that the clutch and release bearing matches each other?

Draw an angle of 90 degrees on a piece of paper. Divide the 90 degrees into 3 30 degrees "slices" -where is your clutch fork in "neutral"?
(Let's agree that this is drawn:

......bell house
............./\........
Engine - /||\ - gearbox
.........../ || \.......

- is your clutch-fork in the right 3rd slice? - If not, where is it when starting to release clutch?)

In a correct setup both "neutral" and beginning of release should be in the first (first, when looking from right to left!) 3rd slice!

If your clutc and release bearing doesn't match, you will over-strengthen the fork when trying to de-clutch..

What I'm trying to say is, that I think your release starts way to near the end of the fork's possible movement area..

Oh, I hope my tech-english here get you point! :-)

BTW: My 140 (1971) and 240 (1975) still goes by original cable...


--
/Soren

No offence taken Soren! Thanks for all the info. I will check all the angles again along with the pivot point as suggested by Mike, John and Patrick.

cheers
evan

4 cables in 2 years? My 1800E still has the original cable after 34 years and 120K miles. Do they eventually break on your car? Or does the clutch just gradually stop working? Are you sure it isn't just the adjustment? You need to adjust those cable down by the trans once in a blue moon.
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

2 of them snapped and the other 2 were heading the same way. Every time I replace the cable I adjust it after a couple of weeks and after that as needed. On the last 2 changes I also put some grease between the actual cable and the outer sheath. These are all genuine Volvo cables.

I know what you're saying though - this definitely shouldnt be happening. I would love to fix it but am at the stage where im looking at alternatives (two Volvo mechanics have also tried to fix it).

cheers
evan

'72 142
'78 245
'89 740

Where did they snap?
Is it possible that your clutch is no good? You said you replaced the transmission but no mention of the clutch.

I don't see how the gearbox would affect the clutch cable. My guess is that something is wrong with the clutch and trying to convert to a hydraulic system would not be worth the headache.

My 140's have a pretty light clutch pedal and I prefer the cable set-up more than the hydraulic on my 220.
--
'86 745T, '72 144E, '70 145S, '68 220S, '60 544

Sorry, I should have given a bit more info. The clutch was replaced when I got the car (2 years ago). Didnt replace the pressure plate at that time as it was in good nick. If I remember correctly, the two cables snapped at the gearbox end (not right at the end but pretty close).

I did a complete engine rebuild in Jan this year and put in a new cable, clutch, pressure plate and reco'd gearbox. The new cable has been adjusted 2 or 3 times since and i'm starting to see the same symptoms again. Putting it in reverse doesnt crunch if I put it in 2nd gear first.

I would love to keep the cable setup but i'm tearing my hair out over this. My car is running beautifully apart from this problem (I do about 500km a week in it).

cheers
evan

p.s. I should state that i'm a mechanical newbie so dont hold back from stating the obvious!

Questions..

Is it fraying, getting a "rats nest" at the end that snaps, and then failing, or is it snapping all at once?

Does your release fork pivot have sufficient grease and swivel freely and smoothly.

Are you getting a straight pull, i.e. does the cable pull straint in line against the fork without pulling the cable out of line and bearing on outlet of the cable sheath (bowden tube)? Is there any chance of a metal to metal contact with the cable? A tiny contact is disasterous to the cable.

My understanding, there are 2 types of clutches, Sachs style (diaphram) and Borg and Beck (lever style)... I believe they have different styles of release bearings. Is yours the correct one (this one is a real stretch)? If the release fork is able to shift radially it can create an "off center" pull of the cable and the required release force goes up very quickly, overstressing the cable.

Mike

Thanks for the pointers Mike...

The cables are snapping in one go. The pivot is well greased and we checked to make sure that the cable is being pulled straight - we reinforced the fork as an extra precaution for this.

I have a Sachs style clutch. Ill check to make sure that there is no radial movement in the fork.

One other thing I should mention - with at least one of the cables that I removed, the cable sheath was very hard and 'creaked' if I bent it. I dont know if this is natural aging or not but for a while I thought that maybe there was a current travelling up the cable, causing the sheath to harden and in turn causing wear on the cable. However the grounding straps between the gearbox and body and starter and body exist so that cancels that theory.

cheers
evan

I think you'd have better luck with debugging the cable issue. But if you really want a hydraulic clucthc, I'd suggest the following:

1) Get a B18 bellhousing and clutch slave cylinder. Install.

2) Get a 240 series clutch master cylinder and pedal and linkage. Probably not too incredibly hard to attach the master cylinder to the fire wall - perhaps a few drilled holes, possibly some tinkering with the rod that goes from the pedal to the master cylinder.

3) A little light fabrication of hydraulic lines - actually, snag those from the 240 donor, they should be pretty close to what you need.
--
I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

Yeah you are right John, fixing the cable is the better option. Thanks for the info on the hydraulic setup though.

cheers
evan