The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hi all,

During a trip last Weekend from Luxembourg to Switzerland (+/-1.200 km) with my Sprint, I encountered a judder when releasing the clutch in first gear. When reversing it was even worse so that is was very difficult to reverse without stressing the whole car. The problem was worse when the enging and gearbox was very hot. I have already changed the gearbox mount, the Universal joints and the center carrier and balanced the propshaft with no result.

Do you have any indeas?

Thank you very much for all help

Eric
Luxembourg

Have a look at the angled tie rods that go to the top of the rear axle. If the rubber donuts have gone soft there you will get
axle tramp which is very like clutch judder and worse in reverse.

Failing that you have a distorted clutch plate.

Jonners

Hi Jonners,

Thank you for your help. I will check the rubbers today, probably you are right because the judder is worse during hot weather whereas a distorted clutch plate would judder all the time.

Eric

I was on the route (Swiss to Luxembourg) last weekend too. We were driving a MGB and a TVR 350 and came accross several classics such as Ferrari 328, Lancia Fulvia Coupé and Alpine A110. Didn't spot you...

What you've described are classic symptoms of your clutch losing its tension. The exact same thing happened to my Sprint a couple of years ago. I replaced the entire clutch with positive results.
Cheers,
Rob