Saving Old Seagulls

Hello,

Can anyone help me with my gearbox quandary...

I need to know what sits between the clutch spring and the clutch drive as when I stripped mine out I found a bunch of rusty mild steel washers used to compress the spring so that the drive was engaged hard on and I was unable to operate the clutch.

Is there supposed to be a thrust washer between the spring and clutch drive and how do I check that the thrust washer against the crown-wheel is the correct thickness...?

Cheers in advance to anyone who takes time to read this and apologies for any stupid questions.

Cheers

Pricey

how do I check that the thrust washer against the crown-wheel is the correct thickness...?

I asked the same question the other week to someone who should know, but he didn't.
I would be interested to know too.

There are 2 thrust washers that can be swopped around to adjust the way the crown wheel & pinion mesh, one above the pinion bevel & one between the crown wheel & the end cap, John stocks the thrust washers in 3 sizes, 12, 13 & 14 gauge, & I always buy a set of 3, just so that I can set them up for the quietest running.

It's not like there is a huge amount of power being transmitted through a Seagull lower unit, so I've always felt that if it's running with no sounds of distress when filled to the bottom of the filler cap, it should be all right.

That seems to be the case, as I've built 170's & Kingfishers with Featherweight boxes that are still running sweet after several races.

Charles, thank you for your detailed reply.

I take from it that the "look see feel hear " technique should be applied for crown wheel lash ? I'll get the three thrust washers ordered from John.

So the only part of my question I'm unsure of is what should or should not reside between the clutch drive and the spring.
Previous owner has placed a thrust washer that fits inside the spring thus centralising it but the spring face still runs on the clutch drive....is this correct, or should there be another larger thrust washer same diameter as the spring?
The face of the spring looks and feels rough so my mind says that it should have some form of buffer...confused I am
why people bodge is beyond me unless it is a get home scenario!

Cheers

Pricey

Pricey wrote: So the only part of my question I'm unsure of is what should or should not reside between the clutch drive and the spring ?

All sorted with the help of a member on here and John of SOS.

For the curious the spring is face to face with clutch drive, no thrust washer.

Cheers

Pricey.