need some ERA rear info , snapped an axle again ...my fault again

[John Martin]

Sure , I will post picture of parts . Jag axles basically are great for a jag . But they can slowly twist over time . I did not think I was headed down the right road going after the old set up . I went with the Auburn Gear . I'll look into some sort of / upgrades to the rear suspension , thanks !

[John Martin]

I chose to go back to a 331 from the 354 .

[John Martin]

Rick Lake , I talked with the teck department at Summit .I mentioned about cutting the weights off the clutch . He said he never herd of that being done or an issue .He asked if I was side stepping it , no I said and intend on shifting in the hi rpm once in a while , he told me I would not have problems with this clutch shifting it hi up the rpm range . The weights add clamping pressure .
For you and one other person ( Doug ) both giving me a heads up on cutting the weights off , I would like to better learn and / or understand the idea behind it .Do you think you can shed some light here on you take ? Thanks !

[patrickt]

John, here is a picture of my Centerforce pressure plate when it was just temporarily bolted up to the flywheel (engine just sitting on a stand). Those little square weights that are on the fingers, and held by the circular wire. are what Rick is talking about. A lot of us pull them off. Chuck Brandt (fellow ERA owner) has a web site and he talks about the problems he had with the little weights before he removed them. If he revved hard at a stand still the clutch would start to engage and move him forward. I'm sure a search of this forum would bring up his web site and I remember that he took some shots of when he removed the weights.

[John Martin]

I needed to re evaluate the clutch throw set up as my old clutch was making becoming harder to get into 3rd gear . The throw needs to be increased .

[John Martin]

Did Chuck replace just the master with a 7/8 bore Tilden ?

[patrickt]

Here is the page that Chuck talks about removing his PP weights: http://www.chuckbrandt.com/living.htm

Regarding the aluminum spacer for proper slave alignment, I have it on my iron block FE, along with the 7/8" Tilton Master, instead of the BMW master. The manual says "Most clutch pressure plates won't require the spacer shown below. Some, however, have tall fingers that move the fork connection forward. The spacer moves the slave assembly forward and inward, correcting the alignment. If the alignment is still off, the corner of the aluminum block can be ground so that the slave bracket can be rotated slightly." On whether or not you remove the weights or not, I think more people remove them than keep them (I opted for removal).

[snakebitekit]

As the proud owner of an ERA with pretty much the same rear end I also would like to know what is going on since this is your second time around. This time you said it was your fault, can you enlighten me.
Coming from 60's era's muscle cars I am hesitant to even smoke the tires with what this rear for fear of what happened to you. The width of the tires the, the grabbyness of the tires and what appears to be a weaker set up over the solid rear axle.
Nice drag picture in your box.