Hi Folks. After very many years of good service, my Barton clutches lost their grip. Strangely, the only one that continued to work was the one that gripped our topping lift. You'd think the fatter lines would grip better. I tried washing the old clutches, spraying them with silicone and forcing the clutch jaws to close, but it was time for an overhaul.
Which clutch?
- I soon found that everyone you ask has a different favourite manufacturer, so I've no particular advice to offer except to ensure you shop around to get a good price. I saved a lot by taking the time to do this.
How many?
- The pads on the 275 will support seven clutches on each side. I used a combination of one triple and a two doubles each side, which gave the lowest price overall. Whatever mix you chose, you will drill the same number of holes.
Removing the old clutches
This was much easier than I had anticipated.
- The first thing to do is remove the cabin headlining under the clutches. With your fingernails, pop the two white caps off to reveal the two screws that secure the panel to the ceiling. The screws come out easily. If you have a vent (above the cooker in our case) remove the screws on that as well. The panel stays put until you help it out. Find a gap down one of the transverse edges and insert a small screwdriver. Run it backwards and forwards a little until you can get a finger in the gap. Then keep working your hand in, pulling down to induce a fore-aft sag. By bending the fore-aft centre line down more and more, and pulling and wriggling, the panel will eventually come out. You may feel that the panel might snap but in my case it did not. You may also find the vinyl has unstuck from the wood panel so be prepared to glue it back. I've not done this yet so can't recommend a glue.
- Next for me was to crack free the clutch nuts under the cabin roof. These had been painted over, along with a a strip of the fibre glass roof. Remove your spray hood so you can get right over the clutches. Open the clutch lever to expose the two machine screws. With a wide blade screwdriver, a turn anti clockwise cracked the paint underneath. Keep the screwdriver in place and use a deep socket to easily remove the retaining blots. If the backing washers are also painted in, hold a flat blade like a screwdriver at 45 degrees to the edge of the washer and give it a sharp tap with a hammer to release it in one go. On the coach roof, close the clutch lever, clout the clutch sideways with your hand to release it from the sealant on base base, then lift off the clutch, unscrewing the machine screws if necessary. Repeat ten times and you're done.
Filling the old holes
- On one side, the new clutches would re-use just one of the old holes. So I filled the other holes with Plastic Padding marine filler. This was not good. The filler is fine but I could not get it to go down the holes, even trying to push it down with a small tool. The result was a poorly filled hole, where what little filling sealed the hole soon jumped out as I smoothed the top after the filler had set.
- Instead I recommend one of two approaches. Either get a small syringe and inject the filler, or just use sealant instead of filler. I've not tried the syringe method yet but I am sure it will work. Either way, tape over the underside of the holes before you inject from the top.
Fitting the new clutches
- I found that the new clutches used the same M6 bolts as the old clutches and were the same length.
- Align the clutches on the pads so they span the pad and point at the organisers / turning blocks at the far end of your roof. Ideally, the lines should enter the clutch without touching the sides of the clutch. This leads to a certain amount of toe-in and leaves the clutch bank not at all parallel to the organisers behind them. At first this did not feel right but I am convinced it is the correct move and it looks OK now the job is done. You might find it useful to place pads of folded paper on the coach roof rail to space the outermost clutch from the rail and get the right toe-in until everything looks right. The pads allow for easy adjustment and keep the clutches steady until you conclude that everything looks good and you start drilling holes.
- Rather than use a drilling template, I drilled straight through the securing hole at the rear of each clutch while it was in place. Using a 6mm drill, there was no cracking of the gel coat, just a clean hole. Ease each hole was drilled, we dropped in an M6 bolt to hold the clutches in positron. Having drilled 7*2*2=28 holes in total, I was relieved (OK, surprised) when the clutches all lined up without persuasion. The front holes could not be drilled through the clutches as there is insufficient space for the drill and chuck. Instead, we marked the spot with a very thin propelling pencil. I only mention propelling pencil as it is the thinnest I have.
- Apply sealant around the top of the holes on the coach roof, in the recessed bolt holes under the clutch base and on the threads of the machine screw. I read somewhere that you should not tighten the nuts until the sealant has cured but the instructions on the sealant said to tighten up before a skin formed. I tightened the nuts until they were snug but not overly tight. By 'I' I mean we. Much easier with two people. I'll tighten everything on my next visit as this allows me to delay the stress of persuading the roof panels to go back in place.
Organisers
- The plan is to stack two four-sheave organisers next to each clutch bank and take the old Barton organisers and double them up at the front of the roof. So four new organisers are purchased, not eight.
- As the winching angle is not optimal for the upstairs organisers, only lightly loaded lines will be placed there.
- Access to the underside of the front organisers is via panels inside the main cabin.
- As the new organisers are doubled up, you'll need long machine screws and have to cut them to length. That will be 12 at the rear and 8 at the front. Have a sharp hacksaw blade handy.
- And now for the good news. If you happen to replace Barton organisers with Spinlock organisers, the Spinlock width is much wider but still fits on the rooftop clutch pad without overhand. Even better, the Barton holes fit the Spinlock sheave holes, so you only need to drill two additional holes the the end caps.
What about the old Barton clutches?
- It was suggested that the teeth could be filed to bring the clutch back to life. As the clutch is sealed by domed rivets, I am not sure how practical his would be. .
At the time of writing, I've not tried out my new clutches yes but look forward to jamming ropes instead of leaving them on the winch or using coach roof cleats. I am especially looking forward to seeing how the new clutches cope with modern slippy ropes.
In summary, replacing clutches is very straightforward. If you have been thinking about it, I encourage you to give it a go.
Ken Surplice
Commodore