dualmass flywheel - what's "normal"?
 

I'm in the midst of DIY work including replacing my clutch. I've finally got it out, and now trying to figure out what needs replacing. The flywheel itself looks "ok", in that it has some temperature discoloration, but doesn't seem excessively nor unevenly worn. I can't find any specs on it in the Bently pubs, nor anywhere to describe what is normal, or worn. The front plate has about 1/4-3/8" free play in it, and if you push by hand with a bit of force it will rotate about 3/4". These are guesstimates of outer edge movement not measured and with the flywheel laying on a rubber mat with hand force. Anyone have an idea as to what is "normal", or can you point me a wear data?

thanks,
fj..

Mine had 1 1/2 inches of play. I replaced it, I saw a post from Mark @ Autospeed that said 1/4" is normal. There are springs inside that must wear out.

Mine allroad would clunk when shifting into 4th gear with the original flywheel, after replacement the clunk if gone. If you didn't notice anything bad with your drivetrain maybe it will be fine to reuse.

clunking and such...
 

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah, I've had clunking so it might be time to replace. I've shudders too on engagement though the latter was after I got the car seriously stuck and smoked the clutch pretty bad. It seemed to smooth out over time and just chalked it up to cooking it. Over all I was mildly surprised there wasn't more 'damage' once I got it apart.

Another related question: if replacing flywheel, is going with a lighter weight solid flywheel "ok" on a 2.7T? Most of my experience is with smaller bore, higher compression, non-turbo'ed engines. I've got a southbend OFE clutch to go in. . .

The other concern is the stock pressure plate is self adjusting and to my knowledge the linkage is not. If going with a non-oem pressure plate how is it adjusted. I really don't want to have to change it again anytime soon. Any feedback on that from those that have gone with a southbend?

fj..

replying to my own Q
 

I think I found the answer to the OEM vs lightweight flywheel (though some forum searching). At least sounds like I don't want to deal with aluminum one, though on the mountain drive home it sounds like it would be great, towing a trailer, not so much... too bad really the aluminum one is cheaper than OEM. ;)

fj..

You definely want a pressure plate with the self adjusting mechanism. I had a clutch/pressure plate combo with the sac locked down put in when going stage 3 which only lasted about 20k. The clutch looked fine, but the throwout bearing was worn down a lot, and without the sac I ran out of adjustment. It got to the point I had to shut the car off to get it into reverse.

I went with an rs4 clutch, and am happy, plenty of holding power, and no worries of not making at least 100k until needing a new clutch.