balance flywheel and pressure plate

J

johnmi

Member
A lot of guys balance the flywheel first and then balance the flywheel and pressure plate together. What good does it do to balance flywheel alone when you have to rebalance it when you attach pressure plate and redrill flywheel.Thanks John
 
After balancing the flywheel they do not/should not alter it. The pressure plate is altered to make the combined assembly "balanced". So flywheel first then add the pressure plate.
If guys are altering the flywheel after adding the pressure plate...I would agree it is just for practice...but not a good practice.
Good Day!
 
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The purpose of that is to be sure the flywheel is balanced. Balancing the pressure plate is just a bonus, and if you change the clutch in the future, the flywheel is still in balance.
 
I agree wit 2many to the extent the flywheel will still be in balance, but to do any good the balanced pressure plate must go back on exactly as it came off, if changing just the clutch. If changing the clutch and pressure plate, the new plate must be balanced also. Some advise that one balance the clutch disc also. Sounds reasonable, probably more so for a high revving engine.
 
johnmi said:
Where Do you alter the pressure plate to make the combined assembly balanced there is not much there. John
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Anybody who knows what they are doing balances the combined assembly by drilling in the appropriate place around the flange of the pressure plate where it sits against the flywheel. Pressure plates are pretty close to balanced anyway so there is no need to remove much metal. I've seen them done with one indent from a 1/2" drill that didn't even go all the way through.
PS I make sure the pressure pate goes back in the same place as it was when balanced by putting in a couple of dowels almost 180 degrees apart.
 
I changed a lot of clutches in the past 50 years, in many cars and trucks, and never balanced the pressure plate, and never had a problem. Are today's pressure plates that bad?
 
I had my flywheel and pressure plate balanced. First the flywheel, then the flywheel with the pressure plate attached. You can see in the photo how weight was added by installing some allen screws into the holes in the pressure plate.
-DAN
 

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Dan Partain said:
I had my flywheel and pressure plate balanced. First the flywheel, then the flywheel with the pressure plate attached. You can see in the photo how weight was added by installing some allen screws into the holes in the pressure plate.
-DAN
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The factory adjusts weight that way but only because it is quick. It is not right. Today's society only sees the bottom line. Those slugs come out quite often.
The right way is to drill the spring stands.
 
Hello: There's no reason that any machine shop should balance them separately and then balance them together.?
Clearly you should find a better machine shop as you only need to pay to have them balanced as a unit; Once.

If you'll notice the photo's here is the typical Model A flywheel and pressure plate mounted as a unit and spun.
After I input the information to the balancing machine of diameter and area of correction and spin.
The machine will measure unbalance and tell me where to remove or add material.
You may notice in the flywheel photo where I have drilled to remove weight.
doesn't take much to make it right. That's why I question the posts of doing separately then together.?

This particular flywheel assembly was off 71 grams and after weight correction it is .3 grams. A major improvement.

www.jandm-machine.com
 

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Possibly the idea of balancing the flywheel and then the the flywheel and Pressure plate together, comes from the fact that the FW becomes a jig to hold the PP. while balancing the two as a unit. One would want the "Jig" to have as little error as possible. I don't know, I never balanced and thing, except a lawnmower blade My first FW that I turned myself but later had balanced was only the weight of a 5/16" X 5/16" hole. Imagine what that weighs and you've got the amount of inbalance. Of course, we didn't know that until the FL was put on the machine. I would imagine that the 5/16" X 5/16" slug was less than an oz., probably around 22-25 Grams. Not much when you consider the FW weighs now about 54 lbs. But it is right now!
Terry
 
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