clutch issues

[superman293]

somthing had broke in my clutch and left me sitting the other day in my 82 rabbit, the clutch pedal had become almost dead, with just a small amount of pressure to spring the clutch pedal back. I asumed the pressure plates had broke or gone bad. Apon pulling the clutch out everything seems to be fine, I orderd a new clutch kit from advaced auto, and it came with a small cylinder device about the size of a spool of thread. My car didn't have this to start with. Can sombody tell me what my problem could be or have any pointers
thanks

[bert]

The small thing you got with the clutch is the thrust bearing,it sits in the back of the gearbox,if its a 5 speed trans it will be under the green end cap,if the pedal suddenly went to the floor,you may find that the thrust bearing operating cam has broke and has slipped round the splined shaft,easy to fix and the parts are not expensive  :wink:
Bert

[superman293]

I removed the green cap and installed the new thrust bearing but it made no differnce. The push rod isn't pushing on the pressure plate, the only tension i have on the clutch is from the two springs in the green box area. I had a old 4 speed laying around so i checked to see how far the push rod came out of the transmisson and it seems to be the same as my 5 speed, maybe 2 inches or so.
any more suggestions?

[Vincent Waldon]

Broke has a great 020 tranny site with all kinds of pictures and troubleshooting info... here's one page to get you started:

http://www.brokevw.com/releasearm.html

[flapjack]

i had very similar symptoms and it was the lever that presses the throwout bearing.  Right behind the green cap, The little thing on the shaft of the lever connected to the clutch cable. It wasn't stripped like bert described, but it had a small crack in it.  You couldn't see it, but when I swapped in another one, it was fine
I'd take off the green cap and have someone push the clutch pedal while you watch it.