Clutch spider binding on sleeve gear

[numbersix]

I bought my 1957 G11 as a 'project' which was running and the AMC gearbox worked. When it came to dismantling the primary drive I found that there was no centre nut on the clutch end of the gearbox mainshaft........
The centre was very tight and it took a lot of effort using the correct extractor to pull it from the shaft.

Moving on to inspecting the gearbox internals, I saw that the sleeve gear bearing was not fully home in the shell. It also had a nice arc ground out of its outer race by the layshaft top gear pinion, due to being proud of the inner surface of the shell.
No big deal, I thought. I am rebuilding the 'box with new bearings etc. so just press-on.

Having rebuilt the 'box and reinstalled it in the frame, I refitted the inner chaincase and started to build up the primary drive. Clutch, engine sprocket, primary chain all in place and tightened and then....I can barely select a gear. A bit of head-scratching, removing the gearbox outer cover etc before it dawned on me and I dismantled the clutch, leaving the centre in place. I found that I could hardly rotate the clutch centre (in neutral) without the gearbox sprocket turning.

I removed the clutch centre nut and used the extractor to pull the clutch centre outwards a tad and this freed everything up. The clutch spider (shock absorber) was binding against the end of the sleeve gear whenever the clutch centre nut was tightened.
This explains why the previous bodger had not fitted the nut........Doubtless it would have been even more difficult to turn if p.b. had actually fitted the sleeve gear bearing properly!

So, could anyone please advise me what could be causing this problem? It seems that the spider sits too far on to the mainshaft; if so, is this because the spider needs renewing?
Could the p.b. have fitted an incorrect mainshaft (a tad and a bit too short??)
Are there different lengths of sleeve gear out there?
Or is it something else..........?

[1608]

I have posted a number of times on this common problem. Its nearly always due to the stop end on the spider splines being warn down ( due to over tightening because they constantly come loose ) allowing the spider to carry too far and contact the sleeve bushing/output shaft. When I replaced my worn spider ( which was a good fit rotationally on the output shaft but it did tend to wobble a bit. To overcome this I machined up a disc to screw into the extractor threads on the spider. I have submitted this idea on the Tech articles section under 'wobbly clutch'. Good luck.

[numbersix]

Thanks for the reply and for pointing me towards the Tech Articles.
Your mod looks very interesting; I know someone with a lathe and I will see if he would like to make the ring for me.
In the meantime, I'll order a new spider, now you've confirmed for me that the binding problem is due to wear of the internal stop.

[AyJayBee]

I had the same problem with my G80, and was assured it was wear in the spider, but it was not, check my posting and compare - 'G80 clutch hub binding, seal removal' posted on 27th May. Hope this helps, best wishes, Tony