Clutch & Transmission Parts for Chinese Vehicles

What Clutch & Transmission components do

The clutch connects and disconnects engine torque from the gearbox input shaft. A conventional manual clutch does this with a friction disc squeezed between the flywheel and a spring-loaded pressure plate, released by a bearing acting on the diaphragm fingers. Because the whole assembly lives inside the bellhousing, replacing any one component means removing the gearbox — which is why the disc, cover and release bearing are supplied and fitted together as a kit.

The first question on any clutch enquiry is what transmission the vehicle actually has. Many models in this catalogue are sold with a manual gearbox in one market and a dual-clutch, CVT or torque-converter automatic in another, and a manual clutch kit has no application on the automatic versions. Once that is settled, the specification turns on disc diameter, spline count and spline profile, gearbox code, and two design questions: single-mass or dual-mass flywheel, and whether the release bearing is a conventional bearing on a fork or a concentric slave cylinder mounted around the input shaft. A dual-mass flywheel is a wearing component containing springs and damping grease; if it is worn, fitting a new clutch against it simply transfers the judder and the rattle to the new parts.

Clutch Kit

A clutch kit for a manual gearbox normally contains the friction (driven) disc, the pressure plate or cover assembly, and the release bearing, and may include a concentric slave cylinder and an alignment tool. Where the vehicle uses a dual-mass flywheel, that flywheel is a wearing part in its own right and is usually inspected and replaced at the same time.

The friction lining wears with every take-off and is destroyed quickly by riding the pedal, towing beyond rating, or hill starts held on the clutch. Diaphragm fingers lose tension, release bearings dry out, and the springs and arc-damping grease inside a dual-mass flywheel degrade until the unit rattles and allows excessive angular play.

• Slip: engine revs rise but road speed does not follow, most obvious in a high gear under load.
• Judder or shudder as the clutch takes up from rest.
• A pedal that has become heavy, or one that has lost its bite point near the floor.
• Difficulty selecting first or reverse from rest — often release-system rather than disc wear.

Give the friction disc diameter, spline count and profile, the gearbox code, whether the vehicle has a single-mass or dual-mass flywheel, and whether the release bearing is a conventional bearing on a fork or a concentric slave cylinder inside the bellhousing. Note that variants of the same model sold with a dual-clutch, CVT or torque-converter automatic transmission do not take a manual clutch kit at all.

Checks to make before you order

A few minutes of inspection prevents most wrong-part returns in this category.

• Test for slip in a high gear at low speed: accelerate hard and watch whether engine speed rises faster than road speed.
• Listen at idle in neutral with the pedal up, then press the pedal. A rattle that stops when the pedal goes down is the classic worn dual-mass flywheel signature.
• Check the hydraulic release circuit for leaks and air before condemning the clutch — a failing master or slave cylinder produces the same "will not select gears" complaint.
• Inspect the flywheel friction face for heat cracks and blueing whenever the gearbox is out. It is the only opportunity you will get without a second labour bill.

Identifying the right part by OEM number

An OEM number is the vehicle manufacturer's own part number for a component. It is normally printed, stamped or moulded onto the original part, or onto a label attached to it. Aftermarket manufacturers publish cross-references linking their own catalogue numbers to those OEM numbers, and that cross-reference is what makes an order verifiable rather than an educated guess.

Cross-referencing matters because a single model line rarely uses a single part. Over a production run a manufacturer will change suppliers, revise a design mid-life, fit larger brakes to a heavier or higher-output variant, and build market-specific versions with different lighting, sensors and emissions equipment. Two vehicles that look identical in a showroom photograph can therefore take different parts. The model name narrows the search; the OEM number closes it.