Auto-Sleeper Symbol Clutch Very Stiff ?

Recently acquired a Symbol, year 2000 and I'm finding the clutch pedal very stiff and tiring to use on long journeys. Can anyone offer advice /ideas.

Hi Alan,

We will need a bit more information to offer any advice.

We too have the same model, same year and the same problem, but I've always considered it the nature of the beast. Could it just be our tired old legs mate?
Shantymanles

You might just get away with lubricating the clutch cable, I have just broken a clutch pedal on my 2000 Symbol so you don't want to have to be to heavy footed .
Cheers JB

I think you're right, Shantymanles. My last van had this problem and I had it in the Garage thinking there was something wrong. They couldnt find anything and said, like you did, it was just the nature of the beast. I had a new clutch fitted as there was just no joy driving the van and I was crunching the gears all the time. This sorted the problem out and although it was an expensive fix, it was worth it (except for the nearside front wheeling falling off the day after, while I was increasing speed down the slip road onto a very busy A38 -but I wont go into that here!
regards
Moira

alan haynes wrote:Recently acquired a Symbol, year 2000 and I'm finding the clutch pedal very stiff and tiring to use on long journeys. Can anyone offer advice /ideas.

My Symbol clutch does not feel at all stiff.
To eliminate it just being you, you could ask someone with similar vehicle if you can try their clutch pedal?
It could be rust or some fraying in the current cable. I would change the cable. Better that than failing while on holiday.
Not expensive. found one for mine for just £26.50 delivered.

A couple of years ago, I was chatting to someone who had traded in a van like mine for a newer Symbol. He said that the Symbol had a hydraulic clutch and sold me his emergency kit of cables alternator belt and some fuel filters (cheap). I assumed all Symbols had hydraulic clutches, but obviously they haven't.

More to the point, I too have had a clutch pedal snap at the top and I've had the stiff clutch thing too. I think they are interlinked.
The cable that was fitted was not a genuine Pug one, it gradually stiffened up and the pedal broke. I replaced the pedal and later on the cable snapped. I was rescued by the RAC who fitted a temporary "get you home" inner cable. Once home I dug out the one I had bought (see above) and fitted it. This one was a genuine Pug cable and I noticed that the inner appeared to be graphite impregnated, the difference to the pressure required on the clutch pedal was amazing! so much easier.

I still carry the "get you home" cable for an emergency and I also carry a spare clutch pedal. The RAC and I suppose the AA etc. carry the wherewithal to repair a broken cable but they do not carry spare pedals.

Frank

A different storey, but similar

One of my big old bikes, has a cable-opperated clutch, I did a total nut & bolt restoration, but re-used the original clutch cable as it seemed ok,

but the clutch was ALWAYS very hard to pull, you needed the grip of a gorrilla!!

It was pulled out, flooded with degreaser, dried, then flooded with oil, easy to push/pull, but still heavy so I assumed this was the way it was.

A year or so ago, whilst at a classic bike show, I came accross genuine cables, so I bought one, WOW!! what a difference, its EXACTLY like

the hydraulic clutch on the big bike, light as a feather

I can only assume that the inner lining had worn & was creating great friction when opperated on the bends.

And the moral is: You might only require a new cable, ensuring of course that its routed nice & freely.

T
hank you for all your comments and advice and hello to fellow Devonian Moira