Wingett or thwaites dumper, repair drum clutch

[Jonm]

I have a thwaites or winget dumper with a clutch made from a car drum brake, possibly triump herald. My searches on the internet has found a number of references to this type of clutch fitted to a thwaites dumper. I want to strip down the cluch and get it working properly, currently it slips after a bit of heavy work. I have tried loosening a few bolts but it seems like it wants to stay put. Access is a bit difficult as the floor plate above should be removable but someone has welded it in place.

Can anyone help with how to remove the clutch, i have included a picture below.
Regards, Jon

[Cheekymonkey]

Hi Jon, I have the same assembly on my old thwaites nimbus & need to overhaul sometime myself sometime. From what I managed to find online it should just pull off the shaft but i havent got to try mine yet. my release bearing is pretty much non existent it's been worn away, yours looks ok. Access is definately a PITA I haven't worked out how i'd get in there yet either.

If you didnt know there is a small adjuster bolt to adjust the shoes, I've maxed mine out & managed to get a little more use from the clutch this way. It's a square peg coming out of the hub face.

[Jonm]

Pete
Thank you for the information. I managed to dismantle and repair the clutch
Here are the instructions





Photos to follow

[Jonm]

Here are some photos
Here is the photo of how I compressed the clutch with a jack to get the spring out. I had to keep tapping the jack to jolt the mechanism to make the spring compress. Jack was not pushing completely square. If doing it again I would have drilled a hole in the plate on the chassis behind and used a threaded rod.




Here is photo of puller I made to remove the backing plate, and also a picture of the backing plate and shoes after removal



Here is a photo of the puller in use to remove the backing plate, see note 4 of dismantling instructions.

[Jonm]

Here is a photo of the clutch with backing plate removed



And here is my attempt at compressing the spring a bit to get it in place, I used the jack as shown above to refit the spring but with plenty of tapping the backing plate with a hammer to jolt it and let the jack push it in place. Care is needed not to tighten the jack too much and damage the thrust washer. As above, something pushing perfectly square is needed. The flooring above my clutch was welded in place and some of the welds were difficult to get at, really I should have removed the floor.

[Jonm]

Here is detailed drawing of clutch which goes with the above instructions

[Cheekymonkey]

that's brilliant, super helpful I'll make a note of those drawings for when i get round to doing it.

did you just get someone local to reline the shoes?
did you replace the release bearing? (if so where did you source?)

[Jonm]

The shoes were in reasonable condition so I just cleaned them up. Release bearing was ok.

[Jonm]

I did read that the shoes are from a triump herald if that helps.

[Paulod1963]

Hi all being following your post and i have a similar drum clutch on my newly acquired thwaites 2ton 4wd i think it's mid 70"s i need to source some parts for it. Does anyone have a contact for parts

Thanks Paul