On Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:23:36 -0700, Joe wrote:
When this problem occurs in an automobile with manual transmission, it
is usually the transmission input shaft bearing in the flywheel. With
age, wear and no lubrication, the bearing begins to behave like a sprag
clutch and when the input shaft is turning the gears simply don't want
to behave. Something similar could be happening in this case.

Thing is, there's nothing actually turning at that point - the clutch
pedal decouples drive from the engine, and also operates a small disc
brake mounted on the rear axle.

My thinking on the tension though was that the "decoupling" happens by
moving the conical clutch toward the engine, therefore making the main
drive belt go slack - but the engine pulley's still going to rub against
the belt, so there's always going to be *some* tension passing all
through the drivetrain as far as the diff. The slacker the belt is, the
smaller that tension gets, but it'll always be there, because there's no
way of completely removing the belt from the drive pulley.

There must be a fine balance I think between the belt being slack enough
not to cause the reversing mechanism to bind, but yet still tight enough
when the clutch is released to allow drive without slipping. But I'm
hoping people who have had this particular problem and overcome it can
comment, as it'd be nice to know whether I'm barking up the wrong tree or
not :-)

cheers

Jules