Chris:

About a year ago I replaced the clutch in my '72 124 Spider. Shortly thereafter I started having difficulty putting the car in reverse. It goes into gear but it does not seem to engage completely. As a result it sometimes pops out when going in reverse. I have adjusted the clutch cable but this has resulted in no improvement. Recently the problem has worsened. All the other gears had been fine, but now I am feeling some hesitation when I accelerate and I can't tell for sure if it's a related issue.

I concluded that I must have messed up the clutch installation and was preparing to pull the transmission when I made a discovery. The "rubber doughnut" that connects the rear of the transmission to the drive shaft is cracked and a portion of it is broken off. Could this be the cause of the problems and not the clutch?

Also, if I have to redo the clutch would I be foolish to reuse any undamaged parts? The clutch has very few miles on it. Thanks for any advice you can give me.
- Guido

Guido,

Popping out of reverse is usually a problem internal to the transmission, not a problem with the clutch. A clutch problem would make it difficult to go into all gears, not just one. In the case you describe, I would suspect the pilot bearing or oil on the clutch disc is making it sticky.

The hesitation would only be related if the clutch is slipping. You will hear the engine rev up, see the tach rev up higher, but not feel the acceleration. Set the freeplay to specifications, but if it still slips then the clutch is failing. But I suspect you have something else going on!

Note that your cracked rubber donut is a very dangerous situation - if the donut fails further, you can toss the front of the driveshaft, causing severe damage, even possibly to you or your passenger's legs! Still, this is also not usually related to either of your other problems. A typical symptom of this failing is a driveline vibration

As for whether to reuse old parts, it's up to you. Personally, I always change everything so the job will not have to be redone any sooner than absolutely necessary!