Beck/Arnley metal slave cylinder install/review (0729896)

[fitzydude]

I just replaced my factory Sachs (of crap) slave cylinder with a beck/arnley metal slave cylinder. It cured a few of the issues I was having and made my driving expience much more enjoyable.

Over the past year or so the car has been becoming annoying to drive. Noticibley at the track I started to have a sticky clutch pedal while shifting fast and missing gears became quite common. In some cases the clutch pedal would only return halfway from the floor. Letting the car sit a few days would result in the clutch engagement point being immediately off the floor instead of being at the top of pedal travel. The car has a newer clutch and master cylinder so I decided to replace the slave since it was original and cheap.



The beck/arnley slave is $38 from rockauto. Although it does require a minor amount of grinding to make it work. I think they made the metal housing to exact specs of the factory slave, but then they coated the whole thing in a thick protective coating and that was enough thickness to make the install very difficult/tight.

I used a dremel with a metal bit to grind the ring on the end that goes into the transmission. I also removed material on the edge near the mounting hole. I litterally just took the coating off (3 or 4 passes) and exposed the metal in those two areas and the slave fit in on the first try with no resistance.




I should also mention that you want to reuse the rod that comes with the factory slave. The beck/arnley rod was about 1cm shorter... now I know what they say its not the size its how you use it but I didn't want any push to start issues down the road so I swapped it. I also noticed the clip that holds the clutch line in the slave is not shaped correctly so i used my factory clip for a better fit.



After bleeding the clutch, I am incredibley impressed with the results. I think the factory slave must have been failing even since I bought the car in 2015 or the beck is just that much better. Shifts are much crisper, no more sticky clutch pedal and the pedal is a little easier to depress. I can actually launch the car now which will be great for the dragstrip this fall. I can also chirp the tires now when i hit second, so thats fun much better clutch engagment. Hopefully this helps someone out. I'm trying a new photosharing service with this post as photo bucket took a crap. Thanks!

-Alex

[FromRagsToS4]

Great post! Thanks for the info!

[micronS4]

Yes thanks for posting. I am dealing with the same issue now. I'm on my 3rd aftermarket clutch in my B8 S4. 1st was a Ecode Meisterwerk multiplate. After months of engagement shudder a new rebuild kit went in but didn't last long, so I went to a ClutchMaster FX400CL which lasted about 2 years before slipping, spoke with OEM and decided to go with a Clutchmaster Fx350HDFF (slightly harder compound and better for street use apparently) . Has been < 2 months and have developed significant shudder when engaging 1st gear. Took her to the dragstrip and after 2 pulls the pedal engagement shifted very close to the firewall and shifting became very difficult (locked up actually). After cooling down it seems the clutch "self-healed" with pedal engagement and shifting normal. Shudder always remains however. Not throwing any blame or whining, but wondering if anyone else has had the same characteristics? Upgrading to the metal slave cylinder /stainless line as I write this.... stay tuned..

[imolab6]

Did you get this issue resolved? I'm having the same exact issue with the same clutch! TIA