Apr 28

1914 Chandler clutch replacement

I am getting ready to start a project that I have been meaning to do for a while: replace the clutch in our 1914 Chandler Model 15. From what I gather on the history of this car, given that it has only been driven about 17 thousand miles in its lifetime, it is likely that the original clutch material may still be in place.

Per the manual, Model 15s came with a dry-type clutch, and consist of seven plain steel driving discs and six lined driving discs. Also, according to the manual, the clutch requires virtually no maintenance. Which I guess was true for the last 112 years!

This will be my first time separating the motor from the transmission in this car. It's going to give me a whole new opportunity to understand the ins and outs of this old car.

I'm curious if this transmission was used in other makes. I am pretty sure Chandler did not make them. They were proud to tout that they made all of their own motors, but I can find no mention of who made the transmissions. I did find this ad from 1916 for a company in Cleveland that seems like a likely supplier.

Let me know if you have had any experience replacing a clutch on one of these?

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Apr 28, 2026

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Replies (8)

· Apr 28

Hey Chris, I wish I could help but I know very little about early cars. Well at least earlier than 1929. Looking forward to following along with your project and I'm sure the next guy will appreciate any think you learn from the process. Car looks great btw.

· May 24

Manged to remove the transmission today. To do so I also needed to remove the exhaust pipe and muffler to provide enough clearance to pull the transmission back. Started cleaning things up today and gathering my notes. The assembly of clutch discs and the pressure plate seem like they are threaded on to the main shaft. I'll have to figure out how to remove this so I can get the plates relined.

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· May 25

@Chandler-Six 3 speed or 4 speed?

· May 25

@alsancle 3 speed for this 35 hp Light Weight Six

· Jun 24

Three speed, 3-55 mph in high gear, and my car will still do it.

· Jun 24

Update on my progress:
I managed to get the whole clutch assembly out of the transmission and completely taken apart. There are six driving discs that have clutch facing riveted to them on both sides. In my case most of the clutch facing was loose or ready to fall off, in some areas it had already escaped the disc it was attached to. After cleaning up all the parts and removing the brass rivets from the driving discs I took all six down to Long Beach CA where Friction Materials Co is located. They have been around since 1956 and like do most of the clutch relining on cars of this vintage since they still have the tools and know how. Great people, I highly recommend them if you need clutch or brake shoe relining.

After a short two weeks the driving discs were better than new. I took that time to get the rest of my clutch parts ready to assemble. The design of this multi-disc cutch has an outer spider that bolts to the flywheel and an inner spider that the driving discs are keyed to. In between each driving disc is a steel disc, called a driven disc. The Driven discs are keyed to the outer spider, there are seven of these. All thirteen discs are slid onto the inner spider and the outer spider is slid on over them. The pressure plate compresses again the outer lip of the inner spider to sandwich the discs all together to transmit power through the engine. This whole clutch assembly is then pressed onto the input shaft of the transmission. The tricky part was getting the clutch spring installed, but I have that figured out now.

I am now at the point where the clutch assembly is ready to press onto the keyed input shaft. Making good progress now. When I am all done I'll do a write up for the website so the next person servicing a clutch on their Model 14, 15, or 15B will have some instructions to follow.

https://frictionmaterialslb.com

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· Jun 24

Nice work. Are you going to have to wrestle that transmission into a press to mount the clutch assembly? Sure is an odd way that they chose to mount it.

· Jun 24

I don’t think so. I spent some time cleaning up the input shaft and the ID of the inner spider. I hope to be able to carefully press it on with the appropriate mallet.