TJ Clutch Chatter

[Adam Q.]

OK, so I finally had my crappy clutch replaced after the thow out bearing disintegrated. I took it to my local clutch/tranny guy and just had him replace it with the stock kit. When I got it back, it had a really bad chatter. I took it back to the guy and of course, it wouldn't do it when he was driving. About a month later, I took it back to him and insisted that he fix it because I could not go offroad with it the way it is. He took the whole thing apart and warrantied it and then put it back together. While it was appart he called me in to look at the parts. Since the valve cover was leaking, he said that the chatter was from oil leaking into the bell housing and getting on the flywheel. He also pointed out the even wear on the flywheel and said that it appeared that the clutch was engaging OK. So anyway, he put it all back together, I went home and replaced my valve cover gasket to stop the leak and as you probably guessed, shazam, it still chatters like a muther #%$%%. Here's the question, is there anything else in the drivetrain that would chatter when you engage first gear? My shocks are older, u-joints are OK. Does anyone have a recomendation for a shop in the North San Diego or Temecula area that can give me a second opinion?

[goodtimes]

As he already told you, chatter is usually caused by a wet clutch (as in, wet with oil). The solution is fix the leak(s)--which you have, then, turn the flywheel (resurface it), replace the clutch disk (it has oil on/in it), and pressure plate. Just like getting oil on your brakes...you can't just fix the leak and expect them to be good to go...you have to replace the contaminated parts.