Inside the Gear Actuator...

Most people are aware of what the actuator does, but few are aware of how it does it.

The principle of the actuator is to automatically push the clutch release arm (and hence clutch) to remove drive from the engine to the gearbox.
This action is simply taking the place of a clutch cable and your foot in a conventional set-up.

The actuator motor is held on with 2x T30 torx bits.
These will be held on extremely tight as the actuator is typically a non-servicable item.





Once these have been removed, you need to release the locating bracket by pushing up, and pulling the locating lug out. Again this will be on very tight.



The actuator motor is now free.

You can see the helical gear on the end of the motor shaft gives uniform and consistant control over the actuator movement.

This gear on the end of the shaft connects into an arc gear mounted in the main unit.
This pivots on an axis creating the linear movement.

Click to zoom.



The actuator pin is secured on a simple balljoint.
Pull hard to remove. You can see the reason for this is to take up and small deviations in the path due to the arc angle taken by the actuator cog.



Remove the rubber grommit to see inside.

When adjusting the clutch, the star (and winstar) machines have the ability to adjust the position of the actuator by decimals of a millimeter.
This is achieved by utilising a series of tiny steps in the gear on the end of the motor shaft.

Click to zoom.