Brazing brass to spring steel

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I'll list my project to better help all understand what is being done.For my car I use a hard to find clutch fork.  Most of what I source is rather worn and I'm attempting to conduct repair work on a logical basis unless otherwise determind to be a bad idea here.  The back of the clutch fork has a spring steel retainer to keep tension on the back side of the bearing.  Unfortunatly this spring will need material as the surface area is very thin or some cases worn through leaving a hole.  My question is this: due to the properties of yellow brass having half of the friction coefficient of steel, would it be safe to use and reliable enough to adhere properly to the spring steel?  The brass alloy will act like a bearing surface without lubricant and temperatures of parts can range from freezing to upwards of 250* for the application it will be subjected to.  Will I also have to concern myself over thermal expansion of the two alloy metals?
Reply:Originally Posted by Swagman00I'll list my project to better help all understand what is being done.For my car I use a hard to find clutch fork.  Most of what I source is rather worn and I'm attempting to conduct repair work on a logical basis unless otherwise determind to be a bad idea here.  The back of the clutch fork has a spring steel retainer to keep tension on the back side of the bearing.  Unfortunatly this spring will need material as the surface area is very thin or some cases worn through leaving a hole.  My question is this: due to the properties of yellow brass having half of the friction coefficient of steel, would it be safe to use and reliable enough to adhere properly to the spring steel?  The brass alloy will act like a bearing surface without lubricant and temperatures of parts can range from freezing to upwards of 250* for the application it will be subjected to.  Will I also have to concern myself over thermal expansion of the two alloy metals?
Reply:Pictures?  Well, Ok if it helps.Pic one here shows the wear points on the back of the fork in the areas in question with the spring steel prongs.  On the far right the spring steel retainer on both inside portions show where the wear occours.This my after photos once the work was done when I brazed brass on the worn areas.  This first one shows where the the brass brazing was welded on (notice the raised "lumps" at the end of the fork)This is with the bearing in from an angle......and this is looking at it from the top.Does it look like this will work as intended?Last edited by Swagman00; 11-12-2011 at 04:29 AM.
Reply:Those throwout bearing forks aren't expensive enough for me to try and weld on the spring steel, knowing that I might have to go back in, remove the tranny and do it all over again.  On the other hand, once the throwout bearing is on the transmission snout, I don't think those spring lips do much except keep the bearing from rattling in the fork.Miller Syncrowave 350Millermatic 252/ 30A spoolgunMiller Bobcat 225g w/ 3545 spoolgunLincoln PowerArc4000Lincoln 175 Mig  Lincoln 135 Mig Everlast 250EX TigCentury ac/dc 230 amp stickVictor O/AHypertherm 1000 plasma
Reply:Once installed there is no where for the bearing to go it would be a solution.Don't think a repair is really a needed event.What is the fork from?V
Reply:I thought of welding, but I brazed it instead of welded it.  The low melting point for this application was ideal as it would have prevented loss of the "memory" of the steel due to high carbon content it already has.I really would have sourced a fork that wsn't worn, but nobody makes them new.The fox 2.3 Ford Mustang uses a clutch fork and bellhousing on their T5 transmission totally different then the 5.0.  Most people upgrade to the V8, but I went the 2.3 Turbo application (research SVO) and these forks are in high demand when they wear out.  This was my only option and once I mentioned it to  couple of guys on the forum, thay asked if I could make more.Last edited by Swagman00; 11-12-2011 at 11:37 AM.