quattro clutch/tranny questions

[Audinamx@aol.com]

Well, I've had the first major failure on the urq in ~10 years ... the clutch
has failed.  Interestingly enough it is not due to the friction material
wearing out ... the pressure plate spring has broken.  My experience with
Audis is that either this or throw-out bearings wearing through the fingers on
the pressure plate are the two primary failure mechanisms ... I've only had
one clutch wear out.  

Anyway, to my question ... I hadn't had time to look into what was causing my
difficulty to get the tranny back onto my '85 4kQ until yesterday ... the
problem is that the tranny input shaft mesed up the pilot bearing on install.
I have never experienced this problem before, and it may have been that I
didn't install the bearing correctly.  I usually figure that the clutch plate
should line up the input shaft well enough to prevent any problems.  Has
anyone else had a similar experience?  Does anyone have any secrets for
success on quattro trannies for successful mating to the engine?  I must admit
that it is good that I am getting to learn on the 4kQ rather than having to do
so on the QTC.  

TIA for any tidbits that you can provide!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)