Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F wrote:
The dowels locate and support the pressure plate in shear, with the bolts only as a clamp.
I thought that dowels were only there for alignment, and that the clamping force of the bots (or more precisely, the friction between the pressure plate and the flywheel, which is a result of the clamping force) was completely responsible for carrying the torque loads from the pressure plate to the flywheel. Seriously, I thought there was -zero- shear load on the bolts or the dowels, and if the bolts were ever loosened enough that they (or dowels) were carrying a shear load, the assembly would shake itself apart in a few thousand revolutions.