laynrubber

I sold my 52 2 weeks ago, bitter sweet and still a little remorse but it did not fit our requirements anymore. I had done A LOT of work to that darn car in the 16 years we had it. Engine rebuilt, front end rebuilt, disc brakes, dual system, installed an overdrive (too many times actually) lots of clean up, 12 volt conversion, adjusting, tires and brakes, exhaust and lots of little things. Learned lots about that line of cars, all the improvements were meant to keep the car and it was suppose to be my wife’s car but it wasn’t fitting her driving style (her right foot is pretty heavy) and it was a car that needed tinkering. Last year I bought her a 69 Dodge Dart that I think better fits her (it broke last summer serious so it fits my theme). With the Plymouth gone there is room now to take over ownership of my Dad’s Little Red Express. The Plymouth is now owned by a young guy with a young family and he seems pretty keen to use the car, I gave him a break on the price to help get into this hobby. I told him about this website and maybe he will show up here. Thanks for all post answers in the previous years….this certainly has been the place to be if you have a broken Plymouth.

My picture files are apparently too large so I had to crop some. Trying for maybe a salt flats image….

Earliest I have this car out and after driving it to work this past weekend I thought I would go down and do some doughnuts on the ice

Not big leaks but I think it shows evidence of small leaks…maybe sweating. As mentioned above , notice any loss of fluid. Maybe not noticeable. A pressure test would show. I have removed the rads in the past and pressured them up to like 3 or 4 psi and I had a tub or big drip pan that the rad fit in I could watch for air bubbles

This car !!! So it has sat all winter, I go to move it this week and inching it out of the garage same thing happened as last fall. Clutch pedal goes to the floor, lurches forward now because the clutch is fully engaged. Jam my foot on the brake to stop the lurch. I already know what has happened. The fork of the release bearing has slipped one side off the throw out bearing this losing the ability to disengage the clutch disc. Attached is a picture of the correct assembly. The clips should “hold” the fork ends on the throw out bearing. It seems I can rotate the throw out bearing on the trans shaft (not easily) and that moves it enough to rotate one bearing clip out of the fork recess. This time when the pedal went dead to the floor the engine was running and one fork came off the pad of the throw out bearing. Any ideas ? ?

An excellent journey and best in an old car, mechanical issues not included. No doubt those issues added to stress but the highs must have been better than the lows. Thank you for the photos.

I hoist my mug in celebration tonight….I hope. Going for a snowy test drive in a bit. I will either love the car again….or ???

This is the fixed picture, the broken picture had the fork not riding on the flat spot of the throw out bearing. Must have turned or became misaligned while installing the gearbox. Those clips were difficult to align with the clutch fork I recall.

UPDATE …… After pulling the bell housing lower cover I can easily see now that the throw out bearing came off its seat on the clutch fork. So the pressure plate forks are fine it is the throw out bearing out of place and amount of throw was not enough to move the forks. There are the 2 spring clips that help hold the fork ends to mating surface on the t.o bearing and when I was installing the gear box those clips were problematic. I loosened all the linkage and can manipulate the fork into position and I can get it all back into place with some bent pliers and some bad words thrown in. Whewww

Mr P, the pedal is up off the floor as there is a large return spring holding the pedal up. The clutch disc is fully disengaging the engine from the transmission, I need to confirm this when I pull the bell housing cover off Saturday but from what is see through the bell housing inspection hole yes. The car rolls freely in neutral. I guess I should and can confirm the engine and trans are disconnected by putting it in gear and seeing if it still rolls….Saturday I will. ‘That is indeed weird to have those 3 fork arms stuck as I am imagining because there is tremendous spring tension on that pressure plate and maybe something is broken inside there. I am hoping the removal of the lower bell housing cover will give me a clear picture. The pedal has no resistance other than return spring tension, there is no resistance of the throw out bearing moving the pressure plate springs. ‘There was no bang, no noise prior to this, the car stopped being powered in reverse backing off the hoist, things felt weird I hit the brakes and shoved the clutch in. I should have trouble shot it more in that position but I regret I did not. The pressure plate and disc were new about 1500 miles ago. My first thought was my $2100 R10 slipped out of reverse and it failed again…..once back on the hoist I could se the forks arms stuck forward and the throw out bearing sliding as I moved the linkage. I will open this up more on the weekend and give an update as I dig into it. (Going to make it easier mentally to put this car up for sale in the spring as I am done messing with it)

No there is 1500 miles on this set up, I drove it with no reverse for a couple big trips then figured reverse is a handy feature so removed the gearbox and overdrive. Had it repaired then reinstalled last month. Just getting around to finishing the install and I thought a test drive last night until…..the pedal went to the floor and the car stopped moving.

Thanks for the ideas, I know my linkage is all good. What I see is the clutch disc forks are pushed forward, the throw out bearing slides freely fore and aft and when it slides foreword THEN it touches the 3 arms of the pressure plate. The 3 arms are stuck in the “clutch plate release” position. My thought is maybe….oddly, that the linkage was misadjusted and when I stepped on the clutch pedal it pushed the 3 arms too far and they jammed ? I did have the linkage adjuster backed off when the gear box was out. This weekend I will heat the garage up and pull the bell housing cover to see if I can get something in there to snap the pressure plate arms back.

I swear this Plymouth is going to be the cause of me drinking…. So the transmission was recently installed, ready to move the car finally off the hoist after 2 years. Fired it up tonight, and started to back it out of the garage, YES BACK IT OUT (after the money I spent reverse had better work). Car drove 6 feet back and then the clutch pedal went to the floor ! So back on the hoist …. Pushing the clutch pedal results in all the linkage working, the throw out bearing slides proper but doesn‘t move the 3 forks. The 3 forks are in the release position already. What has happened ?! I assume I get to remove the gearbox AGAIN !

I have a similar set up as described by you as well, aluminum Champion rad with a pusher fan. Pusher has curved blades, yes I can hear it at idle but I don’t mind the noise. Makes it sound like it is moving lots of air : ) I only need my fan on in stop and go traffic or low speed on a hot day. I did a 1200 mile highway run in the low 30s (90 F) without a problem, hit the fan when I would come into small towns and off again once rolling. Not sure the actual temp as the gage just say TEMP but I did probe once to see where normal was and so far it stays there. My picture is too large to post and I don’t know how to resize it.