Clutch petal runout

[DCurrent]

Hello gents,

Its been a while. My life is somewhat starting to get back to normal. I'm slowly getting around to working on some of my toys that have taken a back seat lately and that means playing around with my 48 p15.

I changed the oil and trans. Lube and while I was at it in the air I lubed all the grease zirks. So I've had this over the center spring for a few years now and finally got around to installing it. The clutch was rather hard to depress before even though it did have a helper spring. I think it was more for the reason to keep the throw out bearing from dragging. So I was stretching the spring at the same time of depressing the clutch I think. Anyway, I had to re-adjust the linkage between the clutch petal and the bellcrank and also the rod between the bellcrank and the clutch fork. It doesnt seem right to me. I read that the clutch petal should have about an inch of free play. Well after adjusting the petal it seems the clutch actually disengages about an inch and half after depressing the petal. Is this right? Before I reajusted everything it would disengage about half way to the floor. It all feels so differentbecause of the spring so I'm having a hard time figuring out where it should engage or disengage, how ever you put it.

I did try to move the adjustment down some so the clutch would disengage a little farther away from completely up, but the clutch petal would just fall a bit from completely up. So it wouldn't even have the need for the stop. Well I knew that wasn't right so I returned it to the first position. The clutch definately dissengages but im not sure if it has enough room so that it can completely engage. 

I hope I haven't confused you all. How far down does your petal go before disengaging from the clutch? All help and opinions welcome. 

Thanks

Darren Chafin 

[Sniper]

Some generic thoughts I have regarding mechanical clutch actuation.

 

Years ago I had a Dodge Diplomat that I converted from automatic to stick.  When I did that all the clutch linkages, pivots, bushing and such were brand new.   What a smooth operating setup, very similar to what we have in our rides.  I would go thru the clutch actuating system, clean it all up, new bushings at the pivot points, properly lubricated.  I know my 51 needs bushings.  Engine and trans mounts can also affect it's operation, so look at them.  As for the adjustment, the specs you list are similar to what the Diplomat's setup called for.

 

I never use clutch pedal free play as the setting, it's too inaccurate, imo, especially if the linkage has wear.  I would set my adjustment so that I had .060" clearance between the clutch disc and the pressure plate as this is where the adjustment is most relevant.  As for the pedal free play, it was what it was and I didn't care as long as I had that .060" clearance.  What I do not know is if that would be doable on our setups, haven't tried it.  A clutch linkage rebuild is on my list of things to do and once I do that I will see.  I may have to drill an access hole to do this, but I'll do what I need to do.

 

Hope this might help

 

 

[Dan Hiebert]

The pedal free play is engineered so that the release bearing and levers have proper clearance when the clutch pedal is fully depressed / clutch disengaged.  It is adjustable to allow for wear, and is supposed to be one inch.  Assuming everything else is adjusted right, the clutch pedal should be just resting right at the fully up position.  The clutch pedal free play should only be adjusted at the release fork rod adjusting nut.  The over center spring has nothing to do with the clutch adjustment, it is there to kick in and assist with clutch release right when the free play is reached, so the spring should be pulling, not stretching.  The over center spring it is not required to disengage the clutch, only to make it smoother/easier to do.  There is a template in the downloads section for the adjustment tool to set the over center spring correctly.  A tip - it can be made out of cardboard for a single use.