1950 Plymouth Special Deluxe Clutch replacement

[CC7]

I have been nursing my ‘50 Plymouth around with a slipping clutch in 2nd and 3rd and it’s time to replace. I have ordered a new clutch rebuild kit from Bernbaums and been looking at the shop manual but I see a lot related to just clutch adjustment. 

 

Has anyone replaced the clutch on their P20 that can give me some hints/tips or gotchas that might come up when I’m pulling this out or anything that will make the job easier. The car is a 3 on the tree manual all original car. 

 

Many thanks for your help, I do appreciate it. 

 

Chris Chambers

Scotland 

[knuckleharley]

Never replaced a clutch on a flat 6 Plymouth,but have on other old cars,and I can tell you that you need to take a really good look at the flywheel to see if it has grooves worn into it (scored) before replacing the clutch. If it does,take it off and take it to an automotive machine shop to have it resurfaced. If you don't,you will have sentenced your new clutch to an early death.

 

Not 100 percent necessary,but if it were ME,I would also replace the throw-out bearing while I have it apart. Doesn't cost that much,and I see it as cheap insurance because it is a real pain in the butt to have to take your car apart again to keep it from sounding like you have a rod knocking.

 

Do a job once,do it right,and be done with it so you can move on to other things.

[keithb7]

Look at the centre of the clutch hub. It may say engine side or front. Etc. Mine had a front and back side that was to be installed properly for the clutch to work. 
 

Pull all the spark plugs so you can easily turn the flywheel by hand.  When mounting the pressure plate don’t tighten  two screw tight then move around to tighten two more. Apply equal pressure to all mounting bolts equally. Torquing in steps. 
 

A clutch alignment tool makes the job a lot easier. It lines the disc up. However I found a spare tranny input pinion was even better. It worked awesome to line things up. 
 

Yes, now is the time to also replace the throw out bearing. I agree with what was said above about cleaning up the flywheel. 

Edited May 23, 2021 by keithb7

[DJ194950]

Mark the orientation of the drive shaft flange to trans output flange (return to same later) remove the 4 bolts trans flange/to drive shaft. Pry rearward on the drive shaft at the joint. It has spring loading inside the joints to keep tight. Remove shaft. Remove 4 bolts holding trans in and clips/ or cotter pins to drop the shifter rods to trans . remove trans. If you have back up lights-remove wire to the trans reverse switch. Take the the clutch adjustment rod out and remove throwout bearing off the clutch  (held on by spring clips to both side ears) of the throwout bearing carrier. Pull the clutch arm towards the car middle to take it off the pivot ball inside the housing. remove.

 

Remove the clutch pressure cover-6 bolts as I remember. Turn motor as needed to reach them all. As said earlier -plugs out makes it much easier- remove pressure plate and clutch.  Remove the flywheel/to crank bolt/nuts depending on year of motor you have.  A pry bar to move and the hold wheel from moving to get them all -4 to 6 nuts.

Remove flywheel inspect and always should be reground flat and true. Do not let it be  lathe turned.  Often this does not come out well!

 

Reassemble the opposite as above- DO get a proper alignment toll to center the clutch plate. Without one it is damn near impossible to get the trans reinstall.

 

Oh, last comment for now- I did this repair on a 1950 Plymouth 4 dr. about 5-6 years back.

 

Anything I missed? adds/comments from others are welcome, it has been 6 years- ?

 

DJ

 

 

 

[Sniper]

My advice would also include carefully looking over all the shifter linkage bushings and such, get new stuff on order so you can take care of all that at once and be good to go for another 70+ years..

[plymouthcranbrook]

One thing I changed on my 52 was the pilot bushing. Had to buy a special tool and it was the hardest part of the whole job. In retrospect I wish I had not bothered. My clutch works fine and that was 15 years ago.

Edited May 25, 2021 by plymouthcranbrook
Brain contusion

[keithb7]

Good one! Pilot bushing. I did mine too. A $20 puller from Habour Frt is fine. Bread and grease tricks would not work for me. 

[CC7]

Many thanks for all the replies, great info and I really appreciate. I do indeed have an alignment tool and I have a new throw out bearing as well as the clutch kit so I’ll get that done when I’m doing the rest.  Good idea also to look at shifter linkages and bushings, I didn’t think of that.

 

Many thanks once again, 

 

Chris

[squirebill]

I found that a set of "guide bolts" were helpful.  These thread into the bell housing transmission mounting holes and guide the transmission as you lift it onto the guide bolts and then push it towards the engine. They  take the weight of the transmission as your trying to push it forward.  I think mine were 7/16-14 x 6 inch bolts.  Cut the hex heads off and file/grind a pair of flat spots on them so you can use an open end wrench to turn them in and out.  Know I used them on '49 B1B floor shift transmission with engine in truck.  On my '49 plymouth suburban the engine was out of the car when I installed clutch and stubby transmission.  Not sure how much room you will have under your '50. May need to remove front engine mount bolts and tip engine up in the front to give you more room between trans and floor pan to slide trans in.  Regards

[Dartgame]

As mentioned above the pilot bushing should be replaced. Its a pain but necessary for a proper job. Also be sure to get a throw out bearing which is described as an angular contact design. There are two or three throw out bearing designs commonly used. Angular contact bearings outlast the other types by a huge factor based on the number of times the clutch pedal is depressed.

[Sam Buchanan]

7 hours ago, squirebill said:

I found that a set of "guide bolts" were helpful.  These thread into the bell housing transmission mounting holes and guide the transmission as you lift it onto the guide bolts and then push it towards the engine. They  take the weight of the transmission as your trying to push it forward.  I think mine were 7/16-14 x 6 inch bolts.  Cut the hex heads off and file/grind a pair of flat spots on them so you can use an open end wrench to turn them in and out.  Know I used them on '49 B1B floor shift transmission with engine in truck.  On my '49 plymouth suburban the engine was out of the car when I installed clutch and stubby transmission.  Not sure how much room you will have under your '50. May need to remove front engine mount bolts and tip engine up in the front to give you more room between trans and floor pan to slide trans in.  Regards

 

Here is a photo of guide pins (yes, the trans mounts got replaced...).

 

Edited May 24, 2021 by Sam Buchanan

[Sniper]

When I converted my 87 Diplomat to stick I used a set of dog point studs in place of the lower bolts.  This provided the guidance you mentioned, but I didn't have to remove them when I was done, I just put nuts and washers on.

[plymouthcranbrook]

And as has been mentioned when doing a job like a clutch replacement do every wear item while you are there. Good advice for any job that has wear parts in or near the main job. When I wos young and dumb I had a 66 Plymouth with a 383 and a new process 4 speed. The throw out bearing started making noise. So I pulled it apart and replace it. That's all. Two months later I took it back apart to replace the rest of the clutch.

[flathead]

On 5/24/2021 at 5:40 AM, squirebill said:

I found that a set of "guide bolts" were helpful.  These thread into the bell housing transmission mounting holes and guide the transmission as you lift it onto the guide bolts and then push it towards the engine. They  take the weight of the transmission as your trying to push it forward.  I think mine were 7/16-14 x 6 inch bolts.  Cut the hex heads off and file/grind a pair of flat spots on them so you can use an open end wrench to turn them in and out.  Know I used them on '49 B1B floor shift transmission with engine in truck.  On my '49 plymouth suburban the engine was out of the car when I installed clutch and stubby transmission.  Not sure how much room you will have under your '50. May need to remove front engine mount bolts and tip engine up in the front to give you more room between trans and floor pan to slide trans in.  Regards

I did the same for my Chevy, only I slotted the ends with a hacksaw so I could use a screwdriver. 

[DJK]

The throw out bearing from Andy Bernbaum was  noisy, replaced it with a used one that came with my extra engine, quiet!!!!!