32 Project Clutch Pedal Problems Help Needed

OK - I've got it all torn down, ready to come out - I just have to disco the driveshaft and remove the shifter. Before tearing it down though, I played with the linkage and such - the clutch shaft in the bellhousing moves in ways it shouldn't and the clutch pedal would not depress hardly at all. Something is defeinitely not right.

Here are some latest pics showing the linkage setup and the motor ready for removal.

I do believe I might need to reset the clutch pedal as Dick mentioned - it seems that I've got a good amount of travel that I'm not getting in that the clutch push rod location is all ready angled forward when the clutch pedal is "at rest" and is not quite at 90 (or more) degrees (to the rear).

I should have the motor out and separated from the trans tonight ....
 

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What you have isn,t a stock 39 pedal assm.The pedal and shaft looks ok.When in a 39 car the top up hits the floor and down full travel.So the floor angle is the problem.If you are going to redrill. The pedal half way should be were the pin hole is at around 12 oclock or up position.That would be the most travel you will get,and if the lever on the bellhousing is longer then 3 1/2 inch its to long.Shorter equals more travel. LOL.
Never fails just got king pin set and they left out the felt seals,my new 39 tail lights one light missing,my 39 pedal kit new pedal hole were the pedal screws in not taped,and the list gos on.
 
Well, I've got the motor and trans out - sorry, but I can't post pics until tomorrow (memory card PC adapter is at work) - well, without the pics it's difficult to explain but the t-out bearing went too far and "hung" on the end of the sleeve (which is 2 3/4" BTW).

Now, this is what I would call a 3 finger clutch disk (correct term?) that has bolts at the end of the fingers that you can adjust to bring them out (lesser travel) or in (more travel). I don't know if I should mess with these just yet but if my T5 clutch disk is "thinner" and would require more travel, an adjustment of the 3 finger bolts might be in order. Any do's and don'ts on this?

George, thanks for the pedal travel info - I will see where I'm at tomorrow - I'm too pooped right now to do any more without the risk of making mistakes!! Depending on whether the 3 finger adjustment could to the trick, I may not have to mess with the pedal at all.

I certainly do not want to pull it out again - too much work - so I'm torn at the moment.

I'm open for suggestions, gents .....

First pic - you cna see the t-out bearing hung up on the end of the sleeve
2nd pic - all seems well here
3rd pic - this gives you an idea of how short the sleeve is on the shaft but it is a 2 3/4" long sleeve
4th pic - another of the sleeve ....

The way I'm thinking now, is to go to a 10" setup (something I know and have used before), reposition the clutch arm as George says, and put it all back together. What I'm stuck on is whether to move the sleeve up closer to the engine or perhaps add to what's already there ... sound like a plan??
 

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Is this a Speedway kit.The 3 fingers are set a factory and I would adjust them only as last resort.Looks like there is a sleeve and you reuse the old throw out bearing holder,and bearing.I guess you will have to take some measurements.Like the orginal ,the fork is about up when it contact fingers.Is there a spring to return the holder.I wouldn,t over travel the fork,may have to redrill arm lever also. More fun. Good luck
 
The fingers move towards the TO brg as the clutch wears, taking up the free play in the pedal. A thinner disc maynot have compressed the PP enough for the fingers to be in the proper place and the TO brg may have entirely missed the buttons. Also if not compressed enough, you may not have enough to hold the clutch from slipping.
 
Dave72dt said:
The fingers move towards the TO brg as the clutch wears, taking up the free play in the pedal. A thinner disc maynot have compressed the PP enough for the fingers to be in the proper place and the TO brg may have entirely missed the buttons. Also if not compressed enough, you may not have enough to hold the clutch from slipping.
Click to expand...

The t-out bearing shows signs that the fingers did make contact - but, perhaps becasue of the thickness of the the sourced T5 clutch disk, not enough. Check above to the pics I posted and you shoud see the fingers marks.

If I bring the finger bolts out, wouldn't that be the same as adjusting the clutch pedal arm?
 
TomT/Williamsburg said:
The t-out bearing shows signs that the fingers did make contact - but, perhaps becasue of the thickness of the the sourced T5 clutch disk, not enough. Check above to the pics I posted and you shoud see the fingers marks.

If I bring the finger bolts out, wouldn't that be the same as adjusting the clutch pedal arm?
Click to expand...
Tom are you using a gm throw out bearing, there 3 gm throwout bearings short medium and long...
 
Tom, I have done this two ways. The first is like your set up. I would space out the sleeve or get a longer one made. If the arm on the end of the shaft hits, then re-clock it or bend it out like a 32.
I went to a Chevy throw out bearing. The fork for the throw out bearing is steel so I bent the arms and re curved them to fit a chevy bearing. I use a long finger clutch. I believe the PP is 55-58 Chevy or Dodge. It is a B&B. You can get a Long PP with long fingers easy enough. Any clutch place can change them out. As posted, you can get different length Chevy bearings.
Both designs work just fine.
If you take off the front retainer, HOLD the input shaft from coming out too. You sure don't want that.
 
Andy said:
Tom, I have done this two ways. The first is like your set up. I would space out the sleeve or get a longer one made. If the arm on the end of the shaft hits, then re-clock it or bend it out like a 32.
I went to a Chevy throw out bearing. The fork for the throw out bearing is steel so I bent the arms and re curved them to fit a chevy bearing. I use a long finger clutch. I believe the PP is 55-58 Chevy or Dodge. It is a B&B. You can get a Long PP with long fingers easy enough. Any clutch place can change them out. As posted, you can get different length Chevy bearings.
Both designs work just fine.
If you take off the front retainer, HOLD the input shaft from coming out too. You sure don't want that.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply. Reading your post, I was wondering if I could "add on" to the sleeve I already have on the snoot of the T5 or if I will have to take it off first. If memory serves me it went on fairly easily and I used RTV as an adhesive of sorts to keep it in place. If I can get it off, I'll place a spacer in the back to move it out and there will be no falling off again at the end.

I also found out from Krylon32 (Cornhusker) that he sleeves the t-out bearing, not the snoot of the trans which would be perfect. I've asked if he sells this separately. I would like to stay with this setup if I can and not change to something entirely different. I also think the clutch disk I sourced may be too thin - I have had this problem before with my 40 coupe years ago when I first worked with the 10" T5 setup I have in it w/flathead. I may a 9" clutch disk specifically for the 9" T5/flathead app that Dick Spadaro has.

Flatheads are so much fun! LOL!!!! But I would not have it any other way .....
 
If the disk was too thin, the fingers would be further out toward the trans. I would get a new sleeve made. RTV sounds a little risky for me. I made one that pressed on. The spacer behind the bearing is interesting. It is hard to figure out what all is happening.
Before making a sleeve, I would consider using the chevy throwout. All that is required is the bearing,heating the fork and new fingers on the clutch.
I made a hole in my adapter to match the stock inspection cover. Might do that and it looks stock too! It is useful to watch the action.
 
Tom, If you are using the Speedway adapter and there sleeve that goes on the front trans bearing retainer for the release brg to ride on, could be your problem. I used that adapter and had Speedway send me another sleve because the one they send is to short and I thought that might happen. I used 2 sleeves on the brg retainer and it works fine. If you use 2 sleeves make sure they fit together very good so the release brg hub doesn't hang up on a uneven surface.
 
Well, gents, I have found one problem at least and it is my stupidity really. The clutch disk I sourced had rivets that stick beyond the clutch face surface on the flywheel side, anchoring themselves on the inner lip of the flywheel. It was never going to come free no matter how I adjusted the clutch pedal throw. Boy, do I feel stupid! I will order a 9" clutch disk tomorrow from Spadaro. You can almost see the rivets in the second pic - the first pic is of a stock 9" disk on the left and the sourced T5 disk on the right. The stock disk has those rivets but they are inboard.

I was also able to get the sleeve off the snoot of the T5 so I'm going to order Krylon/32's (Cornhusker) t-out bearing that has the sleeve built in to the bearing - another problem solved.

The last item is going to be the push rod travel. Jacksanddeuces lives fairly close by and has modified the clutch pedal before so I will be traveling over by him soon to modify that as he graciously offered to help me out. Thanks, Jack ....

These fixes should close the door on this one - I will post updates and the result as it happens so stay tuned ....

Again, thank you one and all for all your comments, ideas, words of encouragement, etc - now you all have a hand in getting this baby on the road and will be sharing in the huge grin on my face when that happens!!
 

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Tom I think you said the flywheel has been cut and maybe causeing a problem.I have a orginal throw bearing holder,with bearing in front of me.The bearing is 3/4 inch thick.If you were to add a 1/4" spacer would give you that much more closer to fingers.If you have and uncut flywheel from the crank to clutch surface i think yours will be shorter.
 
George/Maine said:
Tom I think you said the flywheel has been cut and maybe causeing a problem.I have a orginal throw bearing holder,with bearing in front of me.The bearing is 3/4 inch thick.If you were to add a 1/4" spacer would give you that much more closer to fingers.If you have and uncut flywheel from the crank to clutch surface i think yours will be shorter.
Click to expand...

Using Cornhusker's t-out bearing that will ride closer to the flywheel is going to do the same thing - I then just need to adjust the pedal throw properly and Jacksanddeuces will be assisting me on that - thanks for your reply!!
 
I got my "proper" clutch disk and Cornhusker's nicely machined t-out bearing retainer with the sleeve built-in is a nice piece. It gives alot more movement than the sleeve would ever have.

My question for the day is, I know the bearing is a slight press fit to the retainer - there's a small lip it should slide over - ow does one get it to slip on without doing damage to the bearing?
 
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