53 Ford Clutch Linkage Woes

[richard rink]

Several months ago I bought a 53 Victoria. The clutch worked fine but the engine needed rebuilding. I pulled the engine, following instructions in the shop manual which described disconnecting the clutch equalizer arm and its bracket from the bell housing attachment. That allowed the arm and clutch release rod to hang down. Engine came out without difficulty.

Following rebuilding I reinstalled the engine this past weekend and reattached the equalizer arm, bracket and adjustable clutch rod. I noticed that the equalizer arm seemed "wobbly" or loose at the point where it connects with the bell crank. (The bell crank is connected by linkage to the clutch pedal.) To my disappointment when I pressed on the clutch pedal the bell crank moved forward as it should but there was no engagement with the equalizer arm......consequently there was no force transmitted to the pressure plate, etc. No "clutching" is possible.

With finger pressure I am able to rotate both the bell crank and the equalizer arm independently of one another. This shouldn't be the case; they should move as one, but it's not at all clear what is broken (?) or disconnected. Unfortunately, the critical linkage occurs underneath the steering box and direct inspection is impossible. I have a diagram of the components in the assembly but the manner in which the bell crank and the equalizer arm are connected is not clearly displayed.

I have not been able to locate any literature about this issue. Any knowledge and/or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Richard

 

[APDAVE]

Check on Van Pelts clutch 52-54 assy drawing shows all parts . maybe the clutch peddle was down when you assembled the linkage! Dave

 

[Barlea]

I think there's supposed to be two halves of a bushing that fit around and "capture" a pivot ball and then slide into the tubular part of the linkage to make it all wobble free. This all fell apart on my '53 Meteor one night about 50 years ago when I was a bit beered up so my recall is a bit hazy and this may not be the problem, check around where you pulled the engine....

 

[Bob C]

This is from Van Pelts site.

Bob

 

[scrapiron]

I think there's supposed to be two halves of a bushing that fit around and "capture" a pivot ball and then slide into the tubular part of the linkage to make it all wobble free. This all fell apart on my '53 Meteor one night about 50 years ago when I was a bit beered up so my recall is a bit hazy and this may not be the problem, check around where you pulled the engine....

It's been a looong time,but that was my first thought too,,,

 

[richard rink]

Thank you for the observations and suggestions. I'll be looking into the "issue" again this weekend. The Van Pelt diagram is better than the one in the Shop Manual. Access to the junction of the bell crank and the equalizer arm is a real challenge.
Richard

 

[51 MERC-CT]

Another view.