Clutch Pedal Free Play

G

goodcar

Senior Member
Is it possible that not enough clutch free play could cause transmission to jump out of 3rd gear when slowing down. I sometimes notice some slight movement in the shift lever when idling in neutral. I adjusted for one inch of free play when new transmission and clutch was installed. I'm thinking I might need slightly more than it is now. Your thoughts?? Thank you.
 
There has been a lot written about transmissions jumping out of gear. Most of what I have read centers around the shift tower. The little ball at the end of the shift lever wears against the shift forks and the ball wears away. The shift forks wear too. A good thing would be to look up some articles written by Tom Endy or get the Les Andrews book. Also, master the advanced search function on the forum. Another way of searching this forum is to use Google, which in my opinion is better than the forum's built in search feature.

To use the Google search engine, go to google and type your search. For instance, if you want to search this forum for shift tower issues, go to google and type the following:

site:fordbarn.com shift tower issues

Sometimes Google is more user friendly than this search engine. It will, however search the entire fordbarn site, and not just the model a forum.

Cheers,
 
I believe some of the venders sell rebuilt shift towers, and give you a core credit for yours.


If you are not into repairing, is easier and possibly quicker.
 
Also, if you changed the clutch, did you remember those two little shims that go between the block and the flywheel housing on the top two bolts? Those are important and are known to cause the problem if left out.
 
With my experience, when that "little ball" turns into a little cube , it's time for some repair. You can weld the cube round again and grind, or do the replacement option. Either way you'll notice a huge difference.
Marty
 
I'm aware of the other problems that are more likely to cause the transmission to jump out of gear. The transmission/shift tower is a rebuilt one from well known supplier. I was not real happy with it. Sealed main shaft bearings were used but the grease baffle on the front shaft was not used. Instead, looks like some sort of washer was used to maintain clearance. It doesn't shift to bad but was very stiff in the beginning. The flywheel housing using shims was aligned, less than .006 at all four points. My thinking on the clutch pedal clearance was that if there is a problem with the transmission/borderline jumping out of gear, then not enough pedal clearance would be the same as if I was riding the clutch. I will readjust for more clearance and if that doesn't fix the problem then I will try another transmission. If problem remains, then I guess I'm down to something else, possibly misaligned crank on the rebuilt engine. I have already tried a different shift tower. In one of Tom Wesenberg's post to someone else with same problem, he suggested putting transmission in gear and then keeping the tower aligned with cut off bolts and then lifting the tower off to inspect the gear mesh. I tried that but was unable to pry the tower loose. I'm just trying to exhaust all the possibilities before pulling the engine again.
 
If the nose of the input / clutch shaft is worn or the pilot bearing is worn, the shaft can wobble at the forward end. The nose on the input shaft can be welded and turned to size or tuned and bushed to stop the loose fit at the front. If the needle bearings in the cluster are starting to go bad (and many have died before their time) the cluster can cause the sliding gears move out of mesh. Between the clutch shaft and the upper splined shaft there is another of those needle caged bearings. If bad the splined shaft can wobble with the sliders. All things to check.
 
Last edited:
100IH said:
If the nose of the input / clutch shaft is worn or the pilot bearing is worn, the shaft can wobble at the forward end. The nose on the input shaft can be welded and turned to size or tuned and bushed to stop the loose fit at the front. If the needle bearings in the cluster are starting to go bad (and many have died before their time) the cluster can cause the sliding gears move out of mesh. Between the clutch shaft and the upper splined shaft there is another of those needle caged bearings. If bad the splined shaft can wobble with the sliders. All things to check.
Click to expand...

Rebuilt from well known vendor, all new parts. Also, new pilot bearing.
 
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