Clutch Pedal adjustment problems

[RI-SHO]

My clutch has been recently replaced from a 25K CenterForce race one to a Fibertuff 9puck with currently 350miles on it, now when I first drove it and pulled the clutch pedal up itself I heard it click once.

I have been told once it clicks one time or more, that is all the adjustment needed but my clutch pedal sill makes the clutch grab very high like it did with the already worn in CenterForce.

Now with a new clutch with more material shouldn't my clutch be grabbing with the pedal down low and not about 75% up on its full spring return? Could my cable be stretched and be the reason why if I don't slam the clutch pedal to the floor it'll cause my MTX to grind even at 0MPH going through the gears??

One other problem I have noticed is the violent clutch chatter I get when taking of at idle or 1000-1500RPM, I don't know whether its the clutch being too grabby with my 8lbs flywheel or a rotten egg clutch or the stiff EXTREME SHONut motor mounts??

 

[v-tec killer]

That is funny! I now have 15 miles on a 8 lb flywheel and the 9 puck clutch. No chatter yet, but a high peddal (panamal red ). My TOB did not fit as well as I would have liked it to (stock replacment fit much much better). We shall see...

 

[RI-SHO]

Did you use a Ceramic TOB? That is the one I used from SHONut, let me know if you get some clutch chatter soon enough mine didnt start till around 100miles.

 

[v-tec killer]

Did you use a Ceramic TOB? That is the one I used from SHONut, let me know if you get some clutch chatter soon enough mine didnt start till around 100miles.

I used the ceramic one from midwestsho (I think it is the same one). Did your sleeve on the TOB fit tight? Mine did not!...

 

[Mike Kopstain]

Chatter is going to be an issue with a grippier clutch combined with a lightweight flywheel.

A note to you two also: Make sure you are religious about the break-in period. The clutch needs some light driving to mate with the steel insert. If you don't break the disc in properly it will not be forgiving.

Edian, I would stop driving your car until you can get that problem resolved. I'm afraid you're going to glaze that disc.

It's hard to check with the transmission in the car, but I suspect a bent shift fork. Engage the parking brake, have someone manually engage the clutch under the hood, and then run the car through the gears. As you are, I am hoping this is just a bad tensioner as seems to be common.

 

[RStalveyARFF]

New clutches grab high, worn clutches grab at the floor

 

[SHOguy 92]

My clutch is relativly new and sometimes I get a grind into 2nd or 3rd gear, but after the cars been warmed up it seems to stop. I'm wonder if the pedal needs to be adjusted to engage the clutch more, how do I go about adjusting this?

 

[Blue-By-U]

Everyone that has the 9 puck Fibertuff will experience chatter, regardless of flywheel.

 

[masho95]

One other problem I have noticed is the violent clutch chatter I get when taking of at idle or 1000-1500RPM, I don't know whether its the clutch being too grabby with my 8lbs flywheel or a rotten egg clutch or the stiff EXTREME SHONut motor mounts??

Yeah the clutch chatter is to be expected with that setup. I'm running the exact same setup and I also have the chatter. I've got a little over 10K miles with that setup and I've noticed that the clutch still releases and grabs real high up in the pedal travel. If you are grinding gears like you described I'd be more apt to look into a tranny problem. If the pedal is grabbing high that's the point where the clutch disc is being released. If you keep pressing the clutch to the floor the disc should be farther away from the flywheel and thus easier to shift, then as if the clutch was releasing near the floor.

 

[RI-SHO]

I doubt it is the shift fork because Beth(bizzy) hereself inspected this MTX before she brought out to me to pick-up from Fred, i'm leaning towards crooked install of the #16 of 20 SHOrt Shifter I put in, i'm thinking I did not cut out the hole in the unibody straight enough so when I put the shifter in place the linkage went off by just a little.

Also she did install new blocking rings and I made the dumb mistake of using the sythentic GM Sychromesh instead of stock ATF.

Will a 1000miles of easy driving under 4K be enough of a light break in?

 

[masho95]

I doubt it is the shift fork because Beth(bizzy) hereself inspected this MTX before she brought out to me to pick-up from Fred, i'm leaning towards crooked install of the #16 of 20 SHOrt Shifter I put in, i'm thinking I did not cut out the hole in the unibody straight enough so when I put the shifter in place the linkage went off by just a little.

Also she did install new blocking rings and I made the dumb mistake of using the sythentic GM Sychromesh instead of stock ATF.

Will a 1000miles of easy driving under 4K be enough of a light break in?

Try flushing out the Synchromesh and run regular ATF. I know that stuff is expensive but it's worth a shot. I highly doubt it's the Short shifter but it's possible that it's not allowing the transmission gear selector to fully select the gear you want.

 

[AutoSHO]

New clutches grab high, worn clutches grab at the floor

I'm sorry, but thats bass-ackwards.

As you wear the clutch disc, it gets thinner. Thus, it will disengage with less pedal travel (higher on the pedal's travel) than a new, thicker disc.

With the SHO, or any vehicle with an automatic adjuster, the clutch should grab in the same place more or less throughout its life as long as you lift the pedal once in a while.

 

[RStalveyARFF]

but what fails more than anything on the clutch? The PP. The PP fingers wear, requiring more travel to get the same release effort as new. I've installed about 30 or so clutches on SHOs, and every one of them does the same thing new: grabs high. If you self-adjust the self adjuster the pedal will grab high as well. Remember the self adjuster has gears, and there needs to be a certain amount of wear before the ratchet will grab the other tooth. Ask anyone that has a clutch going out and they will most likely say that they need to depress the clutch pedal fully to the floor for a full disengagement. And in my time working on SHOs, I've seen one come in with a fully worn clutch disc. Every other one was a worn PP or PP failure.

 

[RI-SHO]

Guys I found out my problem, for some reason I looked over the fact that one of my P/S rubbers hoses going to the cooler went between my shift fork and clutch cable and is being pinched by the shift fork when I go to press the clutch pedal down into the ground.

I will be removing the cable tommorrow and moving the P/S line totally out of the way and enjoying my grind free shifting.

 

[RonPorter]

I'm sorry, but thats bass-ackwards.

As you wear the clutch disc, it gets thinner. Thus, it will disengage with less pedal travel (higher on the pedal's travel) than a new, thicker disc.

With the SHO, or any vehicle with an automatic adjuster, the clutch should grab in the same place more or less throughout its life as long as you lift the pedal once in a while.

That's what I found. I just had a new stock clutch installed yesterday, and the first thing that I noticed was that it enagaged closer to the floor than the clutch that it replaced. The old clutch was a stock Ford, also.

I have never had the adjuster click over all the years that I've had MTX SHOs, but I never worried about it, as I've always gotten great clutch life.