Clutch Woes... Anyone have a clue? UPDATE- Fixed!!

[Trojan Man]

Alright, this is a little hard to explain but try to follow.

About 5 times a day my clutch gets weird on me. What happens is this. The pedal will suddenly feel very different, like it may start to get more stiff, or could get easier to push, or sometimes the pedal will gain throw or lose some throw. Then, the pedal will go CLICK and bamn drops to the floor and STAYS there. I have to pick it back up with my foot, it then catches, and it will be OK for a lil while until this all happens again. Now I know this is probably the auto tensioner acting up, but I don't understand why it would stay on the floor. Also sometimes, I'll come to a stop, clutch in, and the clutch must still be grabbing slighty because the car shutters. If I 'Pump' the clutch a few times, the pedal feels different and then it's ok for a while.

So my only thoughts are a screwed up clutch pedal mechanism or perhaps a stretched cable? Maybe a bad TOB? Has anyone had this kind of problem?

Thanks

<small>[ March 03, 2003, 04:26 PM: Message edited by: HydroStream6 ]</small>

 

[Trojan Man]

One more observation... when all this is going on, I know that sometimes the clutch isn't fully releasing because it's very hard to move among the gates. But if I pump the clutch (sounds weird being a cable clutch huh) the pedal usually stiffens and gains some throw, or it goes BANG down to the floor... then it's ok.

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

HydroStream6:

So my only thoughts are a screwed up clutch pedal mechanism...

You got it...

the "self adjusting" clutch pedal mechanism seems to have a mind of it's own. Do you have a Helms manual? That thing is pretty tricky...

 

[DJ SHO]

Adam, sounds like the auto tensioner, but maybe your TOB is showing signs of wear. shrug

 

[fred79]

it sounds like what happend to a truck i drove for a delivery company it also was a ford and it turned out that one or more of the clutch springs had come off and in the right position the clutch pedal would fall to the floor, and the clutch wouldn't grab until i picked it up off the floor with my foot. they had to tear down teh clutch put the springs back together and replace.

for a sho i hope that not it for your wallets sake.

 

[Bizzy]

I think it's a bit more than a TOB. I'm no clutch expert, but it seems to me that if the tensioner is not functioning properly it would cause premature wear on your TOB and PP. Again, no expert here, but I'd get it checked out pronto Adam. I would like to see you at some of the meets this summer so get busy man.

Oh, and I'll take 4 tomatoes pleeeze...that'll be good, thank you. (still laughing )

 

[Trojan Man]

Well I'm planning on using my tax refund (if it's enough, hehe) to get a new custom clutch anyways with all the fixin's. It'll only take me a day to put it in so no worries about me not shoing up this season I just wanted to get others opinions on what this could possibly be.

And yes, I'll take a small-large with mushrooms and olives, PLEASE.

 

[Trojan Man]

Well I finally got around to investigating this problem. Pulled the clutch pedal assembly out of the car with some help from a friend of mine (I'm 6'3" 270lbs and he's about 5'8" with half the weight, so he could get under there a little easier, lol). Anyways, someone must have pulled this assembly apart before and put it together wrong. The adjuster gear and spring were put on backwards, therefore it would only grab due to gravity, not due to the spring acting on it. This is why it would sometimes work and sometimes get flakey.

But anyways, all is well now. The car feels TOTALLY different, with this fixed and some synchromesh in there, it shifts like a Bimmer (well, maybe not quite...)

Take care

-Adam

 

[sdpatt]

Man, that's a lot easier than replacing a clutch.

 

[Speedy_91_SHO]

I 2nd that sdpatt, also much much much cheaper, especially if yur help was free thumbs_u . I have to have my clutch and TOB replaced , going to shop to be fixed, preparing to be bent over.

<small>[ March 03, 2003, 10:43 PM: Message edited by: Speedy_91_SHO ]</small>

 

[Dave Ladely]

Might get a kevlar disk and ShoNut throw out bearing which might last the life of the car.