VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Clutch pedal freeplay adjustment

New owner of a very straight 54 210 4-door with 3-speed conventional trans. I'm wondering if anyone can help me with the clutch pedal freeplay (or take-up) travel. It's far too much in my opinion and doesn't release until just before the floor (slight clashing when selecting any gear from neutral). The manual calls for 3/4" to 1" and I'm at least 2".

The clutch and throw-out bearing are apparently new, but when I looked at the threaded rod as it passed thru the clutch fork, the locknut was nearly to the end with no more practical range to adjust. Turning them up the rod (towards the engine) simply makes the clutch fork have to travel farther for takeup and the pedal obviously runs out of room.

Any ideas what might be happening? Has anyone had to fit a longer arm to get the adjustment right?

Thanks. Dave (NC210).

Could have an incorrect throw out bearing or pressure plate.
May have the short T.O. bearing used with later coil spring pressure plates.
See picture of lubrication of T.O bearing (in the shop manual) and areas to coat with grease. Note the distance between the fork grove and the raised area of the actual bearing. (about 1")....your bearing should look like this. This area is not there with the short bearing.
Does it have a coil spring pressure plate ot a diaphragm as the manual pictures?

Thanks for the advice. I'm on the road now but will crawl under and take a look when I get home.

Any supplier suggestions for the long throwout bearing if necessary(Chevys of the 40's, Natl Chevy Assn, NAPA, etc.?)

Dave

Sorry I took so long in replying to your advice. I was able to take a better look and yes, the previous owner installed a diaphragm clutch, but I'm not sure what t/out bearing I have, likely the short or wrong one as you'd suggested.

Could you take a look at the photos and advise when you or anyone else gets the chance. My concern is that I only see diaphragm clutches advertised (Nat'l Chevy Assn., etc) but at least the fingers of the pressure plates are much stouter, different than the one in my 54.

www.photobucket.com

I can't down load your pictures but with your emai address I can send you some pictures.

Chevgene:

Sorry you're having troubles with the photobucket link. Email me at dwelsford@ashland.comm and I'll reply to you with the pics.

I'm travelling tomorrow so won't be back online until ~8PM Eastern. Thanks.

I was under my 54 this weekend and noticed that there are a couple of notches on the "offset rod" that hold the loop on the "link"(see link below). Could it possibly be on the wrong notch?

It looks like in my car i am missing a return spring and another nut to lock the adjustment from behind the fork. but thats another story. Cesar

check page 5 here for illustration.
http://www.nationalchevyassoc.com/newsletter/Newsletter_July_08.pdf

The pedal rod goes on the outter notch. The pull back spring on the inner. The adjusting rod must have two nuts, one on each side, or it will not stay in place.

54 fierro - you may have just solved my problem. I'm on the road right now but like every gearhead I have the offset rod with me - I was planning on making a longer one out of fine-thread redi-rod if I needed to at a local shop! I think you and Gene have saved my sanity.

From an imaginary line perpendicular to the axis of the threaded portion, the outer end of the angled portion sits about 1/2" further from this line than the inner portion. I had indeed been hooked up in reverse, having the return spring in the outer zone and the pedal link in the inner zone, Reversing them will make the arm sit 1/2" further towards the pressure plate, which is just about what I need to get the free-play back in range.

Thanks so much you two. I'll let you know what I find. What a great chat forum!

Cool, lucky I was just under there trying to figure out some problems of my own.

Here's a picture I took today of mine, i got a return spring on now but need help getting another nut on the adjusting rod. Does the nut just loosely snug up to the fork? If i tighten it up it would square up the rod to the fork. Which is the correct way?
Cesar

Welcome to the forum. Glad to have you with us.

As noted, you need an additional nut to jam and hold the adjustment.

Having the two nuts tightened snug to the clutch fork simply makes the offset arm shift somewhat, so no stress is given to the fork. The pedal rod and spring will obviously float to whatever alignment the tightened rod sits in.

My offset arm is a 1/2" national fine thread shaft and uses a 3/4" wrench on the flats. Finding the correct nuts (not necessarily OEM) shouldn't be a problem.

I located the correct nut and adjusted it per the manuals instructions. It was tough getting it into any gear without a little(or alot) grinding.

I adjusted it down to where there was almost no free play and it seemed to help. The clutch pedal has to be pretty much all the way down to get into gear without feeling the gears on the shifter or having to bang it into gear.

Could this be an indication that my clutch might need replacing soon? I cant imagine i would need to re-engineer the pedal to get more stroke. Any advice?

Cesar

I would suspect that there is something going on with the clutch. Rebuilt parts may have been installed and they never did make for proper clutch action.

54fierro, you are having the exact same issue as me. And Chevgene is right, the aftermarket parts we have installed in our drivelines are likely to blame. Ask the three major 49-54 Chev parts suppliers and they will say there is now only one type of throwout bearing, so the option of changing from a short t/out bearing to a long one is difficult to source. The gap is created by running a flat-diaphragm pressure plate versus a raised plate.

NAPA does stock a 10.4" raised diaphragm clutch kit including t/out brg, pilot alignment tool, etc. for ~$150 and is likely the best option. However, I've just made a quick inexpensive alternative, by taking some 1/2" threaded rod, bending it in the same shape as our offset arm, and cutting it to ~1.25" longer in the straight part to give more adjustment range. It worked perfectly - all you need once it's bent is an angle (disc) grinder to flatten the rod where it passes thru the fork hole and two notches to seat the spring and pedal rod. Let me know if you need photos.

We had such problems back in the '50's when replacing clutch parts. Most mechanics would not use anything but new genuine Chevrolet clutch parts.

That makes sence, I suppose that the raised plate has the curved fingers. When I was under there I did notice that the pressure plate diaphragm looked relatively flat plus the angle of the fork looked as it was already releasing.




For now I will leave it as is until it requires replacing. When I replaced the 54 235 with the 59 engine that is in there now I just cobbled together the best of the used parts that came off both engines. I will look into the raised plate when it come s time to replace them.

When I added the lock nut that was missing to the bent rod it actually gained some adjustment from the change in angle. Thank you all for the info. Slowly but surely I will get this car highway worthy. Cesar

From the picture, the fork angle appears improper. This is usually due to the incorrect pressure plate/throwout bearing combination. Be sure to check that the front transmission bearing retainer has not broken off.
A solution I have used:
1. Remove the external fork linkage.
2. Spray the pivot ball socket with lubricant and snap the fork off the ball.
3. Slide the fork out (remove if possible or stuff it out of the way) check nose of bearing retainer at this time.
4. Using good contact wrench, loosen and/or remove the pivot ball from the bellhousing (have had to make tool for this occasionally I think.
5. Add or install a lock washer under the ball and reinstall. This makes a LARGE change in fork gemetry so be flexible in the thickness of the washer and review the angle.
6. Lubricate pivot, reinstall fork and linkage and readjust.
Jerry

Is this the same for '49-'50s? If so where does the spring mount to the frame?

Never mind, my answer just happened to pop up on CT. It is the same thing for 50.

Well I went to install the clutch return spring on my '50 just as noted and while taking a closer look at my setup it looks like the pedal rod mounted differently than previously noted.
It looks like the pedal rod mounted on the threaded rod in the middle section and not on the end section due to a groove in this location which makes me believe it was this way for a long time:
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w30/MR50STYLELINE/1950042.jpg
So I went and looked at a buddies '53 and his setup was just like this (Could this be right?):
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w30/MR50STYLELINE/1950046.jpg
I tried installing it the way suggested and something just doesn't look right and why the groove in the threaded rod? Also note the way the spring rubs the side mount.:
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w30/MR50STYLELINE/1950048.jpg
Could it of maybe mounted like this?:
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w30/MR50STYLELINE/1950047.jpg
Is there a bushing of some sort that went through the arm where the pedal rod inserts? Mine seems to have alot of play. Sorry so long I just want to install this the correct way.

Your 3rd photo of the clutch pedal linkage is correct.
The flat spot on the offset is for added strength at the bend.
the clutch return spring is in the correct location and the parts book calls for a 6 length X 50 coils spring regular tension.
Your master cylinder needs new bushings for the pedal shafts to remove the loose side motion in the pedal shaft.