Bringing an F100 Back from the Dead

I think if you do enough, you will have a 3 month trip.

 

Under the truck again today to install the clutch rod boot. That job is done. Almost.
While tightening all the bolts back up, I noticed quite a bit of lateral play in the bellcrank I made to actuate the clutch master. I put my pedal assembly and this bellcrank on ball bearings when I first built the truck.
So I thought to myself, "Self, let's take that off, pop a seal off and pack it with grease. Once i got the bearing out, chunks fell off it. It seems that a $5 bearing wasn't up to the task!
So, I did a materials inventory to find a way to get 'er put back together today without buying anything, and using what I had on hand.
I had a few oil-lite bronze input shaft pilot bushings, and some round stock. No spare bearing. So I machined the pilot bushings to press into the bore of the bellcrank, and made a sleeve for it to ride on, slightly wider that the bushing, so I could put some "thrust washers" on either side. This way I could tighten the pivot bolt without binding the bushings.
I was figuring on this being temporary. It may only last 20 years or so before its wore out.

 

Simple is often the best.

Will the bushing need lube from time to time? Or, can the bushing material withstand the stress without lube?

Probably have to disassemble it at 5k? miles to determine.

 

It might be a regular maintenance thing. I can say the clutch action is much improved. How long between services? Dunno.
In fact this entire exercise has me second guessing this hydraulic operation scenario. I've been thinking of going back to a Z-bar arrangement to further simplify things. But not using the split nylon bushings, rather using spherical bearings like what is used in high performance shock ends, at each end. Time will tell

 

I would think the oilite bushing will outlast you. I have machined those before and heat makes the oil extract but the friction of the bell crank shouldn't do that. The rod end would be a good choice also. There is a rod end bearing that is separate that might fit your bell crank that could be an option. Never forget that when we engineer something, real world use shows it's strenghts and weaknesses. Maybe a better bearing would have prevented the failure????

 

Ain't that the truth!
All the stuff we try to improve on what the factory did, more times than not, falls short.
A better bearing definitely would have been better. I do have a set of Harley wheel bearings on hand. Double row ball bearings. Pretty stout. The OD is way bigger. I'd have to build a whole 'nuther bellcrank to fit those. But i think the next go-around would be a Z bar without the hydraulics...if it comes to it.

 

For what its worth, the clutch on my coupe doesn't even have a bellcrank. It has a has a slave cylinder that is attached to the bell housing that operates the lever that goes inside of the bell. There is a clutch master on the firewall, and a hose that connects it to the to slave cylinder.
Mine is the hydraulic clutch set up from a 90 Dodge Dakota (I believe all the 90s Dakotas use the same set up), and it has functioned flawlessly for 200,000 miles.

 

A lot of guys do that. On Ol' Furd, I gave this more than considerable thought, as it seemed the simplest approach. Not so simple to implement. The way the pedal cluster is, would have put the master to the right of the brake master. Then there was getting around the booster. So, mounting the master to the side of the frame turned out to be the simplest, however requiring a bellcrank.
I could have either re-engineered the pedal cluster, or replaced it with something else, but that would have complicated things even further