I have a schafer aluminum flywheel on a 59 A engine, and an open drive truck top loader trans. So here's my problem, everything is hooked up correctly and my throwout bearing is 1/2" plus to the pressure plate spring fingers. The clutch will not disengage. My clutch and pressure plate is 9 1/2". Is there a difference in throwout bearing, maybe the wrong clutch/pressure plate combo? Any help is apperciate.
You don't have the clutch release rod lengthened long enough. Disconnect the pin at the throw out lever, move the lever forward so you can just feel the throw out bearing touch the fingers and the extend the clevis until the lever pin hole is about 3/4 open to the clevis pin hole. Rotate the clutch lever back to match the clevis hole and re insert pin, you should have about 1" free play at the pedal before the clutch disengages now. Not knowing what you have exactly, you may have to make a longer clutch rod.
I still cannot disengage it with the clutch rod dissconnected. I am turning the clutch release shaft with a wrench once it hits the fingers it stops. But i can push the fingers in sepereratly.
It takes quite a bit of leverage to rotate the clutch shaft with a wrench so why don't you try redo the adjustment like I told you with the pedal. Next time take and post a picture it makes troubleshooting rather than guessing a lot easier..If you can individually push the finger down your plate will disengage. Look down the inspection window as a friend pushes the clutch, if the arms move 3/8"-1/2" the thing works. If you are worried that the pressure plate is stuck to the flywheel just push the clutch down and rock the car. Anyway blackrat I'm giving the guy credit for having the smarts to use the correct throw out bearing 32-48 are all the same.
I had a fellow with the same type problem a while back. After trying everything you would normally do to correct it with no luck, I took it apart. I actually found the Disc was in backwards and the center was hitting the Flywheel bolts. Strange but True. The Wizzard
Yup, I had the pleasure of installing the clutch disc backwards once. That was before they printed "flywheel side" on them.
The 11" truck plate and the 9 and 10 inch passenger plates used 1935-48 have different fingers from the 9 1/2" '49 passenger type, I believe. I have never run that particular combo and cannot comment on compatibility with the early Ford/4 speed truck type throwout, but I believe Don Francisco's article in HRM discussing early/late flathead swaps back when they were new commented on this...will try to remember what he said. I believe that he did not give a direct solution--just said to use the Merc flywheel and B&B clutch which fits early throwout. Remember, this is magazine info from memopry, I have never messed with the late Ford passenger clutch in person. The two certainly compatible setups are Merc as mentioned and the 11" truck clutch, too damn heavy unless you have a dump truck. If you don't have a big parts stash easiest might be to have the wheel you own drilled for early 9 or 10 so you have easy to get parts. Will look for the info on PP fingers tonight, HRM somewhere about 1952. Crossing '49th street is always strange...
If it's been sitting for a long time then I would suspect that the clutch disc is stuck to the flywheel. Had that happen to me and have read about several others having the same problem. Some have said that they put the rear end up on jack stands, start the engine in gear and while holding the clutch pedal in, slam on the brakes several times. Others said they just tow the vehicle around with the the clutch in until it breaks loose. If you use the jacked up rear solution don't forget to block the front wheels.
What year 9 1/2 pressure plate??Long or Borg & Beck? 49 and later pass car fingers not right lenght for lg dia t o brg..49-51 Merc P Plate has right fingers.. fingers on your p plate may be hitting Throwout hub as the are longer...
I had one stuck on mine. It would grind no matter what gear you tried to get it in. I was sure it was a linkage problem but mine would run so I put it in gear, pushed in the clutch and started the engine. The disc immediately broke loose and has worked fine ever since. I almost pulled the engine and trans to investigate the internals. From what I read on the flathead forum, a stuck disk is pretty common if it's been in storage for a while.
Ok, here's the word from 1952. I'm continuing the assumption that a 9 1/2" setup on a flathead must be a '49-50 part. Don Francisco, "Installation...Late Engine in Earlier Chassis", HRM July 1952. "Late (Ford) pressure plates are designed gor a throwout bearing smaller in diameter than early bearings and therefor cannot be used with an early bearing" He recommends either having wheel drilled for early Ford pressure plate or usin all '49-50 Merc stuff, which (along with trucks of all sizes) used early Ford bearing. A picture shows levers that are quite visibly longer on the late plate. The small input on the late trans made room for a smaller throwout, possibly allowing more leverage because of longer levers and easier clutching...my guess there. As I said, I don't have any late passenger clutch stuff to see exactly how old bearing hits new fingers.
wbrw32 and Bruce L. suggested the same thing I'm thinking. You have not really described your setup well enough, but you can't use a 49 up pressure plate on an early trans. Pre 49 pressure plates are designed for 1.5" diameter transmission pinions. 49 on are designed for 1" diameter transmission pinions. Take off the trans access "window" plate on top of the trans. Push the clutch in. Are the pressure plate fingers coming into contact with the shaft that the throwout bearing slides on?
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