Hi Guys, Finally got my A pickup started for the first time....wow thats a pretty great feeling after so much work. The trucks looking really good and the motor sounds very strong, but there's a problem. When I tried to shift into a gear parked up in my shop all I get is loads of gear crunching which can't be good. I've adapted the Chevy to the Ford 3 speed through a Cragar adapter. I've used a chevy flywheel and pressure plate with a Ford 3 speed clutch. I made sure there was plenty of travel on the thrust bearing when I made my linkage from the pedal to the gearbox, so I think I can rule that out. Did I make a mistake by using the Chevy pressure plate? Should I have used a Ford 3 speed one adapted to the Chevy flywheel instead? Any help on this one would be greatly appreciated, Thanks.
I did this a while back. I used the Ford throwout bearing as it and the collor fit the trans. The clutch needs to be a short finger Mercury B&B so it will mate with the throwout bearing. The pilot bearing in the crank needs to fit the larger Ford input shaft. Should work fine then
Yep : either obtain the 49-51 Merc clutch cover or have the flywheel re-drilled to take the Ford cover.
I bought a Weber pressure plate and disc from Flathead Jack and had my Chevy flywheel drilled for the Ford PP. Also purchased the correct pilot bearing from Summit, it's listed in their catalog and as I recall packaged by Lakewood. Be sure to get the correct bearing the OD is much larger than the stock Chevy and presses into the crank shaft farther out to align the trans input shaft. Good luck, The FOGGER
It sounds like you did everything right. Sometimes when all is put together and it has not been running yet, The clutch disk will stick to the fly wheel because of rust or crud. Put your trans in first gear, step on the clutch and brake ( the brake is very important ) and then see if the engine will turn over.
There are probably many ways of doing it but the cl***ic way that they did it in the 50s, using all off the shelf stock parts (no machine work) except the adapter itself and the pilot bearing, is to use the 49-50 Mercury clutch plate which bolts right on the Chevy flywheel. Use the Ford throw out bearing to match the Merc clutch fingers/fork and a Ford disc. I've had 2 old Fords set up this way.
i have a Hot Rod Mag from Feb.1956 that shows in detail what you need to do. most of the guys here are right.Tommy dead nuts on the way they did it in the rag.
Hi Guys, First off let wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I've finaly finished wrapping all my presents so I've had time to think about a problem that has re-occured. Acting on the great advice I've had so far I got hold of a 49-50 Mercury pressure plate and amazingly from here in the U.K! Anyway I pulled the motor swapped in the new pressure plate and did a few other jobs whilst the motor was out. With this done the motor was put back in with the hope of me being able to grab some gears.....Unfortunately all I still get is the grinding metal of the cogs in my gearbox. I can feel the throw out bearing engage the forks on the pressure plate but no matter how much pressure I put on the pedal I can't get it to move. I've been thinking that I might have to pull the engine again and space the pressure plate off the flywheel with a few washers to relieve some of the pressure on the clutch plate? Does anyone have any experience of this...Is this even a good solution? I would like to thank again everyone that has given advice on my project, it's been invaluable! Merry Christmas, James.
I have also done a few of the mating of sbc to early ford trannies. I wonder if your ****** pilot shaft needs the obligatory extended pilot bushing that inserts into the chev flywheel to prevent "wobble". Otherwise it sounds like maybe an internal transmission issue.
Pull the little inspection cover off the trans bell where you can observe the T/O bearing and PP levers/forks. Have someone push the clutch pedal down and see what is happening. The T/O bearing ***y. should move smoothly and all 3 levers should move equally. You do have the correct pilot bushing for this swap right? Putting washers between the PP and flywheel is not a good idea and should not be needed. The 49-51 Merc PP has shorter levers/forks in order to clear the trans nose/sleeve the T/O ***y rides on, have seen the wrong levers used and then bind on the trans nose causing release issues.And the disk is installed the right way around yes ??
Hi Guys, I turned up a new pilot bushing on the lathe out of some bronze. It was checked to see that it fitted ok before I fitted it into the flywheel, so I can rule that out as being the problem. I also checked that the new pressure plate fitted over the trans nose/sleeve, as this was the problem before and I wanted to check that I had got hold of the correct part before putting the engine back inthe truck. I also double checked that the pressure plate was in the right way round so I know this to be ok. What I do know is that when I bolted the pressure plate up the forks became very tough to move. As you say John I think I'll take the inspection cover off and have a look to see whats going on. Thanks, James.
If the pilot bush is too long and sticks too far out of the crank , the larger diameter of input shaft can **** up to the bush. Then the input shaft will be driven by the bush instead of the clutch plate, even though the pressure plate is released the input shaft will still be turning .
Eightball. I have a 283 and a ford 3spd. Hildebrant adapter. Chevy flywheel. 50 merc clutch and disc. Had grinding problems. I couldn't get enough distance between cross shaft in trans and clutch pedal. Mine you had to remove linkage, lengthen,then reinstall. I modified it so that I could adjust while it is in the car. Don't over think it. You only need a couple of threads of distance. I've driven it for a year and the preload hasn't hurt the plate or disc.
Hi Guys, thank's for the further advice....Well I've finaly got it to work...I took the inspection cover off and all looked to be ok. Went and had some lunch and thought about it some more and decided to try changing the ratio on the pedal. Tried it again and wouldn't you know, it went straight into every gear no problem at all! As Pastduebill pointed out sometimes the solution isn't that complicated. Well all this resulted in me driving my truck for the first time (if only a few feet) and the first time its moved under its own power in 30-40 years! Thank's everyone for all your help, couldn't have done it without it, James.
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