It was nice fall day and we decided to take the 32 mordor to the V8 club's picnic at Lake Greenwood,we left home at 8:30 AM to meet up with the 4 others going to the picnic. the trip was uneventfull but when we arrived at the shealter I pushed in the clutch to back into the ****ng space and the clutch would not engage and you all know the sound that makes. After lunch I borrowed a jack and raised the car up enough to adjust the clutch linkage and everything was good. A couple of hours later we bid our goodbys to the guys from the lower part of the state and set out to go home,,, Just when we got to the front enterance of the park I pressed in the clutch and heard a snap and the the clutch pedal went to the floor. Several guys helped push the car to a shady spot and I got the jack again but already knew it wasn't going to be a simple fix,,sure enough the pivot ball for the cluth arm had snapped. Nothing any of us could do this far from home except get on the phone for help and a trailer,,I told all the other guys to go ahead and head for home,,nothing to do but wait. Brenda and I talked about it and there was nothing to get upset about,,it can be fixed when I locate the part. I've been close to 17,000 miles in this car over the past 13 years,,I guess the law of averages finally caught up with me. About 2 hours later my pals Dave and Steve arrived with a trailer and we got the car loaded,, After a long day we finally arrived home around 6:30 PM but due to the way my driveway around to the back of my house narrows and turns sharply we unloaded the car from the trailer and pushed it around behind the house up a slight hill backwards with my wife driving,,all this went well. Then I got in my pickup to pull the car uphill to be able to back the car down into the old shop,,,everything was fine untill I heard a horrible sound,,,like running over a cardboard box ,,,but it wasn't a cardboard box,,it was the front splash apron being crumpled by the towstrap that had slipped from the position,, They ain't all great days,,but I do have great friends and my to do list just got a little longer. HRP
Sorry to hear of the problems, sounds like Murphy has left my place and headed north east. Well, that's hot rodding ain't it, some days are better than others. The bright side is having great friends to help out in times like this. I know you'll someday look back at this and have a good laugh. Grits
Friends with trailers are always on my Christmas card list! Bummer about the damage, good luck with it.
HRP, As beautiful as South Carolina is, How did they ever decide to call it the "Iodine State" Geoffrey
It's a PITA while it is happening but a badge of honor in some ways. One thing for sure you will always remember this trip. The other trips slip into that confusing memory bank of uneventful car shows. You won't forget this one. It happens to us all if we drive enough...it was just your turn. I hope you get it fixed quickly.
South Carolina was called The Iodine State in the late 20's and early 30's because of the large amounts of iodine found in the soil and was coined to help sell produce grown in South Carolina as benifical to good health. It died out after Iodine was added to common table salt. HRP
Damn man, that day makes for more stories, now. Gotta love friends with trailers, and for me, that covers about the last 30 years of ridin' Harleys, too.........hehehehe Glad ya got 'er home. Time to piddle.........
You should have called ... " Have trailer ... will travel " The box was already hooked up. Just finished wiring up the new brake controller in the new truck Friday afternoon.
Thought I would give you a break this time! Whike i'm at it,,,this probably would be a good time to switch the ol' 3-speed ****** out for a 5-speed. HRP
At least you got to spend the day out..some compensation for the breakdown and the unfortunate damage.......some weeks back we were on our way to the Hot Rod Drags and the clutch cable broke no option but to call for a tow and spend the day at home. Hope you get the car sorted and roadworthy soon. . .
If you havent been towed yet.............then you're not driving it enough. These break -down stories always make for fun conversation later when we recant our "hey, remember when" tales and everyone starts laughing. Been on the end of a rope so many times I lost count. Always a good learning experience though. My dad, a long time old used car dealer used to tell me "Thank God, we're not in the used air plane buisness"
Was that clutch ball bracket a gennie Ford or a reproduction? The originals are machined steel forgings. That photo looks like it may have been a defect in the part which was there from the get-go and worked until it popped. Either a lamination in a forging or a coldflow thing in a casting.
Doesn't look like either from here. It looks like there is a weld bead on the fractured end of the bracket. Of course that's not near the dramatic answer as a delamination/ structural integrity/ cold flow/ Alice in Wonderland kinda explanation is it? Frank
Frank,looks can be decieving there is no weld but appears to have had a crack in it before I finally broke. HRP
Hotrods and old cars are fun... but it is the friends and people you meet that really make them great... and It is nice to have a friend or two that has a trailer.....
Couldn't you have driven it anyway? Bintheredunthat, start it in gear and shift by RPM. A little hard with no synchros but still doable.
Got the replacement parts from **** Spadaro, ordered on monday got it wenesday. I should have the clutch problem repaired saturday,,the front splash apron will be removed and beaten into submission and repainted soon. HRP
You can drive fine with no clutch by just varying engine speed at shift time, but you can't get going again once you stop...you continually have to ask yourself whether you dread death or walking home more as you approach obstacles...
We're not trying to say you did it wrong, just another option (no trailer available). That's the way the Big Rigs shift. I once brought a Peteerbuilt back from San Fran with no clutch.......and 23 city deliveries.
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