Technical Cant get clutch to disengage after replacing clutch

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone here has an idea or has come across this before.

Car: 1931 Ford roadster pick up
Engine: 1940 Flathead
Transmission: 1939 case

My dad and I recently pulled the engine to perform a laundry list of projects which included: rebuilding transmission with original LZ gears, change brake/clutch pedal shaft and bushings, new gaskets and grease on leaky F1 steering and finally change the worn out clutch since when we had the flatty out we saw just how abused it was. Throwout bearing and retainer spring were also replaced. All parts came from Mac Van Pelt (he is great resource and person btw!)

Long story short, we got everything back together car started up. I can shift through the gears just fine with the engine off but am not getting a fully disengaged clutch when the engine is running. After talking with Mac, he said a surefire way to identify clutch as not fully disengaged is to step on clutch pedal for 20 seconds while engine is running and if still unable to get into 1st or reverse clutch is not releasing completely.

I have '32 pedals to what looks like a Tardel '32 repop clutch release lever. I currently have the pedal linkage to 1" freeplay at the pedal and now the top of my clutch release lever is hitting the bell housing which is maxing out the TO bearing travel towards the PP. The clutch release arm is 5.5" long from end to end and I can't seem to find where else to gain more travel.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, I'd love to be back on the road soon since north Texas is finally getting some decent roadster weather plus there's a few shows coming up soon!

Thanks, Ryan

 

Make sure that the equalizer shaft (goes from the frame to the trans)
is not cracked or bent.
I had a cracked shaft on my 40 and it would release the clutch just enough so you
could not shift gears.

 

I have the middle clutch release shaft which doesn't extend all the way to the frame. I believe the later model (bottom example) had an extension that continued on to the driver side frame rail.

 

Way back when I was a teenager, and knew it all. I had clutch problems on my 62 Valiant daily driver. Hard shifting, grinding going into gear, etc. I was a gas pump jockey working nights at a local station. Anyway I got a heavy duty pressure plate, and disc assembly, and when the owner left, a few of my friends and I got the car up on a lift, and changed the clutch assembly. I had closed down the station and continued on the job. Anyway the police called the owner asking what was going on at midnite, and he paid a visit to his gas station. Upon finding us there he threw us out, I got fired, and a buddy had to flat tow me, and my car off the premises. I finished the job the next day. When I went to start it up I pushed down on the clutch pedal, and there was a loud snapping sound. The clutch pedal stayed on the floor. After lifting the hood I saw that the clutch linkage shaft had a broken arm,and that it was probably cracked causing my original problems, and installing a HD pressure plate finished it off. Once again I proved to my self that assuming something can have bad consequences. I ended up without my 2nd job, and a perfectly good used clutch assembly.

 

The 5.5" length on the clutch release lever sounds too long. It should be 4 7/8" center to center. A shorter arm would give you more travel for the same distance of pedal travel. Try taking .5" out of the free play and see if that helps. Do the brake and clutch pedals line up ok?

 

It's probably close to 4.75" center to center. The end to end measurement is 5.5". I can't take any more more free play out since the lever arm is hitting the bell housing.

Ryan

 

Did you compare the new throwout bearing with the old one before the install? Maybe you got the wrong TO bearing.

 

I agree with BJR check the T/O bearing also the thickness of the clutch disk material and the P/P fingers.

 

Didn't put the wrong side of the clutch disk toward the flywheel?

 

guess I'm not the only one who has gone though that? lol

 

This is the cause about 80% of the time.

 

My first thought after extensive online "research" was that I boneheadedly installed the clutch disk backwards. I can see just enough through the inspection port that the collar on the clutch disk protrudes to the rear/pressure plate side which from everything I have seen is the correct orientation.

 

I didn't put a micrometer on it but it appeared very similar in diameter and thickness when held next to each other.