clutch adjustment question

-
trudysduster

trudysduster

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2009
Messages
5,033
Reaction score
224
Location
Corinth, Ky.
I need some advise here. I put this clutch in . McLeod street pro I think. I am not used to the travel. I have not had a 4 speed in a Dart in 40 years. What is the typical travel on one of these. Does this pedal go to the floor. This one doesn't. In my semi, it releases close to the top. I have not got this running but I am not sure it feels right. It seems like this pedal goes maybe 3/4 the way to the floor and stops. what is the proper way to adjust this clutch from the start up. I read somewhere about 1" free play. again, this is different than a truck that I am used to. The rod from the z-bar to the fork. where do I set it. I know a lot of you guys told me to REMOVE the spring from the pedal. I have not done that yet. Is that where the problem is. This pedal does not go to the floor and stay. I did not see a lot of room between the spring coils to put washers. I will probably just cut the damn thing with a cut off wheel. Just want to be sure before I do anything. will removing the spring allow the pedal to go farther or is it supposed to go almost to the floor. someone guide me through this and the adjustment. Thanks,Bill
 
UPDATE: I pulled the over center spring off. adjusted the rod to where I had about 1/4 " play on the rod. That gave me a little over 1" free play on the pedal. I think I need what Chiltons call a clutch fork return spring. I don't have one of those. I am not totally sure where it mounts. Does it mount in the groove on the fork and the groove on the bell housing. Thanks,Bill
 
Hey Bill,
That freeplay adjustment is going to change the first day you drive it anyway due to the disk and flywheel settling in to each other.
So that means that the freeplay will get less quick at first.

If it were mine I would probably fix that "not going to the floor" thing by changing the ratio on the Z bar (But not before I ran it to make sure everything worked like it should.)
It would just bug me that it didn't go all the way down.

The fork return spring does hook into the fork like you suspect, but I'm not sure about the bell housing end you mentioned, as a lot of the setups I have seen have a small bracket off of one of the lower bell housing bolts.
It doesn't really matter where the spring attaches (unless you require factory stock style)
If you can, the best thing to do would be to run it for a bit so the clutch wears in (even just a little backing up and going forward in the driveway) and then take the final adjustments, freeplay and pedal travel on.
Even then, it will probably need another small freeplay adjustment within the next few days of driving.

One BIG no no is to let the freeplay go away completely (very important to always have some) or it will cause the clutch to slip and burn.

Just my own experience in doing sticks.

Hope it helps
 
Your car is a few years newer but this should be similar. The diagram at the bottom shows the return spring detail. If I remember correctly, there's a hole in the bellhousing and a notch in the fork that the spring attaches to. I usually drop my inspection cover and adjust the linkage so the throw out bearing just clears the pressure plate fingers. (like the thickness of a nickel.) tmm
 

Attachments

  • 4sptechindex_clip_image002.jpg
    39.7 KB · Views: 1,559
I ruined a clutch/ throw out bearing when I rebuilt my 273 because I adjusted it with the pedal freeplay and the bearing was riding on the fingers constantly. The bearing failed and tore up the fingers on the pressure plate. I adjusted the new clutch with the bearing to finger gap and haven't had any problem since. tmm
 
That looks like the same diagram that I have in the Chiltons book. I have about a 1/4 " play in the fork down there like the book calls for. The pedal does go to the floor now that I took off the over center spring off. I just ordered a clutch fork return spring from Chrysler part # 02643705 for it. The bell housing has a little notch in it also for a spring it looks like. I didn't have one. That seems to bring the pedal to the top. I think I am close here. WOW, learning a lot on this one.
 
This is what it looks like in mine. It's a '74 dart Sport with all of the factory stuff.
One of the nuts on the clutch linkage is on backwards in this pic.....lol.
The return spring is factory.
It has the factory borg & beck 3 finger clutch, is yours a diaphragm?
I will be installing a diaphragm clutch this spring (centerforce) and am very interested on how it goes with you.
I know i have to remove the over center spring, and i will appreciate any input........
BTW, my freeplay is at 3/4'' and the pedal goes to the floor and the clutch works pefectly as is. It's just a little weak in the ''lock up'' mode.
It's an old used stock clutch set, hence the centerforce upgrade.
I hope this helps you.
 

Attachments

  • 20121220_40.jpg
    61.5 KB · Views: 1,468
  • 20121220_35.jpg
    64.6 KB · Views: 1,451
Dartnut, that is where I have my spring hooked to also on the bellhousing. I just bought a Mopar correct fork return spring from a dealer in Pa. I do have a diaphragm clutch. It is the McLeod pro street clutch. That does help. that is what mine looks like. I just needed conformation as I have not done this in many moons. Thanks for the pics.
 
trudysduster said:
Dartnut, that is where I have my spring hooked to also on the bellhousing. I just bought a Mopar correct fork return spring from a dealer in Pa. I do have a diaphragm clutch. It is the McLeod pro street clutch. That does help. that is what mine looks like. I just needed conformation as I have not done this in many moons. Thanks for the pics.
Click to expand...

You're welcome.
This is off of a ''surivor'' type car that i used the parts on my car as they were originally installed.
It makes me wonder if i need to install a stronger ''screen door'' type spring like i have read before to replace the stock one when doing a centerforce diaphragm clutch upgrade. Other than removing the over center spring, i think this might work as is without replacing this stock return spring for the clutch fork with the diaphragm clutch that i will install. It is pretty skookum on it's own, it takes a lot to move it.......
And thank you, TrailBeast, i try!
 
I just bought a new Mopar factory spring from a dealer in Pa. for $6.60 including shipping. He had 1 left so I just wanted to make sure I had what I was supposed to on this as I had nothing for it going from a automatic to 4 speed. I started from scratch.
 
Im also wondering i have a scatter shield on my demon with a a-833 how in the world can i adjust it no way to use a feeler gauge lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top