Hi guys,

Yesterday I was driving my truck and all of a sudden, I could not press down on the clutch pedal. I could only press about half way and could not shift into any gears. No matter how hard I tried I could not engage the clutch to shift into any gear. Luckily, I was able to pull over. I looked underneath the truck and did not see any loose bolts in the shift linkage that attaches to the side of the toploader, no loose bolts in the bell housing, I also made sure that the equalizer bar was not loose. The clutch release rod was not broken or damaged, and it was making contact with the clutch fork. I was thinking that maybe I need to do an adjustments on the release rod but the two jam nuts are adjusted as far as they can. When I tried to adjust the jam nuts, it caused the clutch pedal to fall straight to the ground and not come up. I reverted the adjustment on the release rod back to what it was originally. The only thing I noticed that was odd was that there were two bolts under the clutch fork that have two nuts that were semi loose. These bolts are part of the clip where the clutch fork rests on. The clutch, pressure plate and flywheel are only 3 months old. I got them new from NAPA so I'm positive it's not the clutch. I think somewhere an adjustment needs to be made but don't know where. I have attached some pictures of how the components were originally. I noticed some transmission fluid where the transmission connects to the driveshaft and also one the speedometer.

 

3 speed toploader, do you mean the 3 on-the-tree manual trans, or is it this: RUG SR-OD Single Rail 4 Speed Overdrive.

Here's the SR-OD's shift lever parts.

 

I believe so. Everything from the picture you posted matches mine. The only exception is that my lever's shift **** only has 1, 2,3, and O/D in the markings.

Btw, thanks for the quick reply.

 

Upper pic: Here's the pic of the SR-OD's internal parts.

Center & lower pics: 1977/79 F100/350 clutch/brake pedal parts.

1978/79 F150: With the SR-OD, you either have a 300 I-6 or 302.

 

Yes sir. I have a 302. I believe those pictures you posted are from the Ford shop manual. I have that same manual. I was reading in the manual about how to adjust the clutch release rod and it mentioned that both the jam nuts are to make contact with each other. However in the pictures I posted the jam nuts are separated by the equalizer bar. This is how my adjustments has always been but I wonder if its wrong.

 

Pics are from the 1973/79 Ford 100/500 (Light Truck) Parts Catalog, available to the general public on a C/D from hipoparts.com

 

I think I may have pinpointed the issue. I noticed that the bolts on the clutch fork pivot were loose. I tried to tighten them but I noticed that it was never going to tighten. When I removed them I saw the threads were stripped. So I bought some high grade bolts, nuts and lock washers. I also put some blue loctite on the bolts.
I have replaced the new bolts onto the pivot but was wondering if anyone knew torque specs? I'm guessing it's no more than 15-20 ft/lbs.

I put a picture of the old bolts and the location I am speaking of.