Some of you may recall that Brandonpdx was nice enough to send me a couple of clutch switches that didn't quite fit his truck properly. I installed the OEM Ford one, and because my pigtail was cut and spliced together I bought a new OEM Ford pigtail and redid my clutch wiring so that I could attain factory high idle. Which has been working great. But, the other day my truck didn't start. Pushing the pedal in and everything, nothing. But I reached down and grabbed the clutch pedal switch and twisted it and it locked back into place like it popped out of its socket or something, and it worked great, truck fired right up. I'm just curious because, I think I have mine on upside down but, that was the only way it fit properly. I recall looking at a few pictures that a few FTE members posted and if I recall correctly the plug that hooks into the clutch switch came off the bottom. Mine comes off the top. The switch is clicked into place and everything, but it only would do so upside down if I'm correct. It also seems that the pedal bottoms out on the clutch switch before hitting the pedal stop. So I think that's why the switch bumped out of place. From pushing the clutch in too far and it popped the switch out of its socket. Here's a picture of the way mine is set up. Is this upside down? If so I must need a different model switch. Or move my seat back and not push the pedal in so far....



You can also see, that the switch is set directly over the centering tab like it appears it should.

I also thought that maybe the auto parts brand hydraulic parts I used for the clutch could have the centering tab on the wrong side or, maybe it was installed upside down. So I was maybe like a few pictures on which side the centering tab is on some of your trucks. If it's on the top or the bottom. Thanks 👍

 

That's the way mine is.

 

Interesting. Maybe the bushings in the pedal are just wore out and that's why the pedal is hitting the switch. Or it could be the aftermarket master cylinder rod is the wrong length. Or maybe it's because I removed the big return spring. I don't really know. I can't think of any other reason why the pedal would hit the switch.

Well either way, I am glad that the switch is on the right direction, thank you for verifying that.

 

Tristan, based on some pictures I took in August of 2018 when the master cylinder retaining clips broke which raised the clutch pedal about a foot. This happened about 300 miles from home, but luckily the mechanism was designed in a way that I could still use the clutch pedal.

Image source = https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post18162535

 

When I replaced the clutch master/slave assembly, my clutch switch didn't survive the exchange. Forgot exactly what happened, but IIRC something on the switch body didn't fit perfectly and it wouldn't stay in place. I hated having to step on the clutch just to engage the starter anyway, so I jumped the starter terminals and zip tied the rest of it up out of the way. High idle still works and I don't have to stomp the pedal any more to start the engine. Remember? Just like the '70's again.

 

I hate having to push the clutch to start it as well. When I got the truck I didn't have to due to the clutch pedal wiring being twisted together and no switch was installed. I bought a new harness and received my new switch and now my high idle works properly. It never worked before. What do you mean by jumped the starter terminals? Curious as to how your high idle still works. Thanks

 

IIRC there's four wires going to that switch. One is for the starter and it engages if you push the clutch all the way to the floor. The other is to cancel cruise control if it's engaged and for that all you have to do is tap the clutch pedal. Since there's two other ways to turn off CC, I didn't really need the third option and decided to do what I did. It's been a while, so take my advice here with a bit of skepticism, LOL.

 

There are 4 wires. You are correct. My truck had 3 of the wires disconnected when I got it and 2 of those were twisted together so the truck would start. But no high idle. Maybe if the 3rd one was still connected the high idle would have worked even with the starter wires bypassed. If I keep having problems with the switch popping out of socket, I'll bypass it but, I'll only remove the 2 starter wires. I won't touch the other 2. That would probably be the easiest thing to do. But for now, I will feel it out.

 

​​​​​I had a customer and buddy of mine have the same issue with the master cylinder rod coming way up after the clips broke. But, IIRC that is caused mostly due to the heavy return spring. Mine broke and fell out, and I love it now that it's gone. Much easier clutch pedal to. So, when the clips broke on my buddy's truck, and the pedal way almost hitting the dash, I removed the return spring and, the pedal went back down and he hasn't had any problems scince. Seems like it's common for those clips to break when that return spring is still installed. Thanks for the pic, Im sure I have it on correctly now. thanks!

 

I had to remove that big spring with my clutch. It's got a pretty light pedal and with the spring installed whenever you push the clutch down the spring pressure would hold it down on the floor.

 

It's nice to remove it anyway because, when you let off the pedal and it returns the spring tension can pull hard enough to ****** the master cylinder rod out of the master cylinder after a while. Personally, I like the pedal without it and I think it is an upgrade to get rid of that stupid spring. That's my opinion though.

 

I rigged up a makeshift "pedal return spring" decades ago to maintain pedal height after I got rid of that helper spring. Just enough to bring the pedal back up to the stop, but no more.