83 460, T-19B trans, hydraulic clutch setup.

So, 3 or 4 weeks ago I went through the joys of a clutch swap. Car had a bit of a high pitched noise with my foot off the pedal that went away with the clutch pedal slightly depressed.

Research told me that a poorly lubed pivot ball could be the cause, so I went in there and the pivot ball was dry as a bone. Added some grease, put the slave cyl back in line, hopped in the car to start it up and *bang*.

Keyed off all the way and back under the truck I go.

The cup where the slave cylinder rests was tilted up towards the floorpan so that the fork was about 45* off normal.

A lot of careful finagling and everything was out. Only a slight ding where the clutch fork kissed the bellhousing.

Any idea what I did wrong and how much damage I may have done?

I'm not terrible at mechanics, but I'm definitely not good.

How firm should the clutch fork feel without the slave cylinder in place?

One thing I noted (both before and after) was that the leaf spring clips that hold the clutch fork against the pivot ball, one of them was bent away a bit more than the other.

At the very least, I feel like I should be investing in another clutch fork...

*edit*

Kind of a long thread, so I thought I'd put my notes up at the top as I've achieved resolution for the next person who reads my thread.

1) The clutch fork needs to go on the throwout bearing. (lol)
2) Reinforce the firewall. I think you should probably do it regardless of whether it needs it if it hasn't been done - seems like it's gonna happen eventually if you don't, and this is a pretty high stress area on the truck.
3) The best clutch bleed technique I've seen is here: http://www.carolinaclutch.com/conten...aulic.htm.aspx ... make sure you keep the strap with your new slave cylinder, or else you'll be in for hell like I was. This is also pretty messy, you definitely wanna drain your slave cylinder as much as possible before you do it. This will get the slave bled most of the way - the rest will have to be done over time (like Franklin2 suggest later in the thread).

Gooood luck!

 

National Parts Depot (http://www.npdlink.com/)can probably get you another one of
those "cup" things (I forget the real name, might be something like 'clutch fork seat') if you
want, I got one from them for my mechanical-clutch 1981 but I had to call, couldn't find it in
any catalogs.

 

Are you sure the fork was fully engaged with the release bearing?
That the anti spin pin was facing AWAY from the fork?

I purchased a new clutch fork last year because greasing it up was only working for a couple of days at a time.
Our sponsor PartsGuyEd found a stash of hundreds in Tennessee at the time.

E6TZ7515A .. Clutch Fork
Under $30 last year.

Here is my thread: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...-chirping.html



Good luck Sharkracer!

 

... no.

How do I verify this one? I'm definitely gonna order a new fork, the u-shaped leaf spring was a bit *forked* as mentioned before, but I need to get the truck out of the driveway.

 

It's very easy not to get both sides of the "u shaped spring" under the ball around the stud. Also, the forked tip of the arm should go in the groove of the bearing. It really can't tip if it's in the groove properly. I would just try again if it's not damaged.

 

Is this visible from the inspection cover?

 

If you need to get the truck out of the driveway, you could try starting your truck with it in first gear and power shift from there if there is no clutch safety switch. It will start and take right off then shut the key off to stop. It's kind of a PITA but works for the time being. I have done this a few times before when I broke my truck.

 

It's more of a feel thing, and you might be able to see it from the hole in the side if you take the rubber boot off. It takes a lot of fiddling to get it right, I have had several battles with this thing before.

 

Missed this in my reply...
The release bearing should slide freely on the input shaft of the gearbox.
If you're asking if you should be able to wiggle the fork around, yes.
If you're asking if you should be able to budge the clutch spring, there's no way.

FWIW, I applied a *tiny* amount of Honda Moly 60 Paste to the input shaft and splines.
Years of experience with Airhead BMW motorcycles confirms the use of this product in this application.

 

Right on.
Pull the boot out onto the arm, use an inspection mirror if necessary.
That's what I did when I replaced mine.

 

I mentioned doing something similar a while back, and was called a loony. Seems they figured any excess grease would instantly fling out onto the clutch disc/pressure plute friction surfaces, causing the clutch to slip.
The recessed nature of the clutch disc into the PP means that any grease flung off would be behind the friction surface, and in the springs of the PP.
Must be why Exedy/Daikin clutch kits include a small tube of moly grease, and have instructions to apply a small amount on the input shaft splines........

 

Delco kits do too, and if I'm not mistaken, it may say that in the service manual as well.

Anyhow - got the clutch fork lined up properly, started the truck. Dead clutch pedal, actuated the clutch about 50 times and it's not coming back. Gonna try bleeding the slave tonight (having the slave off gave me a chance to examine it and find the bleeder screw), failing that, well, looks like another bit of my $$$ is going to the parts companies. (I think when the fork slipped it may have allowed the slave cylinder to over-extend, as I started the car with the clutch pedal in)

That being said, the chirping is gone, but I'm ready and waiting for it to come back. Will order a new fork the second I hear hungry birds.

Thanks everybody!

 

Any signs of fluid leaking from the slave? That's usually a tip off that the slave was overextended. If that's the case, I'd suggest rebuilding or replacing it, rather than just trying to put it back together. The latter usually doesn't work very well......

 

Hopefully, hyperextending the master cylinder didn't bugger the seals in it...

Check to see if the boot on the slave is full of fluid.

 

At work now, but the slave was dry around the ram, no signs of fluid coming out.

I'm a little optimistic because contracting the ram to reinstall the slave to the fork(once it was properly installed) was a *****.