The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 216-235 Clutch Linkage Adjustment Problem

Greetings! Okay, here's my story so far. I just replaced the 216 in my '41 Chevy half ton pickup with a '59 235. I used the 216 bellhousing and have installed a new 9 inch clutch disc, pressure plate and throwout bearing. Didn't do anything with the pivot ball as it seemed to be okay. Today I went to hook up the clutch linkage (the J-hook bolt that connects the clutch fork arm to the pedal). I adjusted the nuts all the way up the J bolt, but the clutch pedal is near the floor and I'm getting very little movement on the fork. Everything seems to be hooked up right and in place. Have any of you guys had this problem? What's the solution? Is there anything else that I can adjust to get the needed clutch movement.

On the plus side, we fired up the 235 for the first time today. It sounded pretty good aside from the valve noise.

Thanks!
Charlie

There are two sizes of throwout bearing, one tall and one short. Depending on if you have a diaphragm (lots of fingers) pressure plate or a Borg & Beck (3 finger) pressure plate, you need one or the other. My guess is you have the short t.o. bearing but you need the tall.

Hi Charlie Brown,

Good to see/hear from you! It has been a long time. Glad to see your 235 fired up.

46 IP

As long as you use All the components of the 216 (fork and all links, J hook, pedal etc etc) everything should work. I replaced the motor in my 46 half ton and kept all the original pieces from bellhousing back and have not had any problems. I'd think the most important part would be that fork, some have bends and lengths that go with a particular year and model.
Best of luck.

Thanks for all the replies! Josiah, I checked the new throwout bearing against the old one and they look the same. I got it from Jim Carter and they only list the one for that year of truck. Mine has the diaphram clutch.

46 IP: Thanks for the kind words. I like what they've done with the forums here. How're things going with your project?

JIMerit: Yep, I used all the original stuff that came off the 216 except for the new parts. I'm thinking that I should've gone ahead and replaced the pivot ball with a new one.

Today I fiddled around with it some more. I took the nut off the one end of the J-bolt, added a couple of washers and ran the other nut all the way to where the pedal is nearly touching the clutch fork. It seems to work, but I'm still worried about it. Before posting this, I did a search and somebody with a similar problem was told to adjust the pivot ball outward. I assume that meant simply unscrewing it a turn or two. Is that something that I should try?

One more thing I forgot to ask. Have any of you had a clutch fork bend? I'm wondering if that might be the problem It looked okay but I didn't check it out that much. Everything worked when I had the 216 in it and I just assumed that it would work with the 235.