The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks ditching the hydraulic clutch for manual linkage?

Hey guys,

I'm interested in eventually upgrading my truck to front disc brakes on dropped spindles. I realize this requires a new master cylinder setup, with two reservoirs and a proportioning valve. My truck is a 61, with a manual 4 speed, with the hydraulic clutch. The upgraded master cylinder kit for this is about $400 bucks more than the kit required for trucks without the hydraulic clutch. So I was wondering, what is involved in swapping out my hydraulic clutch setup for the 63 and later mechanical linkage? Has anyone else out there upgrading a 60-61 truck have the same dillemma? What did you do?

I was faced with the same issue about 5 years ago. I collected up all the mechanical linkage from a 63-66 truck, cleaned and painted everything and set to doing the install. The undoing of the project was not finding a way to accurately locate the attaching bracket for the frame mounted bellcrank pivot ball. The 60-61 frame is not as tall as the later style, which must be accounted for, but the biggest problem is that I don't weld, and a bolt on solution didn't present itself. If you are determined to switch to mechanical linkage, make sure you have good pictures of an original installation, preferably with a tape measure in the photo showing dimensions, and also note where the push rod goes through the floor of the firewall.

An alternate reasonably priced solution is shown at the attached link. What I did was install a Girling master cylinder on the passenger side of the booster on a homemade plate with a heim joint and spacers. It's a bunch cheaper than a kit and in my opinion works better. Good luck, M.

http://sixty7ss.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=engine&thread=666

Markeb is spot on. Your bellhousing has the clutch fork on the passenger side w/ the hydraulic clutch slave cylinder. You would have to come up with a bellhousing that has the motor mounts flats on it as well as the hole for the clutch fork on the drivers side. Then you need the flat on the belllhousing for the clutch bracket that would hold the piviting arm. If you are set on doing this, I would look up some info on the various bellhousings that were available for the SBC and get one to match that new configuration. Maybe your answer is to go to an automatic trans.

Yeah Tim, I thought about going to an auto, but that would make everything else more expensive...buying a tranny, having my driveshaft shortened again, adding lines and a cooler, different shifter, etc. I may just suck it up and buy a kit for it, but this won't be for some time yet. At the moment, I'm just pondering what i want to do with the truck. Oh, and the wierd thing is...I'm pretty sure my clutch fork is on the drivers side of the bell housing. I know for sure that the slave cylinder is...it's mounted on a metal bracket that was welded to the frame, right beside the oil filter. Now, this isnt the truck's original tranny....obviously not it's original bell housing either. I'm a tad confused now as to what the heck is in there, seeing how I really have no history on the truck. All I know is it was originally a 3 in the tree, now it's a 4 speed with granny gear on the floor.

just thought i would chime in here... i have a 62 1/2 ton that i am restoring, and i have been trying to figure out this delemma for some time now.i'm starting to lean toward fabbing my own bracket for the booster,needs to be far enough away from the firewall to put the clutch master behind it in or near the stock location.Adam ,sounds like someone put a trans and bellhousing from a later model in your 61 and "made it fit"

Well, if you have the clutch fork on the drivers side now, then it seems to me that 75% of the problem is solved for you. All you need is the pivot arm that connects the clutch fork rod to the pivot arm and the clutch pedal rod to the pivot arm. A few more pieces like the pivot ball and some washers and sleeves, and you got it. I presume that the bell housing whatever it is has the motor mounts attached to it. If it doesn't and someone is using the trans tailshaft as a motor support, then you better have a 3 point set up with motor mounts on the motor sides instead of the single motor mount in the center of the engine. If some character has not set you up with a 3 point motor mount set up, then all bets are off and you better address that before you do anything else.

I did this to my 62, I used a bellhousing from a 67 and had to make a fram bracket for bellcrank,drilled and taped the frame to attach it. Then I used all the rods from a 63 including the pedal.

I looked at my 63 today and the bell crank does look like it would be daunting to line up. The bell crank is mounted with ball pivots, and they can forgive some mis-alignment. If your careful I would think you could line up the pivot point on the frame by sight. You should be able to clamp it in place and move it around till it feels right. If one clamp doesn't hold it mighy take a deep throat to get the firewall side. The frame on the firewall side of the frame pivot appears to be notched for the bell crank lever to clear. Good luck.

LG

Hmm, thanks for the comments guys. I obviously got some homework to do...I need to take a good look at the existing setup, and then find out what exactly all these things you guys talk about really are, like "bell crank", the "pivot points", etc. Should really get the shop manual and the assembly manual for this rig.

Bell crank is not what the piece is usually called. I believe it may also be called a 'Z' bar, and there may be other names. The 'Z' bar or bell crank changes the direction of the force being applied to it. Here is an example;

http://www.t6racing.org/id3.html

The 'Z' bar for the clutch is actually a piece of pipe with levers welded to it. The clutch rod from the peddle attaches to the top lever. When the clutch pedal is pushed down it moves the clutch rod forward with the lever. Which in turns moves the bottom lever back towards the clutch. Pushing the clutch fork into the throw out bearing releasing the pressure plate.

Since the 'Z' bar is bent it can't pivot on a straight shaft, so there is a ball on the end of a bolt (shaft, rod, bolt, etc.,) inside each end of the 'Z' bar. The 'Z' bar pivots on these balls. If it was a straight shaft in the bar there would be little side to side movement. Where as with the ball it is only riding on a narrow part of the circumference. The shaft end of the ball pivot can be moved 30-90 degrees side to side, allows for more flexibility in mounting. I hope that is clear enough to understand. I don't know if I have all the pieces to to take a picture of, I'll look.

The shop manual is a definite must. I'm not totally sold on the assembly manual though it does help.

LG

Well Tim, I crawled under the truck tonight and had a look. It does have three motor mounts, one on the front of the engine, and two on the bellhousing. sort of a wierd setup for a V8, or at least I thought...other V8s I've seen had motor mounts on the sides. And yes, the clutch fork is on the driver's side. The slave cylinder is mounted on a piece of square steel channeling that has been bolted around the truck's frame using two long bolts, nuts, washers, and a flat piece of steel on the other side....basically it's clamped around the frame. There is a piece of threaded rod that comes out of the slave, and goes through the end of the fork, held in place with nuts. Looks to be adjustable for clutch freeplay, or whatever you call it. Judging by how much dirt and grease is on this existing setup, it looks to have been this way for a long long time. And seems to work just fine. Except I'm pretty sure the slave leaks past the piston. If I hold the clutch down too long, pressure gets really weak, and the truck gets stuck in gear. So I think I'll rebuild or replace the slave cylinder.

I have converted a 61 chev and a 62 GMC to mechanical linkage. Really not a big deal. If you removw the driverside inner fender and tire it makes it easy to locate the frame bracket for the Z bar. you will need to pur a hole in the floor for the pedal to Z bar rod.A mechanical linkageis a vast improvement over a hydraluic system

Yeah...but I would likely not be able to use the 63 and up linkage, right? Because my bellhousing has been changed, fork is now on the drivers side.

Yes the 63 thru 66 linkage will work the clutch fork is on the drivers side on all manual linkage. Only the hyd clutch release systems fron 60 to 62 had the throwout fork on the pass side.

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Adam,
Can you tell me who sells a kit for a dual master cylinder w/ hyd clutch setup for the 60-62 trucks?
Thanks

Pete

Hi Pete, LMC Trucks has it. It's pretty steeply priced though. Part number 37-8558

Thanks and Yikes!
I'll have to think about this some more....

Pete

You've got a later model bellhousing there. That isn't a factory set-up. Factory hydraulic slave is on the passenger side of the truck.

I've got the dual reservoir clutch conversion on my truck. Yeah, it was expensive, but I'm glad I've got it. I'd do it again.

I finally got the brakes mostly sorted out, and I'm very pleased with it: power dual reservoir, rebuilt wheel cylinders, turned drums, new lines, and the latest upgrade was self-adjust mechanisms for the brake hardware. That has REALLY made a nice difference. I'll have to get a little more mileage under the tires to decide if it's worth keeping the drums, or converting to front discs. But right now, I'm pleased. It's a BIG improvement over manual-adjust/never-adjust drums.

-Brad

Yeah, leaning more towards sucking it up and spending the extra money on that new master cylinder.