After a month of dealing with an engine issue I was finally able to take the '53 back out today. When I first got in it the clutch seemed to take a bit more effort than normal the first time I pressed it. After that I felt perfectly normal.
Whenever I press the clutch I get a sort of knocking noise. As soon I lift the pedal about a 1/4 or so off the floor the noise goes away. I took it for a spin around the block to see if it still drove and didn't notice anything odd (except for the noise when clutch in).
Sounds like throw out bearing rattling on the pressure plate fingers. Check your return spring that's hooked on your clutch fork. Mighta broke or fell off.
Sounds like throw out bearing rattling on the pressure plate fingers. Check your return spring that's hooked on your clutch fork. Mighta broke or fell off.
Just checked, spring is intact and still there. Woulda been nice if it were that easy.
seems to me it's something caused by the pressure plate moving too far, especially with saying it stops when you let it out a bit .... maybe the fork is in backwards or the fingers are behind the bearing slot rather than in it?
I had one once that had one of the springs come out of the disc, it rattled and clunked around in there until the flywheel ground it semi-flat. But it made the pedal feel different at times.
You are all probably right, I won't know for sure until I get it torn apart.
Since the truck drives fine other than the noise, I have been driving it. A few days ago whenever I started from a stop the it would make the same noise as the video, only more of a scraping noise and much louder. It goes away after 15 seconds, and sometimes will keep going even after I shift into 3rd.
Yet, yesterday only made noise when I pressed the clutch, it didn't make the noise when I was accelerating. Today I went to drive it, and its doing it again.
what's bizarre Fern, is you going out on the road like that without a tow truck following along behind, whatever is going on in there could well wind up as a catastrophic failure, in traffic
Each step of the way I checked the torque specs and visually inspected everything and it all looked good. Once I pulled the pressure plate it was obvious what was wrong.
The actual plate/disc itself moves around from side to side. So when I clutched in (and the clutch disc was no longer pressing up against it) it was free to move around and slam into the clips that hold it in.
Here is a vid of me shaking it:
So 700 miles later and I need to get it rebuilt. I bought this one from Bowtie Bits in February so I am probably stuck.
Are there any reputable places to get rebuilt/new ones from? They were one only a few places I found that had 10 3/4" ones. Of course if I just get another crap one from them that doesn't help me.
have you checked any local place [NAPA, etc]? '53 clutch kits are still listed as in the system, might have to work with the size available, but at least local you have recourse with defects
have you checked any local place [NAPA, etc]? '53 clutch kits are still listed as in the system, might have to work with the size available, but at least local you have recourse with defects
Bill
I checked with all the FLAPS when I first ordered the clutch + pressure plate. None of them could order it.
I'm not using the truck for hauling or anything, so changing out to a smaller clutch wouldn't be an issue. Wouldn't I have to change the flywheel as well? My pressure plate uses 9 bolts, and I would imagine the smaller plates would have different hole spacings.
I emailed bowtie about the bad pressure plate, we'll see what they say.
investigate it, usually flywheels will take a range of sizes from about 9" to 11", just different size flanges on the pressure plate - check the standard size in your shop manual, I'd expect 10.75 to be "H.D." for a 53 ... but you can hope they'll replace that one, they should
I'm such a frugal one... was just curious as to what all was damaged beyond re-use in your situation. The clips? The clutch disk? The pressure plate/disk? I guess what I'm wondering is if it's repairable at all by replacing any damaged component(s). The clips shouldn't have let go... leads me to think they weren't tight from the beginning. If you bought it that way, I'd take it up with the vendor. Customer satisfaction?
Figured I'd update this. I called and talked with Jeff at bowtie bits. He agreed that something wasn't right, so I shipped the pressure plate back(on my dime). I also sent in my core with it, and he had his re builder rebuild my core. I just installed it, and it works great. Comparing the two, the only differences were the ears on the first pressure plate were worn and allowed the plate to slide around.
