The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop clutch & pressure plate ? for '46

I'm going to post a question that is almost certainly going to expose me as a complete moron. Over the weekend I replaced my clutch and pressure plate with a set that I had rebuilt from Jim Carter's. They certainly look great and I installed them this past Sunday. I installed them as outlined in the original 42-46 Shop manual. As I tightened each bolt (1 turn at a time) as outlined in the book, the pressure plate diaphram springs slowly were brought in towards the fly wheel until each of the bolts were tight.

All seems to be fine (I think). I then replaced the throwout fork and bearing and connected the linkage. Push the petal and ..... nothing. Without pushing too hard because it seems that something will break before giving.....

This is where I am stuck..... what did I do wrong or what did I miss in that I can not seem to get the clutch to release?

As usual, any help, guidance or counceling is greatly appreciated....... :confused:

Did you install the clutch disc backwards?

I'm pretty sure i got tht one right. I thought long and hard before installing it and the fact that it stated on it what side goes towards the flywheel certainly helped. I supposed it is possible but I guess stranger things have happened. Any other ideas?

Sounds like you need to readjust the clutch pedal to the proper freeplay for the new clutch. It was probably adjusted to the old worn out disc,
Scott

Do you have the trans. in yet?

A very pregnant question Wrenchbender! If the throwout bearing doesn't have the clutch gear bearing retainer to guide it and align it, it won't push the clutch fingers in properly and will bind. The transmission has to be in for a fair test.

Stuart

Besides that the disk will fall down in the clutch.

Fair enough...first things first.....I'll put it in and try again....it just does not to seen to be giving at all. I'll re-post once I get the 3 speen in place. Stay tuned.....

I seem to remember that you needed a guide shaft that resembled the transmission input shaft to be sure that the clutch plate was in the proper position. Otherwise you cant insure that the spline on the transmission will fit into the clutch plate and the end of the transmission shaft will fit into the pilot hole in the crankshaft.

This is certainly true.....I tried without it. I am now awaiting delivery of the guide shaft so I can try again. I hope it comes tomorrow so I can do it this weekend.

Still very confused. I got my alignment tool and installed the 3 speed. Still appears to be no give in either direction. What am I missing? When I tighten the bolts for the pressure plate the "fingers" (diaphram springs) gradually went in. My assumption is that the figers are what are putting pressure on the clutch disc so it touches the flywheel. Corrrect? So maybe here's the question to ask. Is the throwout bearing supposed to push the fingers in further (towards the front of the truck) or pull them out somehow towards the back of the truck?

I'm sure I now sound like a complete fool but what the heck......I'm stumped and I can not find any diagrams or text that makes it clear.

As for the disc being in backwards, it appears that if I put it in the other way the springs on it would hit the bolts on the flywheel when it is spining. I'm pretty sure I got that one right.

Help, guidance, photos, anything that may help is appreciated.

Tim,

At this point I'm not sure what is going on. The clutch replacement is pretty self explanatory so something basic must have gone awry. I have linked the clutch section of the service manual (online) for this truck. Take a look and see if there is something you out of whack that is causing the problem.

With the clutch and pressure plate installed properly...and the transmission in the truck, you should be able to adjust the free-play from nothing to everything! When you push the clutch pedal, the linkage ends up shoving the throwout bearing toward the fan. This pushes those fingers (springs) down and releases the 'clamping' effect on the clutch and allows it to spin in the space between the flywheel and pressure plate.

When properly adjusted, the clutch pedal will be all the way up in the cab and there will be enough room between the throwout bearing and those fingers for you to spin the bearing portion of the throwout bearing...it doesn't ride on the fingers when the clutch is released and linkage properly adjusted. Pretty simple huh!

http://chevy.tocmp.com/1942_47shop/4247csm653.htm

Stuart

Thanks Stuart. I have that book and it is what I was refering to when i mentioned the shop manual. I am completely confused here because I too thought it seemed pretty straight forward. Absent any other advise, at this point I am going to throw all logic out the window and flip the clutch disc around. It certainly seems that it will rub against the bolts of the flywheel though. I'm getting tired of laying under this thing to do the same job over and over.....

Any other thoughts?

Putting the disc in backwards would not cause what you are describing. I,m also shure you put it in correctly. You are correct when you tighten the clutch bolts the fingers go in & when you press on the clutch it should push them in further & release the pressure on the disc. You must not have the linkage hooked up correctly. Is the fork on the pivet ball?

I would say take a look at it while you have some one pushing on the peddle. Should be simple to see if your linkage is moving correctly. Another thing to take a look at, make sure the arms ride on the throw out bearing ok. Probably not the problem, but I once had a truck with clutch trouble and after several attempts, we realized. The arms were not correct and were hitting the throw out bearing on its outer edges, cutting it open like a can opener. As far as taking something off and putting it back on over and over - been there , done that many times!! Good luck.

It's been a few months and I am back to trying to solve this mystery. I have the cab off being painted so I have all the room in the world to get to this and finally fix it. I am pulling everything apart again today but thought I would post this thought to see if someone has a similar experience.

As discussed earlier in this post, I believe I have my clutch disc installed correctly, as I tighted inthe pressure plate the metal fingers move in (towards the flywheel). When everything is hucked up it does not seem that there is any more give for the throwout bearing to push those fingers any further in.

Here's my question. I bought the presure plate from Jim Carter's as a rebuilt. Is it possible that the rebuilt pressure plate was assembled incorrectly? I'll post later today with the results of pulling everything apart again. I already have the 3 speed removed and am now workin on the pressure plate.

Tim,

How perplexing. I guess the good news is that you no longer have to "crawl" as the cab if off! I doubt if the pressure plate was assembled incorrectly. The rebuilder does this all day long so the odds are it's right.

I think you are doing something wrong but haven't seen it yet. This operation is real straight forward. I looked at a '46 manual and it says that when the P/P is fully bolted to the flywheel the spring fingers should be flat. They won't angle in or out...just flat.

I think there is a long throwout bearing and a short throwout bearing. If this is true, you must have the proper length bearing carrier for your setup. Are you installing the throwout bearing properly. The fork goes into the slot and the bearing face lays on the outside of the fingers. It doesn't go inside the fingers.

Is the clutch release fork snapped on the pivot ball inside the bellhousing? As was noted earlier, the clutch release motion won't work unless the transmission is in place. It needs the retainer guide to align and steady the throwout bearing as you depress the the pedal.

With the cab off, transmission installed, you should have a better chance to see what is going on. It is something very simple so don't over think it.

Stuart

I have a read and re-read the manual and I am stumped. I am
pretty sure they were flat. i will keep this in mind when I put it back together. Crazy thing is I know this should be really easy. I'll be sure to take a bunch of photos of this one for others when I am done.

Very frustrating today because I busted the retaining clip in the clutch release fork today so everything is at a halt again until I can get another one (I ordered a couple spares). I loosened up the pressure plate a bit and then re-hooked up the linkage to see if I could get those pesky fingers to go in. Sure enough they did, so I believe my pedal linkage must be correct. Unfortunately that is when the throwout bearing got caught and I busted the little clip that holds it on the ball.

The throwout bearing is the same size as my original one so I have ruled that one out. I have noticed that the center of the clutch is not exactally the same as original but, I would not think it would result in what I am seeing. Basically the center portion with the spline on it was a bit longer and went further into the center of the flywheel.

I'll take photos as I go an start posting them on my website if this continues to be a problem.

Oddly enough, I moved on to setting the distributor and realized that the dist. cap I have is not tall enough. Are there two different sized caps for 216's? or do I have the wrong distributor? Argh....