The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Hydraulic throw bearing - new options

Hi All. It's been a long time since I've been on the site because, to be honest I've been out enjoying the fruits of my labor. I've been driving the wheels off my '50 1/2 ton project. But now I need a little advice.

Several years ago when I was piecing together the driveline, I hopped up the 235 engine and installed a T-5 transmission along with a brake booster kit. With the brake booster in the original location, I had to do something other than use the original mechanical clutch and throw-out bearing. I was convinced the best approach was to use a hydraulic TO bearing from Howe Racing and mount the clutch master cylinder next to the braker master cylinder. It ran great for nearly 4 years, but I recently lost one of the seals in the TO bearing and had to tear everything out to fix it. Not a big deal, just part of the truck ownership. But now I cannot get the clutch to bleed.

So, before I push the truck into the corner and leave it there, I want to get some input on my options, with the caveat that the budget is very tight. Can I easily change this setup to a hydraulic slave cylinder setup to get the hydraulics out of the bellhousing? Can I effectively move this brake booster to the firewall? What are others using for the clutch with a brake booster?

Can you make bracket to move the brake booster a little further back and make room for mechanical clutch linkage.

a picture would be helpful

Mechanical linkage is always the better option (less trouble)if you can fit it.

Grigg

I'm not really interested in moving the brake booster back at this point. That would just add to the headache with the need for a longer brake rod to the pedal and changing the brake lines to the master cylinder.

With the number of people talking about changing to power brakes and T-5s, I'm surprised more haven't run into this issue and come up with resolutions. Is it possible to install a slave cylinder on the bell housing?

Have you tried to bleed the clutch by pushing fluid through the slave first. Basically backwards through the system?

If you can hook up to the bleeder on the slave cylinder, you may can push the fluid back towards the master cylinder. I have very good results with that when hydraulic clutch would not bleed.

Another thing that has worked is setting a pan under the bleeder and just opening it letting the fluid flow through the system by gravity. Have someone watch the fluid level as it drains and keep it full till there are no bubbles.