The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Help! Engine shakes as clutch is engaged

Engine & whole front end shakes violently side to side when clutch is engaged if too little power is applied (higher RPM seems to overcome the problem) Have tightened the engine mounts. Don't get clutch chatter exactly but wondering if the fly wheel needs to be resurfaced.

You say you tightened the engine mounts. Are you sure that they are not broken? It is a good idea to resurface flywheels at clutch replacement time. Did this suddenly start or has it been going on for some time?

Hy revted47, I think removal of the transmission and some investigation is in order, the flywheel may be contaminated with oil, it may need to be resurfaced, the clutch may be worn, the flywheel might even be loose. Are your front shakles, springs, bushings, pins, and "U" bolts in good shape/tight? Hope that helps.

might have rotted rubber in one or more of the engine mounts

Bill

Hi reved47, Ok this is actually the first time I am giving aa comment rather than asking for help. I am a newbie to this whole SB thing and luvin it. I bought a 58 3600 last fall and was having the same problem. I came to the forum and got several answers. I think it boiled down to a couple of things. a) I just wasnt good at driving a clutch b) oil on the clutch plate. As I drove it, I guess the oil would burn off and I starting lowering my rpms. both helped. One fellow said to take off in third a the first time and that will help burn off the oil as well. The combination of all this advise has helped me. Good luck

Hey BIG thanks for all those suggestions - I'll be looking into it this weekend. In response to questions - my daily driver is a'53 PU with a 235, been driving it more than 40 years, over 200K mi. The problem is in my '54 coupe. It's been that way quite a while. I recently replaced the clutch. I've learned to drive it without the shakes, but I'm ready now to dig into it and finally fix the darn thing! Sure appreciate all your suggestions.

You may have a flywheel problem, I ran in to this the other day.
I got a call from my mother in law, she described having the same problem on her subaru. In higher gears & faster speeds it would go away. Eventualy she got stuck at an intersection & couldnt take off in first gear.
being an hour away, I couldnt diagnose the problem over the phone.
She had it towed to the dealer, they found a cracked flywheel.

hello revted47. i had the shaking experience you describe with a truck a while back, in fact i think the previous owner gave me a good deal because of the shaking when the the clutch was let out. i found by chance that the vacuum advance on the distributor was not working properly, and after replacing the vacuum advance diaphram , the shaking diappeared ! hope this helps.