Clutch Pedal Slop

[RedRamAndy]

Hello All,

I recently got tired of having to push the clutch pedal all the way to the carpet to get it to dis-engage. It was bad enough that I had to twist my boot and go pigeon-toed to even be able to shift. I realized there's no adjustment for this hydraulic system, so I started checking other things. I noticed that when the clutch pedal was at rest, it had about 2 1/2" slop swing. As I checked, I noticed that the slop was all in the connection of the master cylinder rod to the pedal pin.

Well, as a true professional crastinator, I decided that I could just be pigeon-toed for awhile. This job would require pulling the whole pedal and the master cyl. I just brushed it off until sitting in traffic one day. I thought what if that dang pin wears thru and breaks? Uh-oh... . The next weekend I got on it and fixed it before it did. Pulled the pedal and master, welded, filed, fitted new bronze bushing, and Holy Cow! I'm one happy camper now! The clutch is fully out at 2 inches-plus off the carpet! I'm starting to walk normally again... ... . :-laf

I'm posting a few pics of the worn stuff as it came out. I'm so glad it never broke.

Something you may want to check if you feel slop at the top of pedal swing. I never thought it could be this bad at 175k miles.

 

[Rebel Ram]

After my trans rebuild and new clutch I noticed the same The quick fix for me was to put washers between the eye rod and the flat side of the pedal to get the still round part to be in the eye and zip tie it there till I can get to it. My question is, How do you pull the master cyl and pedals? Im sure that if I dicked with it trial and error I'd get it but it looks like a B. Any short cuts or tricks? The fix is the easy part Im sure. Its just getting too it.

 

[RedRamAndy]

My whole repair took about 3 hours. Now about 45 minutes of that was fighting the pushrod out of the master cyl. OK, first step is to pull the clips for the master cyl links on both the brake rod and clutch rod. Next, remove the pivot bar for the brake/clutch pedals. Inboard of the brake pedal is a small (3/8"?) bolt that goes thru a tab on the pivot bar. Once this bolt/nut is removed, the bar can be worked out of the pedals. On my truck, I had to pry the rod out with a screwdriver and then attach a Vice-Grip to coax it out while swinging both brake and clutch pedals. When this rod is out about 6 inches, the clutch pedal will finally corkscrew out around the steering column. Don't lose the plastic inserts in each end of the clutch pedal's tube. The clutch master cyl comes out the engine side of the firewall with a simple twist-loc motion. Twist is CCW about 1/3 turn and it will come out with the big rubber grommet still attached. Don't disconnect any hydraulic lines. Now the tough part is to get that pushrod ot of the master cyl if you need to. Hopefully it won't be worn too badly and you can just leave the whole assembly locked into the firewall. If you do need to get it out to fix it (I did) you'll have to overcome 3 very small spring fingers in the master cylinder plunger that lock onto the mushroom head of the shaft you need to pull. I used a bent dentist's pic and a small screwdriver (and many choice words) to get mine out. I ended up breaking one of the 3 fingers, but the other 2 are still plenty to hold the rod back in once you're done. This covers removal.
After all the welding, filing, bushing, everything went together in a matter of minutes. Check your brakelight switch when done to ensure it still trips when you touch the pedal. Oh, one other thing, my truck has been without a clutch lockout switch. This switch is a black plastic barrell around the clutch master pushrod. I'm not sure if it would fit thru the firewall hole or not. If you need to pull it first, there is a white plastic cover strip on it that will need to come off and then the switch can be slipped off the shaft. I can't remember the exact details of this as mine went south long ago. I'm the only one that drives my truck, and pushing the clutch to start just comes naturally.
Good Luck! You'll be happy with the 'New Clutch"!!!

 

[Rebel Ram]

Excellant post!

 

[RedRamAndy]

Thanks



Just out to try to save others all the 'choice words' I use during my fixes...

 

[dpuckett]

Oh, I thought "choice words" and creative arrangements thereof were a part of working on vehicles.



Good write up, and nice pics, showing exactly what happens. I fixed mine after it wouldnt sit still at a light anymore. There are some plastic bushings that go in there on the pedal-to-pushrod thingie that tend to wear out, esp if you do a lot of stop and go driving. I like the idea of brass bushings.



Your clutch safety switch probably quit because the pedal assembly wasnt pushing the pushrod in far enough to trip it. I have mine scotch locked together and no longer worry about it.



Your MC pushrod didnt look as bad as some I've seen, but your pedal end was horrible looking. Good to hear you are on the way to walking normal again. Just dont overdo it- these things dont happen overnight .



Daniel

 

[rlyons]

I wish I had your problem. Mine is just the the other way, my clutch engages and disengages right at the top. It was that way when I bought the truck so I assumed the clutch was bad. I put in a new clutch, pressure plate, release bearing, turned the flywheel and when I put it back together it still engages and disengages right at the top. It has been running that way for 100,000 miles now and it is still the same, no slippage so I guess it is just the nature of the beast. I couldn't find any way to adjust it down so I just left it that way.

 

[dpuckett]

rlyons-

Try a shorter push rod on your slave cylinder. I had to install a longer one in my 90 when it wouldnt disengage unless you put your foot through the floor.



By installing the shorter push rod, you effectively back off the master cylinder. With more volume to fill in the entire system, the rod on the slave moves less with the same stroke of the master cylinder, and also lowers the starting point of your pedal (in terms off affecting the clutch assembly- is will still come back up like it should). As far as how much to trim, I'd start with a bolt about 1/4" shorter than your current pushrod and experiment from there. When you find a length that suits you, cut your OEM rod and reinstall.



DP

 

[Niki]

Pivot points such as this, hood and door hinges, door handles, locks, hood latch, tailgate, etc I try to hit w/ white grease, WD40, oil or whatever every other oil change or so. After you get a few applications on these parts, its amazing how easy everything is to use. That clutch linkage would cause a pretty big problem if it snapped at an inopportune time. This should be put in the stickys.

 

[Rebel Ram]

Do it!!! I finally got to doing mine today and I went from the pidgeon toed cram the pedal into the carpet padding to complete disengagement at 4" of pedal push. What a difference it make for drivability. I dont have to sit at a light with the truck in gear for fear that I wont be able get her into gear without fighting it . One tip for those who need to do this, if you have an extra cab and cap'n chairs. Pull the drivers seat out. You can lay on your back and get to everything much easier.

 

[RedRamAndy]

COOL! Glad you got it done OK. I'm still 'learning' the new clutch pedal profile on my truck as I shift. What fun!... ... (walking better too)

 

[Don Tanklage]

have you gotten used to having the pedal up top (where it was when the truck was new) yet? i thought about fixing mine but at 6'2" it is probably easier to drive with it the way it is...



it is getting hard to get it into rev tho...



i am gonna hate having to lift my leg to get foot on clutch after i fix this thing



don

 

[GCroyle]

Nice Find

RRA,



Good, you looked beyond the obvious and found pedal cluster problems, kudos to you.



If we were on the Ford forums, lots of guys know the part numbers off the top of their heads for the replacement bushing set and entire cluster. I wonder how the 3rd Gen's will hold up, we have plastic clutch pedals to go with it.

 

[RedRamAndy]

Ahhh yesss, I love my newclutch. I have finally gotten used to the high pedal and just love it. Just went to my local pick and pull today (half price sale this weekend) and got some stuff. No diesels, but got a great grill shell with a chrome LE center section for a whopping 7 dollars and 50 cents. Woo Hoo! What a good weekend so far. Going back tomorrow!

 

[Mopar_Tim]

any one know what to use to replace those plastic pieces they the brake and clutch pedal pivot on ..... red ram andy mentioned them in his post ... ... mine are gone in the 79 and the pedals move around quite a bit



i was actually going to figure a way to get a seal at each end of each pedal and then drill the pedal for a grease zerk

 

[Don Tanklage]

i was actually going to figure a way to get a seal at each end of each pedal and then drill the pedal for a grease zerk

i was thinkin about that one too...



can not believe how much they wear