Plastic pin in clutch pedal

[CLaVasseur]

Has anyone replace the plastic pin -securing the clutch pedal to the master cylinder push rod- with anything other than the factory part. Mine broke yesterday, fortunately just as I'd parked my truck for the night. This is only the 2nd time in 280000 miles, but it seems to me that this could easily be replaced with a stronger part. For now I have a 7/16" bolt in there and it seems fine. There's a little play, but it still engages and disengages fine. It has to be at least as good as the plastic, right? I like to over-build stuff, but I know that's not always wise, considering weak links, what should fail first, etc. Any thoughts?

 

[GCroyle]

I'll add a possible reason for the pin breaking.

The release load required to release the clutch is higher than it should be. Then you push harder and harder but don't recognize the extra effort.

I broke one pin on a truck we were going to work on and the clutch release bearing could not slide freely, it was not correctly greased in the collar bore at installation this added extra effort, pushed harder and POP. These pins don't rotate, they lock in via a hex so all the wear is in the same spot.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Put a bit of grease on the bearing surface of the plastic pin. I never broke one, but it did wear some. I carried a spare in my 2004 but never used it.

 

[EDankievitch]

I never had one break on my 05 over 250,000 miles. Better than half of that mileage was with a Southbend single disk clutch. Had a bit of wear but never broke.

 

[CLaVasseur]

Thanks. I'll try to keep an eye on that. I did recently replace the master/slave assembly with a South Bend setup, including adjustable pushrod. While the old one was getting bad (not fully disengaging with pedal at the floor) it may have weakened that pin. I originally thought the pin was worn, but then I realized that, like you said, they only go in one way; and I believe there's a little offset cam built into them, maybe to keep the pushrod centered? I had initially mistaken it for wear.... So anyway, is there any reason not to just keep the 7/16" grade 5 bolt in there? with a dab of grease now and then

 

[seafish]

... So anyway, is there any reason not to just keep the 7/16" grade 5 bolt in there? with a dab of grease now and then

Seems like a solid working solution to me!!!

 

[Wayne M.]

I never thought to look at that wear point. I haven't had issue with any clutch parts since new, but I'm expecting it, not just from age but I just pressed the truck back into heavy commuter service.
Question- are there any threaded parts of the bolt in contact with the plastics? I would consider a smooth Clevis pin. Perhaps you can get a metric size that is a better match?
You can look at www.mcmaster.com it's where I get my hardware and goodies.

 

[sag2]

I just looked at StarParts and they sell 43 a week of the pin PN 52010331AC. They sell 41 a week of the PN 04643448 bushing. Seems like they must break fairly often, so for $2.75 for the pin and $4.00 for the bushing it would probably be worth having one in the glove box.

 

[Wayne M.]

Thanks for checking that, sag.

 

[RVTRKN]

They also break when trying to remove them sometimes, Sag2 has it right, buy two and keep in glove box. Mine broke from a tech changing my DMF over to the SMF. Dealer didn't have one on them at the time and I was under time constraints, so a screw was installed until I could get one. They are cheap, so no big deal, if it breaks and you have a spare.