Clutch adjustment?

[manandvan]

ok guys heres you clutch xmas present!!!! my simple formula which solves this age old clutch problem for 2 pence!!!! yes 2 pence!!!

sit in the driver seat, lean down and put your hand on the clutch ratchet and press the clutch to the floor, as you let the clutch back up keep hold of the ratchet so as to obtain maximum adjust ment, once you are satisfied that youve took every bit of slack out of it press the clutch back to the floor and hold it there, then slide 2 one pence coins or 5 pence between the ratchet pawl and the small metal crossbar above it to lock the ratchet pawl into the ratchet so it cant jump back on its adjustment, let the pedal back up, you will now find you have full use of every bit of the pedal sweep and a nice healthy bite point!!
ive got this off to such a fine art that i did it on a minibus i was driving whilst sat at traffic lights with passengers on board and without rushing!! enjoy

[crayon]

ok guys heres you clutch xmas present!!!! my simple formula which solves this age old clutch problem for 2 pence!!!! yes 2 pence!!!

sit in the driver seat, lean down and put your hand on the clutch ratchet and press the clutch to the floor, as you let the clutch back up keep hold of the ratchet so as to obtain maximum adjust ment, once you are satisfied that youve took every bit of slack out of it press the clutch back to the floor and hold it there, then slide 2 one pence coins or 5 pence between the ratchet pawl and the small metal crossbar above it to lock the ratchet pawl into the ratchet so it cant jump back on its adjustment, let the pedal back up, you will now find you have full use of every bit of the pedal sweep and a nice healthy bite point!!
ive got this off to such a fine art that i did it on a minibus i was driving whilst sat at traffic lights with passengers on board and without rushing!! enjoy

Having loads of problems doing this?

[crayon]

OMG i been 2 hours doing this taking the rachet off and one hell of a job to get it back on i dont advise anyone to try it. after all that its hardly any better

[bortaf]

the should be a small plate sticking out the pedal box that when the pedal comes up it pushes the pawl away from the quadrant allowing the spring to tension the cable, usually you need to pull the pedal up with your hand to do this?
thats what i used to do on my H reg petrol when the quadrant started to loose the tips of it's teeth and started slipping.

[bumperman]

Sorry to jump onto this old topic, but it describes exactly my problem on my mk 4............

Can't engage gear from rest when engine running(unlessed forced).
Lots of cable movement.
Only 25 mm of pedal free play.
Pedal return spring OK.

On face of it doesn't seem like pedal/auto adjuster problem.
Vehicle is a lowish mileage(90k)campervan in very good mechanical condition.
Should I be looking at first motion shaft 'picking up' in flywheel bush?
My biting point is not low.
AndyG is this how your clutch was?

"it's a 5 second job for anyone else to do, as all you have to do, is rotate the ratchet and slide in the cable to achieve the same end result"

-Question-how do you rotate the ratchet(assuming you mean the toothed quadrant).

thanks
bumperman

[crayon]

Well i changed the clutch in the end?

[AndyG]

Sorry to jump onto this old topic, but it describes exactly my problem on my mk 4............

Can't engage gear from rest when engine running(unlessed forced).
Lots of cable movement.
Only 25 mm of pedal free play.
Pedal return spring OK.

On face of it doesn't seem like pedal/auto adjuster problem.
Vehicle is a lowish mileage(90k)campervan in very good mechanical condition.
Should I be looking at first motion shaft 'picking up' in flywheel bush?
My biting point is not low.
AndyG is this how your clutch was?

"it's a 5 second job for anyone else to do, as all you have to do, is rotate the ratchet and slide in the cable to achieve the same end result"

-Question-how do you rotate the ratchet(assuming you mean the toothed quadrant).

thanks
bumperman

Yours sounds like a different problem

Mine had a VERY low biting point

Yours sounds like the clutch plate might be sticking on the gearbox splines, keeping it in contact with the flywheel

Perhaps it's at the stage you need consider a new clutch assembly



Lifting the pawl, allows the quadrant to rotate easily ( but I don't think this is your problem)

[bigpawpress]

HI
I had a similar problem (see my post over clicking pedal) After fitting the first kit fromn the factors, the bitting point was less then 1/2" from floor!, so fitted different make this gave the same measurement so when comparing the pressure plates it appears that the original (ford) part was about 1/2" thicker than either of the replacement, mate says get replacement for pinto engine and it appears that solved the problem, bitting point now 2" from floor...except for the clicking. will try the suggestions tomorrow. We also fitted new cable but that didint help the matter except to make the pedal movement stiff.
Regards Norman

[Parcel]

Ok, I'd finally had enough of this clutch (no wonder I went auto ) It just doesn't travel enough to open/release the clutch plate

I had a brand new clutch fitted some years ago, along with a new ratchet mech. assy. and cable It was ok to start with but as with all these things, it was only a matter of time before the problem was back

I've tried to find out what actually controls how far back the fork goes, but no success Anybody

I couldn't see a stop for it, so I guess it "floats"

On a manual adjust cable, it would indeed be the cable that stops it travelling back too far

So it was either make my own adjuster that would stop excessive movement of the fork (a bit like what's used on the FWD BMC cars of the 60's ) or gain more travel on the cable, without cutting a hole out in the floor

So I removed the pedal all together, just to check it isn't a worn auto adjuster and no, it's perfect, with all the genuine Ford numbers on it etc....

Next thing to check was the cable, no visible problems with that

So how could I gain just that little bit of extra travel required

Increase the circumference of the ratchet mechanism

I was first thinking along the lines of screwing a slotted bolt into the mech. where the cable rolls over, that would give more "lift" on the cable as you push the pedal, but this idea was soon scrapped

So using a bit of foam filled satellite cable (half of a twin core) was just the right size to slot in where I wanted, hence increase the circumference of the mech

Refitted and BINGO
I can now actually select gears with engine on

I still can't believe how easy it was to do

(It didn't help, the fact that the so called mechanic didn't bother refitting the rear spring that holds the pedal up As where this was, it was interfering with the "resting" position of the pedal, which couldn't have helped, but we are talking a possible mm )

Here's what I'm on about








SORTED !

Just cured a similar problem on my MK3, biting point right at bottom, difficulty in selecting first.
Used a piece of electrical wire which was about 3-4mm in diameter including the insulation.
All it needed was to unhook the clutch cable at the pedal end and lay the wire in to the groove in the quadrant.
Wire was a snug fit in the groove and I stopped it just before the start of the groove to help refitting the clutch cable
Then hooked the cable back on.
No pedal removal needed.
Thanks for the idea Andy
Can we get this in the useful info section?

[MinorMatt]

That cables not fitted anymore... its now got a later manual adjust pedal

[Bryan]

Thanks to this thread I now have a working clutch on my newly aquired mk3.

I used an old tent peg (again with a diameter of around 4mm) and bent it round to follow the curvature of the ratchet mechanism so that it can't compress over time. Before this I couldn't select 1st, 2nd or reverse gears from standstill. Now the clutch works like a charm.

I had to remove the whole pedal to do it but it took me about 30 minutes altogether to take it apart, shape the tent peg and then refit the whole thing.

[wydene]

I fitted a manual clutch cable and clutch pedal on my 1993 mk4 Transit,(the Haynes workshop manual suggests this if auto tension-er proves troublesome) but I still cannot select any gear while engine is running, and have to start the engine in either low gear to pull away, release bearing is noisy, I suspect the clutch needs replacing.

[bazw]

the spigot bearing in crank(if it has one) may have seized so the gear box is always getting drive

[Mr RVM]

I fitted a manual clutch cable and clutch pedal on my 1993 mk4 Transit,(the Haynes workshop manual suggests this if auto tension-er proves troublesome) but I still cannot select any gear while engine is running, and have to start the engine in either low gear to pull away, release bearing is noisy, I suspect the clutch needs replacing.

I suspect you're right (you need a new clutch)

[eastkent]

I wanted to add that I've just done the bit-of-curved-wire-in-the-adjuster trick and it has worked a treat!

My '94 2.5Di is LHD, which I think adds a little more awkwardness to the job, seeing as the clutch pedal has very little room around it, but it was simple enough once I'd studied the pictures here.

All I did was roughly pre-shape a piece of sturdy plastic-coated wire then I pushed the sprung adjuster toward the front of the van until I could get the cable out of its location, then slowly let the adjuster come forwards again. I was a bit concerned that the end of the cable might ping off down a hole somewhere if I let go of it but it didn't. I then inserted my piece of wire into the groove and pushed it down into place. Then I pushed the sprung adjuster back again to get the cable back into place, gave a few pushes on the clutch pedal to settle everything into place, and the clutch biting point is now a good couple of inches higher than it was. Brilliant!

It still judders in first and reverse, of course, but it doesn't slip yet so that problem can wait until it definitely needs a new clutch plate.

Thanks for all the info on this subject, it's been incredibly useful.