Clutch adjustment: 1-1.5" of pedal play or 1/8" fork play?

[1971ford]

I'm with pelesl.... we get dumbed down cliff notes of this thread?

I had no idea there was anything more to adjusting a clutch than picking a spot where you wanted it to engage.
my clutch could be WAY off right now and I bet it is.... The free play you guys are talking about at the fork/linkage, is this how much of a gap there is between the fork and the tip of the linkage rod? Not sure If i am understanding that.
And like pelesl said, is the pedal free play you guys are talking about, how much you push the clutch before it engages? And how are you measuring this??

[1971ford]

I think i have it figured out.
Googled the pedal free play thing and It is just the distance the pedal travels until the clutch starts engaging. If you listen carefully (inspection cover being off might of helped in my case) I could hear the clutch fork hit when I pushed the pedal slowly. I adjusted the linkage so that I pushed the pedal 1.25" and then it would start engaging.

[70_F100]

I think i have it figured out.
Googled the pedal free play thing and It is just the distance the pedal travels until the clutch starts engaging. If you listen carefully (inspection cover being off might of helped in my case) I could hear the clutch fork hit when I pushed the pedal slowly. I adjusted the linkage so that I pushed the pedal 1.25" and then it would start engaging.

Good adjustment, Ryan, if you've got 1.25" before you feel any resistance at the top of the pedal travel.

Remember, though, that "clutch engagement" refers to when the clutch begins to "take hold" when the pedal is released from the lowest point (floorboard).

"Free play" refers to the distance the pedal travels from its uppermost position until the release bearing makes contact with the fingers on the pressure plate.

[1971ford]

ok, how do I know when the clutch starts engaging and not just the fork hitting?
Or do i have it close enough to wear it will only change the free play about .25" and i should just leave it?

[70_F100]

As soon as the release bearing hits the fingers, the clutch begins to release. Well, sort of. I guess I should say it begins to go into "release mode". As you've probably figured out, if you've got a clutch disc that's in good shape, you can press the pedal a good distance before the clutch assembly actually releases. That's because between the two facings on the disc, there's sort of a "wave" spring that compresses as the pressure plate applies pressure to the disc. As the facings wear, the distance you can push the pedal down (assuming the free play is kept adjusted correctly) gets progressively less.

When you have the required 1.5" - 2" free pedal travel at the top, you've got it adjusted right.

[Mancar1]

Adjusting the clutch has always been a piece of cake for me. After reading all this, what are you all trying to do, confuse this old guy. (Just ribben)

[pelesl]

Good evening!
In the 1972 Ford Truck Shop Manual, on page 16-03-3, I read this:

[ Image ]

The 1 to 1.5" of free play they're talking about there is in the clutch pedal itself, not any other part of the linkage. And according to these instructions, 1.5" is really better than 1".

I messed around for a while with the adjusting nuts and finally achieved a position where the pedal free play was about 1 and 1/8". With this in place, I measured the play between the tip of the clutch release rod and the fork (with the fork already positioned so it was just touching the T.O. bearing to the P.P.). The play there was about 1/4".

Robroy

In the 1968 manual, for F-100 - 350 series:

1. Adjust the clutch pedal stop to provide a pedal total travel of 7 3/8 - 7 3/4 inches.
2. Adjust the clutch pedal free travel to specification by backing off the jam nut and adjusting the spherical nut on the release push rod. The free travel should be measured from the floor mat to the top center area of the pedal pad. There should be 1/4 inch clearance between the spherical nut and the release lever. Make this adjustment with the retracting spring in place.
3. Tighten the jam nut.

In the specifications section of the chapter, there is no initial free travel spec for the F-100-350. So in this case it's the "1/4 inch clearance between the spherical nut and the release lever" (at the clutch). This procedure is nice actually because it's really easy to do - go in the truck and rotate the eccentric stop until you get total pedal travel, then go under the truck and back off the spherical nut until you have the 1/4".

If I'm not mistaken the "free travel" they refer to in step 2 is actually the pedal final free travel. I'm not really sure how that works and, if you only have the pedal stop and spherical nut to mess with, adjusting a third thing means you're looking at the linkages themselves.

Having spent a considerable effort fixing my pedal bushings, I don't even want to look at the linkage.... My fix was similar to Mustang Steve's kit (which I would have bought had I known it existed), except I welded on washers to thicken the bracket and used rod ends instead of bearings so I didn't have to worry about alignment. It did require that I bore a hole in the bracket with a mill. If anyone is interested I can give you more details (a picture is attached). When I reassembled everything I put the eccentric stop back where it was (judging by the wear mark) and I'm not getting enough pedal travel, though it seems it's all the way back against the firewall already---we'll see how much more I can get once I muck with it.

DSCN5723.JPG

[pelesl]

In the 1968 manual, for F-100 - 350 series:

1. Adjust the clutch pedal stop to provide a pedal total travel of 7 3/8 - 7 3/4 inches.
2. Adjust the clutch pedal free travel to specification by backing off the jam nut and adjusting the spherical nut on the release push rod. The free travel should be measured from the floor mat to the top center area of the pedal pad. There should be 1/4 inch clearance between the spherical nut and the release lever. Make this adjustment with the retracting spring in place.
3. Tighten the jam nut.

I tried to follow these instructions yesterday. It may work on a new truck, but not on something as worn as mine. First, the max pedal travel I can adjust for is the spec. Adjusting for 1/4 inch at the spherical nut gave me about 1.5 inches at the pedal. I tried to drive back and forth on the driveway and it would grind going in to first. When I checked the adjustment it looked as things had moved a bit. After a few iterations I left it with maximum travel and with just enough free play that i can wiggle the fork at the transmission. Now first still grinds a bit and reverse a bit more.

I have the borg warner 3 speed overdrive, so no synchro on first. But if I am completely stopped, doesn't grinding mean that the clutch is not fully disengaged? I would expect a bit of noise as things align, but no grinding. It's a brand new clutch and flywheel, could that be the reason?

[pelesl]

In the 1968 manual, for F-100 - 350 series:

1. Adjust the clutch pedal stop to provide a pedal total travel of 7 3/8 - 7 3/4 inches.
2. Adjust the clutch pedal free travel to specification by backing off the jam nut and adjusting the spherical nut on the release push rod. The free travel should be measured from the floor mat to the top center area of the pedal pad. There should be 1/4 inch clearance between the spherical nut and the release lever. Make this adjustment with the retracting spring in place.
3. Tighten the jam nut.

I tried to follow these instructions yesterday. It may work on a new truck, but not on something as worn as mine. First, the max pedal travel I can adjust for is the spec. Adjusting for 1/4 inch at the spherical nut gave me about 1.5 inches at the pedal. I tried to drive back and forth on the driveway and it would grind going in to first. When I checked the adjustment it looked as things had moved a bit. After a few iterations I left it with maximum travel and with just enough free play that i can wiggle the fork at the transmission. Now first still grinds a bit and reverse a bit more.

I have the borg warner 3 speed overdrive, so no synchro on first. But if I am completely stopped, doesn't grinding mean that the clutch is not fully disengaged? I would expect a bit of noise as things align, but no grinding. It's a brand new clutch and flywheel, could that be the reason?

Yesterday I drove it some 10 miles and I noticed two things:

1. The clutch engages when the pedal is almost all the way out. It's not confidence-inspiring. Adding more clearance at the fork (more initial free play) would fix this.
2. The grinding in first and reverse seems to be avoidable if I wait long enough after putting the clutch in---so it seems it's simply the tranny still spinning from being in neutral. Honestly, this surprises me. It makes it hard to get going right when the light turns green unless I can see the opposite light and push the pedal in when it turns yellow.

Before the next time I drive it I will add more free play and see how it feels.

[70_F100]

Shift it into 2nd or 3rd before trying to put it in 1st or reverse. That will stop the transmission and clutch from spinning and should eliminate the grinding. People drove cars for many decades with unsynchronized first gear transmissions, and that's the way they did it.

Forget about the "pedal travel" adjustment method in the manual. Just get your clutch pedal even with the brake pedal.

You don't adjust the clutch to get the engagement at a certain point. It is what it is, mostly determined by the thickness of your clutch disc (there are a couple of other factors in there, but the disc is #1). Throw out all of the steps in the manual and just adjust the pedal to have about 1" to 1.5" of free play at the top (even 2" won't hurt a thing). Then, just drive it.