Clutch broken?

[philly029]

I'm confused. My clutch started feeling weird about a week ago. I would have to press the clutch all the way to the floor to get it to engage. So I figured a new cable and quadrant were called for. But just as I was moving my car so I could work on it, "SNAP". Peddle to the floor. Cool, now it'll be easier to get the cable out. True. But, when I took the cover off of the clutch fork I noticed that the fork moves back and forth freely. Any ideas? Could it be the ball stud or fork, maybe T.O. bearing. What I'm afraid to hear is that my pressure plate shot craps. If this has happened to anyone out there please let me know.

 

[stangbear427]

Have you confirmed that the cable is broken yet? How old is your clutch assembly? Is the fork sloppy, or just has no tension on it?

 

[philly029]

No, the cable isn't broken. I don't know what you mean by the fork being sloppy but it seems like it's still pivoting on the ball stud and has no tension. The clutch probably has about 20-30,000 miles on it and is a Ford Motorsport HD

 

[spideys85gt]

same kind of thing happened to me excpet my bearing retainer was shot and my TO was cocked on the retainer for a long time and i wore the retainer uneven and i got a bunch of slop and then my clutch was shot

 

[mustangmax]

Any noises previously from the throw out bearing? Did your pedal effort change? Its also possible that if you still have the original self adjuster the nylon quadrant took a dump. Try grabbing the clutch pedal and pulling it toward you to see if the self adjuster kicks in.

 

[blk92stangg]

The fork will move back and forth pretty freely normally. In fact, I think there is only a matter of a few inches or less, where the clutch engages and disengages. Of course if the fork is clanging off the bell housing when pushed forward your clutch has given up the ghost. Try looking under the dash to see how your quadrant is doing.

 

[v8only]

actually, there is many inches that the fork has to move. Is there pressure at all??? If your fork is moving all the way forward and back, it's possible your throwout bearing got shoved through the pressure plate fingers. shine a light in there and take a look.

usually when you hear a snap and this happens it's the clutch cable

 

[HISSIN50]

im confused with this too. the cable can break enough to not disengage the clutch, yet not be snapped in two. a lot of times, you will get a pop with an inch or two of new freeplay. then shortly thereafter, the whole thing goes.

 

[stangbear427]

True, but you should never be able to easily move a clutch fork with your hands when the clutch assembly is in there.

What I meant by "is it sloppy" is whether it was moving freely along the correct forward/backward path, or flopping around in any direction- which would indicate that one of two points are disconnected, but you answered that. In light of this info, I'm leaning towards the assembly itself, mainly the TOB finding a new home- so I'm with V8Only on this one. To put it differently, I think you are a victim of FMS quality.

 

[philly029]

It's not the quad because I swapped it out and then when I got under the car to hook up the cable I noticed that the fork moved all the way to the front of the hole without any tension. I can't see in the hole because my h-pipe is in the way. I was trying to see if it might be something cheap because I'm a little tapped for cash at the moment. Also, I have to work on it out on the street and I didn't want to take off the bellhousing if I didn't have to. I really didn't want to have to drop my tranny either but I know there's no getting around that. Now I'll post my new thread: The Save Phil's Mustang Charity.

 

[v8only]

If your clutch fork is moving ALL the way to the front, that's really bad news. keep us updated

 

[mustangmax]

I agree with the others if you changed your quadrant already. Likely the TOB shifting or being pushed into the fingers on the pressure plate... Its gonna take a tear down to be sure.

 

[philly029]

Thanks for everything. It might be a few days before I get it apart. I'll post back to this thread when I find out what's up.

 

[mustangmax]

Cool be sure to update. I'd like to know what it is... You've got my curiousity going...