new clutch assm. issues

kCSMustangGT02 said:

HI,
I am replacing the clutch assembly in my 02 mustang GT tr3650. I pulled the tranny, removed the old clutch assm. then had the fly wheel turned. I bolted everything back up and now the pressure plate teeth are too far away from the throw out bearing. This is my second clutch to install and I am unsure of how far the teeth retract in when you bolt it to the flywheel, but they are going in quite a bit. the arm that the throw out bearing attaches to almost goes all the way to the front of the alotted travel cut out in the bell housing befor it reaches the pressure plate teeth. when you push the arm against the pressure plate teeth and put the cable in there is alot of slack. when pushing the clutch in it shows no resistance until your almost to the floor. I feel like I am leaving a simple little piece out or something isnt lining up right. Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks
Casey

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Do you have the standard clutch quadrant installed? If so, pull up on the clutch pedal until you hear a "thunk" and then try it. That will adjust the cable and tighten it up. Every month or two you will need to do this again to keep the clutch take-up point at about the same height from the floor...

kCSMustangGT02 said:

Thanks for the info I'll try it when I get home this evening. How far do the pressure plate teeth normally extract in when your bolting it down? I feel like this has something to do with the throw out bearing being so far away.

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The throwout bearing will be in contact with those release fingers, and since it is attached to the release fork, the lever is going to have to move significantly forward with a new clutch because of how those fingers "sink in" as you tighten the pressure plate when installing. But as the clutch wears, those fingers will begin to retreat away from the firewall, which makes the fork move in the same way. Sounds like you are properly set up, except for the cable adjustment. There's no real way the fingers can be too far in and the clutch fork will move far enough forward once you pull up the pedal and let the auto-adjuster remove the slack in the cable.

Simple test is to put it in gear, they press the clutch and carefully bump the starter. Does car jump? If so, clutch is not releasing. Possible causes:

(1) release fork not on the ball/socket pivot point (2) release bearing not installed in the fork properly (3) I have seen one installed where it would not release, and I was simply asked to install a new clutch/pressure plate and the problem went away, whether the pressure plate was damaged or what I did not try to find out.

How much travel is in the end of the release fork after you self-adjusted the clutch, with the clutch released? The cable end should be against the release fork, and any pressure on the release fork applied by hand should not cause the release fork to more any, it should be under a very slight tension after adjusting. If there is slop, you might be ready to replace the quadrant. The nylon parts go bad and then the self-adjusting mechanism won't work. You can try getting on the floor and "helping pull the end of the clutch cable tight as somone lifts the pedal. There is a spring that should do that but where it attaches to the nylon quadrant is subject to breaking...

Or you can buy an 80-buck combo from advanced, including a manual cable adjusting mechanism (not on the firewall however) plus a new aluminum quadrant that will get rid of the junk if that is the problem.