What would cause a heavy clutch pedal?

[9 Deuce GT]

When I bought my GT in '97, I noticed that the clutch pedal was heavier than my friends 5.0L's, but never thought much about it. I just thought it might be a heavy duty clutch. Well, it was slipping pretty bad about a month ago, so I swapped it out for a SPEC stage II. I have read that these things are supposed to have light pedal feel. When I put it all together, it was better then a stock clutch in my buddies '88 LX, (all stock stuff). After going through the break in period, I have noticed a progressively heavier pedal. WTF. The bearing retainer only have minimal wear, so I greased her good and slapped it together. How could it have nice light feel and then just get really heavy? By the way, I did all of the break in (400 miles) in one day. By the end of the day, it was really heavy.

 

[omarECD]

http://50stangs.com/techarticles/clutchcableadjustment.html

 

[HISSIN50]

what is the quadrant situation? ditto for cable? when were they done if aftermarket?

good luck.

 

[jpctln]

When I started my car up right after the King Cobra install, the clutch pedal felt, literally, as light as the gas pedal. It's got almost 200 miles on it now and it's hardened up considerably, pretty much to the stock pedal effort now.

 

[9 Deuce GT]

jpctln,
That is the same thing that happened to me. Why?

 

[9 Deuce GT]

Do you guys think it is the quadrant, or the bearing retainer?

 

[1986LX2002]

My clutch was fine for about a month or so, then one day it was damn heavy. Come to find out my cable was routed wrong and was stretched out. The cable will bind up if its routed wrong and if its stretched your going to be in a hep of trouble when it snaps. Well guess what last thrusday my cable snapped and had to towed to the shop that did it they told me the guy that did the install was fired for doing crappy work and said the cable was cut, stretched, and routed wrong. New cable in the car!! and much lighter! I drove 6months with a heavy cable and it sucked. My left leg is literally bigger and strong than my right lol.

 

[jpctln]

Well my cable couldn't be routed wrong because it's the original one. The quadrant is stock too. Maybe it has something to do with the grease on the bearing retainer? Perhaps it thickens, I have no idea.

 

[v8only]

never grease your t/o bearing or retainer, they don't need it, you'll only wind up throwing grease all over your brand new clutch and ruining it.

Unless you are the original owner, I'd verify cable routing. Verify it's routed like in this picture. It goes down near the steering rack, poke it UNDER THE K MEMBER right at the oil filter, and under the car to the clutch fork. Follow the route of the cable, be sure it follows a large arc with no kinking. this is very important.

What setup do you have?? if you still have the stock plastic quadrant and cable, this is likely you're problem (9 out of ten times) would suggest a new OEM non adjustable cable, and aftermarket alum quadrant, and a firewall adjuster. This should solve your problems, and they're cheap too.

Also, read that link posted above (thank you for posting!!!) I wrote that, there is some great info there.

Let me know if you're still having problems.

 

[9 Deuce GT]

I have a UPR quadrant and FWA along with an OEM replacement cable, (D&D told me it is made by Steeda, are they junk?). I will check the routing of the cable tomarrow. I just don't understand how it could be really light and then get gradually stiffer in the matter of hours.