Adjusting clutch 73 cj5 with 258 straight 6?

How do you adjust the clutch in 73 cj5 with 258 straight 6, my clutch doesn't engage/disengage until 1 inch of your foot being off the pedal! I was told when I bought the Jeep that a new clutch was installed

 

I had one of these once, and had a clutch adjustment problem.

Turned out to be the nylon bushings in the bellcrank cross shaft were all worn out, leaving all kinds of weird lost motion.

 

Do you have the stock clutch set-up or something else like hydraulic or chain type. Pic's are always very helpful.

 

If original. there is a pushrod that fits in a pocket of the release arm on the bellhousing. The rod is threaded, and you can lengthen the pushrod by unscrewing the nut on the pushrod. This will remove slack.

 

This is to Timgr-you spoke in another thread I can't find now about the CJ5 having all kinds of trouble with cable clutch assembly things and then they went to linkage of some sort and they had issues of their own. My husband has a 72 CJ5 and has replaced every item in the clutch assembly and pilot bearing etc. and still when the Jeep is running you can not shift! When the jeep is off of course you can put it in any gear. He has taken it apart and back together 3 times now and can not see what the problem is. Maybe it's one of the issues you address about their own issues in the other thread. I would sooo appreciate some help in how those other issues that might now be our issue was corrected. Thank you-Cheryl

 

Does your Jeep have the clutch cable or the rods and bell crank? A '72 could have either.

The problem with the cable clutch is with the cable. The cable will seize in its sheath and make pressing the clutch pedal very difficult. Is that the problem?

If the pedal moves up and down easily and the clutch does not disengage, something is disconnected or so poorly adjusted that the motion has no effect. Also possible you are using the wrong parts.

First post - welcome!

 

There is pressure that I would call normal on the clutch pedal. As far as parts, we have ordered the whole kit, and pilot bearing also for the 72 CJ5, and it said 72-75 for the years. My husband is wondering if the throw out bearing needs to be longer?

 

I forgot to say its the rods and bell crank type-no cable

 

A '72 with the rods and bellcrank works the same as the later Jeeps 73-74-75 with that setup. The '72s were delivered with the troublesome cable clutch, but nearly all were converted to the bellcrank under warranty.



This picture will be in the 73-74-75 TSM (technical service manual, the factory service manual), one of which you can find here: https://oljeep.com/edge_parts_man.html

If the throwout bearing is wrong, you may be unable to adjust the slack out of the clutch pedal. Normally, a properly adjusted clutch pedal has an inch or so of free travel (slack) before the throwout bearing touches the clutch cover fingers. Once contact is made, effort increases because pedal movement is now compressing the clutch cover springs and freeing the clutch plate - this releases the engine from the clutch plate and disengages the clutch.

Does the new clutch cover match the old, ie are they both diaphragm type (lots of fingers) or both Borg&Beck (3 arms) and both the same height of the fingers? Does the replacement throwout bearing match the original? I don't have a parts book for a 1972 CJ, but from other sources it should be a Jeep PN 5350852. RockAUto shows that as an SKF N1701 https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/skf,N1701,clutch+release+bearing,1968 - Even though that's out of stock at RockAuto, your parts store should be able to match either the Jeep or SKF number.

 

He is going to try and find the old clutch cover tomorrow and see but he thinks they are the same-the throw out bearing was worn but he thinks it was the problem and maybe the new one isn't long enough. Thanks for your help-I'll post after tomorrow when we find the piece.

 

Pro tip - be sure to keep or not turn in the old parts until the job is completely finished and road tested. Once you turn in your cores, they go into a big anonymous pile and are gone. Just FYI.

 

I never turn in cores any more. I just keep them for parts, you never know when you might need them with the availability of quality parts like it is.