Clutch Linkag Stress and Rebuilding

Good morning,

So I was out in the field last weekend on my way to the woods. As soon as I hit the gravel road intersection of the forest fire road where I would have to get out and drop her into 4L the clutch peddle goes right to the floor of the tub and flatlines. Keep in mind that I am at least 12-15 miles from the nearest blacktop, let alone town.

Please see the following diagram:

http://www.jeep4x4center.com/jeep-clutch-parts/cj5-cj7-cj8-scrambler/index.htm

The bellcrank came completely loose causing the retainer clip to bend and fly off and therefore pulling the pivot socket out of the bellcrank. Apparently there are these plastic bushings inside that hold the pivot socket into place along wit the clip on both sides of the bellcrank. As it turns out, one of my bushings had a chip in it and just finally gave way.....

I ordered all the replacement parts, about $40 and am awaiting them to come in to start my Memorial Day Weekend jeep project.

Has anyone ever had this happen before? Are there any warning signs I could have looked for to prevent this from happening in the field? Any additional knowledge is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

 

I think this is the reason why many folks upgrade to hydraulics. Seems like it's a "when", not "if" it will happen if you do any kind of off-road for awhile.

 

The bellcrank isn't great. Jeep tried to use a clutch cable for a few years, but went back to the bellcrank.

If you stuff one of the front wheels and leave the other wheel hanging, the flex in the frame is enough to keep the clutch from disengaging when you push in the pedal. This is the complaint that most owners have about the bellcrank. The ball-and-socket joint on the pushrod fails often too. When this happens, the pushrod falls out and you have no clutch. The bellcrank coming apart is more unusual, but I presume it can happen, given your description.

The most common improvement is to replace the ball joints with Heim joints. This prevents the rod ends from falling out when worn. In your case, I would be sure that the brackets are positioned properly on the frame so that the bellcrank has as little end play as possible. I would also check that your transmission mount and engine mounts are solid and in good condition - if the engine moves around, the end play of the bellcrank will change.

Sorry, no perfect solution for this one.

 

You can adjust the frame side pivot ball by lossening the bolts that hold the bracket it mounts to on the frame and pushing the mount towards the transmission to try and tighten it. Keep the bell crank full of grease, this exerts a hydraulic pressure on the plastic end caps forcing them on the pivots. Make sure the rubber boots cover the spring clips that hold the plastic pieces in or they will keep popping out.

I safety wired my push rod (from the bell crank to the throw out shaft) to the transmission so I wouldn't lose it. The separation was a frequent occurence for me when things got twisty.

I fought this for a few years, then went hydraulic. Haven't had a problem since.

Good luck.

 

What did it cost to go hydraulic? I switched from t-150 to t-18a and had to get an adapter...I would guess all this work would have to be redone?

 

doesnt cost much to go hydro, one of these kits are fairly universial just a matter of getting the push rod to line up with your pedal

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hydr...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

 

There's lots of advice out there on going hydraulic, it's fairly common. I bought the cylinders that matched to a '80's CJ7 w/4cylinder I believe...I also had the T150 and went T18, the bellhousing has the mounting holes ready for the slave cylinder...at least mine did, and it bolted right up. Aligning the master with the pedal and attaching it takes some extra work.

Here's one of the threads http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26956

From Advance Auto...master is 800012, slave is 900021

 

I used to have problems with my clutch linkage falling off the clutch fork and then out of the truck ( a PIA to find out in the sticks). I found that the problem came from 2 places. First off all my little ball/socket joints were wore a lot. The other issue came from tremendous frame flex during off road use. The frame would actually flex enough to pull the linkage apart. I fixed this in two ways. First i fabbed new linkages that uses cute little hiem joints from snowmobile steering linkage (chosen because they were the highest quality for that size). As far as the frame flex, tubing out the frame and roll cage pretty much took care of that.