Hydraulic Throw Out Bearing Issues

[BattlestarGalactic]

Even with all the fuss about CF, I still run one in my '69 F100 2wd, 428/4 spd/4.56 gears.  Been in there since mid 90's.  Still going strong.  No weird vibrations.  Truck runs mid 13's.

Bad stories from years back and Long style PP?   Back in early 90's, RAM was local to me(before moving south).  I had them rebuild a clutch for me, twice.  Lasted a few weeks, typically broke one of the levers off.  Pull, rebuild, repeat.  It would slip, so they constantly added more base pressure.  I finally gave up on them, got a generic rebuilt unit at parts store and never touched the truck again(1972 International pickup).

Took me years of not liking RAM to actually use them in the later 90's to supply clutch parts for my race car.  I quit using them 10 yrs ago when a local guy can do it better/faster.

[Bolted to Floor]

I hear ya on the Centerforce. I’ll be pulling it, but I don’t know that it’s the problem. The one I bought in 1990 took a bunch of abuse, or a lest as much as a stock 210 HP engine can deliver. Somewhere around the 100K mile mark and six months before I sold the car, it started slipping. I replaced the disc and it was back to getting rubber when I hit second gear. Man that car was a lot of fun to drive.

There is a new McLeod in my future!! Thanks Brent.

[TomP]

I have never liked hydraulic clutch stuff and had lots of grief with them, I refuse to use it again.

[Bolted to Floor]

What I have learned from this past weekend.
The balance of the drive shaft is good.
It was a drop off and pick up of the tires at Discount. The two front tires came back with marks for having the balance adjusted. Don’t know how far out of whack they were.

I posted earlier about the one weight on the Centerforce clutch that was hanging just a bit lower than the others. What I didn’t realize till I was about to unbolt the clutch was the ring of weights was off center of the fingers. I was amazed how little force it would take to move the circle of weights around. I would think they should be able to center themselves once the motor started.

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MDl shipped the throw out bearing seal kit and a spacer to me that arrived on Thursday. The clutch was sitting on the front porch Friday morning. I ordered a Tilton bearing seal install tool from Summit. It’s the things I don’t know that bit me in the back side. There is a difference in Next day air and Next day Saturday. I missed that with Summit. The bearing and seal tool arrived this morning!!

The brother-in-law came over to help put it all back together. Installing the new seal wasn’t too bad. Used air pressure like they said to get the old one out. I took one of the plastic To Go bowls and cut it up to have a collar to slide into the bearing housing. Like the process Dairy Queen and McDonalds uses to make you ice cream treats and keep the sides of the cup clean. Greased the seal up with the supplied lube and used a cut down portion of a paint stick to work it into the grove. Held it in place with the paint stick and worked the plastic back out. The orange wiper ring popped right in.

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There was plenty of thread overlap for adjusting the height of the bearing that the spacer from MDL was not needed with the new McCleod.

The new mufflers went on too.

The hardest part of all this was getting the clutch bled. I had pushed all the fluid out master cylinder last week in the parking lot as I kept pushing in the pedal to see if it would heal itself. Using a mighty vac pump from the bottom, I was getting all kinds of air out. What I was not getting was a pedal building pressure. The rear end was sitting lower than the front, so I jacked the back up to be above the front in an effort to release any trapped air.

I have never liked hydraulic clutch stuff and had lots of grief with them, I refuse to use it again.

I was almost there with ya.

In the end, I held the clutch pedal to the floor with a piece of 2x4. Kept pulling fluid and air out the bottom till it cleared up. Then made sure the reservoir was full and let the clutch pedal up. It sucked the level down in the reservoir. Continuing this process was how I finally got it bled out.


With the McCleod, I have a softer pedal than I did with the Centerforce.


Time for a test drive…… its much improved, but there is still a vibration in the 50 to 75 range. Did not drive faster than that. I think what I was feeling the most was a tire slightly out of balance. The continued vibration is not constant, it changes in amplitude, if that’s the right word. If you put it on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being no vibes, then is cycles between 5 and 10.

I will be driving to Glenrose on Thursday, so to get some miles behind me, I drove to to work today. Its sitting in the rain for the first time in decades. Tonight’s home work is drive line angles. I will get them measured again this afternoon. My attempt on Saturday failed. I will also pull the cross member back out for more grinding, its still touching the transmission. I will also take a look at the throw out bearing to see how it looks after a 100 miles of driving.

[Bolted to Floor]

For Tuesday evening, the hydraulic TO bearing looked like it hasn’t moved after driving about a 100 miles.

Pulled the cross member and there was still signs of rubbing. Kept taking the file to it and then touching up the paint each time, then going for a test drive. Finally got it clearanced Wednesday morning. There is just a hint of a vibration remaining and the car had no issue running 80 on the way to Glenrose today.

I will go back to the drive line angles early next week just to make sure.

Someone suggested I try to install a dampner on the back of the transmission like the ones Ford had on the 6 cylinder T5 from the 80-90’s. They said it was helpful for some but not all. Found one on EBay for $40, so I will give that a try. Maybe I can be vibe free.

[blykins]

You don't know how many emails I get about faulty Centerforce clutches. 

[My427stang]

Nice work, I think your plan to reattack the angles is a good one, any time the two planes are off, you will induce vibration.  The challenge is choosing where you want the misalignment on a leaf spring setup, WOT or cruise.  Almost always some sort of tradeoff.

Are you running any sort of traction device?  Although Caltracs are the best for drag racing, a simple Shelby underride bar does wonders for holding the pinion in place. 

As far as the counterweight, I doubt you will need to hang that extra weight off there if you get the angles a bit tighter.  Again, I have never seen an FE Mustang with stock motor mounts (not lowered) and a TKO work out without notching the floor seat brace.  It just makes the output angle too steep.  In fact, often things get very close to the bottom of the fan shroud depending on how you are set up, because it also changes the other end.

[Bolted to Floor]

There is a helper spring that was added to the pack by the previous owner that I re-installed to gain a little height in the back. Otherwise, nothing for traction control.

I will take a look at the fan clearance too.

Thanks guys.