Bellcrank/ Z bar

[RVA CJ]

How much side to side play should I have in my bellcrank/z bar? I have about an inch of left/right play. 1982 T-4 AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l I6

 

[Lumpy Grits]

That's WAY to much!
Sounds like the internal Nylon bushings are shot.
LG

 

[RVA CJ]

Would that be why I get some difficulty going into gear, especially first, sometimes?

 

[GARGOYLEJEEPER]

Yes, to much slop can cause incomplete shifting. Why you are inspecting also look for wallowing out of the rod holes and abrasion wear of the rods.

 

[RVA CJ]

Thanks!

 

[Torxhead]

That bellcrank should be mounted perpendicular to the frame, bad motor mounts can push the engine back changing the alignment to put too much load on the bellcranks outer pivot and it will break. On the AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l , bad motor mounts are hard to spot, but when the valve cover gets close to the firewall, its usually a sign. It is a poor design.

 

[Hedgehog]

RVA CJ - This is an easy fix. Also if your holes are wallowed out either weld the holes shut and re-drill or drill them out and use hyme joints to replace the old rod ends. This is a little more complicated, but your clutch will be far smoother and you will be far happier.

 

[Flex BT]

Hey someone actually close by! I'm in Chesterfield.

The bellcrank, bushings, clips, and pivot are all pretty cheap parts, if they're worn at all I'd think about bolting on new ones.

 

[RVA CJ]

I put all new on! The only item i didn't put on was the new grim joint clutch pedal rod. They sent me one for a CJ5 . Not worth the money to return. So I need to get another one of those. My 1st gear is still tricky and reverse still grinds w/o double clutching. It has plenty of power, so i think my clutch his fine. New bellcrank, new adjuster rod, new bushings in bellcrank. My bellcrank brackets are fine, so I don't think my motor mounts are bad.

 

[RVA CJ]

*heim not grim

 

[RVA CJ]

*frustrated.

 

[Flex BT]

Someone with more T-18 knowledge sound off if I'm incorrect here, and RVA you might already be doing this:

With a T-18 only 2nd-4th are synchronized, which means you need to push the clutch in and shift to 2nd before you put it in first or reverse to get things lined up.

Just thought I'd throw it out... and inch of side to side play in the bellcrank is definitely still an issue but that might be part of your problem if you didn't know about the non-synched thing.

 

[RVA CJ]

I knew nothing about the sync thing! The bellcrank issue is resolved! That's exactly what I have to do to get it into gear smoothly. Sometimes pushing it hard to the left will help it slide into first. When it first fires up, reverse nor 1st are an issue. Smooth as silk then.

 

[RVA CJ]

But 2nd to 1st is normally needed without having a good pause to get it into first. Maybe I'm just too accustomed to newer manual trannys

 

[Flex BT]

Another thing that helped my tranny smooth out a bit was adding some synchromesh to the oil. Glad to have someone else close by on the board, send me a PM if you ever need help turning a wrench.

 

[RVA CJ]

Thanks! I will! My number is 804-218-7664 Dave.