Clutch Mystery, Hydraulic disengage 3/4

[funguy831]

Everything was fine until I blew the motor coming home from the Dusy Trail. I rebuilt the motor, installed new bell housing, clutch assembly etc. I am having issues with the Hydraulic clutch. I have replaced the master and slave 4 times before finally changing the clutch kit again. During the clutch kit change I found that the throw out bearing was not the correct one and the clutch fork had play at the bearing. The problem is - the clutch pedal disengages the clutch 3/4 of the pedal push. Sometimes I have to pump the clutch to get a good release, sometimes when driving and resting my foot on the pedal and tork the engine a bit the clutch pedal will drop 2". It seems the clutch fork does not align with the slave perfect and when the fork moves up or down by an inch the slave has farther to push or vis versa. This discription may not be the best but then again if I understood the issue it would not be a mystery. Do I have the wrong bell housing? how many options are there for a 86 CJ AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l & T-5 ? Do I have the wrong fork? how many options are there? Is my slave or master wrong (diffent push distance) can I have the wrong clutch kit?
When I changed the clutch last night it seems hard to push the pedal now but has the same issue with releasing 3/4 of the way through the pedal push...
Please help... changing the master and slave 4 times, clutch 2 times... and ready to take it all apart again just to look at it.. (not looking forward to it, I should be working to make money to pay for the next upgrade but love working on my Jeep. Cheaper than a shrink... LOL)
Doug
Aptos Ca

 

[mylittlecj5]

why did you have to put a new bellhousing on it?

 

[funguy831]

Hi centered on the fordyce trail broke my bell housing, when I fried the motor comming back from the Dusy trail I bought all the "to do" parts and installed them all at the same time.. the bell housing I installed was the second I ordered as the first one was obiously wrong...

 

[mylittlecj5]

Hmm I can't think of a good reason for the symptoms you are describing, other than maybe the wrong bellhousing or possibly the wrong fork.
Just throwing thoughts out there now...
Are you sure you have all the air out of the system each time? The pumping of the pedal says that there is air in there somewhere to me.
Can you get pic of how the slave cylinder mounts, and the angle of the pushrod?
What about checking the motor mounts? are they in good shape? the pedal movement when you tork the engine sounds like the engine is moving around too much on the mounts.

 

[funguy831]

I just wrote a long reply and it was lost.. here is the short version... last night I took it apart again.. found the new clutch fork hitting the bell housing.. after finding a thread on line that spoke of this.. I ground and installed the old fork.. works good... but.. when I backed down my drive with jeep front up... clutch one more time seemed like it had no fluild and would not even work when pumped.. this morning when parked flat it was fine... mystry clutch... I think I will replace the master and slave one more time... I think I have the wrong bell housing, clutch fork etc... I am not sure how to find the correct parts... I think I should build a better skid plate to prevent and future need for replacing the bell housing.. or bigger tires to give me better clearance...
How do I find the correct bell housing, fork, slave and master??? http://www.jeep-cj.com/gallery/files/3/5/9/4/img_2704.jpg

 

[mylittlecj5]

Do you have the old ones? or at least the bellhousing?

 

[funguy831]

No... trying not to have a wrecking yard.. wish I did keep them...

 

[Red Dawg]

funguy831 if you can post a picture of your slave cyl/clutch fork/bellhousing and let me see if it is the same as mine. I have the T-5 behind a GM 151 4cyl so may not be same bellhousing but I just finished a new clutch install.

My original problem was the pivot ball fell out from behind my clutch fork. That created an extreme amount of play in the clutch fork. After installing the new clutch kit/rear seal and replacing the lost pivot ball (5/8 bll bearing) I have not had any probs as of yet.

I also replaced the master/slave cyl and bleeding the system has been a pain but is done now.

So the question is did your clutch fork have the pivot ball and retainer spring when you tore the old clutch out?
pics would help with bellhousing as mine is a GM model.

 

[funguy831]

The ball and spring are in the right place.. I used a bit of heavy grease to hold it while I assembled. There is a pic on my pics of the fork and where it was contacting the bell housing. I think the bleeding issue is what I am dealing with now.... they speak of taking the slave off, why? and using a dowl to push the plunger in, but they don't speak of holding it in while pressing the pedal. How do you suggest bleeding the clutch and getting all the air out?
thanks.

 

[Red Dawg]

I bolted the slave up to the bellhousing and ran a piece of vacuum hose over the bleeder into a clear bottle with the hydro fluid. make sure the hose is under the fluid line and pump the petal once and bleed. continue the once and bleed method untill no air bubbles(4-5 pumps I think) and on the last pump I left the bleeder cracked and let the slave suck back fluid.
this worked although I had to re-bleed 1 more time the next day.

 

[funguy831]

Thanks, did you push the plunger in like the book says?

 

[Red Dawg]

No I just put the slave plunger in and put that into the clutch fork and bled the system that way. I've been driving it a week now and its doing fine.
Let me know how it works out for you.