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By Daniel Jessup - 10 Years Ago
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as many of you know I am putting together a 3 speed manual with overdrive on my FIL's 55 Club Sedan.
So far the parts I have received and installed have all seemed to work well. Unfortunately the car did not have any of the manual transmission parts from the beginning so I am going off of diagrams, manuals, and advice from others. A few guys have offered parts and of course I have taken them trusting they will work. However, I "think" my push rod for the clutch fork (this is the rod that has the threads and the acorn nut to push the fork) is too short. I have no measurement to go from other than a diagram. The clutch pedal, pivot, lever, etc all work correctly, and the clutch fork and bell, clutch disk and plate are all new.
The measure on the push rod I received is only 7" (from end of threads to the middle of the eye where the shoulder bolt goes). Is this correct?
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By 62bigwindow - 10 Years Ago
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Just checked the extra one I have that came off a v8 car and it measured 7.25 from the end of rod to center of the eye end.
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By crownvic55 - 10 Years Ago
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Measured mine on a 55 V8. 7 1/4 inches, same as 62bigwindow.
Ben
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By crownvic55 - 10 Years Ago
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Just a thought. Since you did the transmission install late at night and had issues, did you maybe leave off the throw out bearing when you moved the bell housing to the transmission?
Ben
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By 62bigwindow - 10 Years Ago
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Did you install the hub assembly with the throw out bearing?
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By Daniel Jessup - 10 Years Ago
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Yep, fellas I double checked that and I can see they are in there through bell housing opening on the bottom.
I contacted today the guy I bought the pivot and clutch lever from... ironically he said he had the same issue and had to extend the length of the push rod about 3 inches. I do know his cars are working fine. I have seen them in action and have been to his house several times. These are all 55/56 Ford parts so this escapes me. Why he had the same trouble I cannot know. All I need is a couple of inches and problem solved.
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By 62bigwindow - 10 Years Ago
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Do you have another z bar set up to compare it to? I wonder if he had a hybrid set up from other years and was not aware of it. It seems strange that no one else has mentioned this before. I have a complete set up from a 56 car if you need pics or measurements.
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By Daniel Jessup - 10 Years Ago
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Ok, I took a couple of photos to show the dilemma. I do not see any other adjustment for LENGTH of the throw other than spinning the acorn on the rod. a photo of the fork contacting the bearing retainer, bearing, and 3 arms on the pressure plate  
A couple of snapshots of the fork resting as shown above but then trying to attach the push rod. Note how it simply "runs out of room"  
this is how far I have to go to get it even begin to engage (which does barely work but to be able to full disengage the clutch I need about an 1" more of thread). 
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By charliemccraney - 10 Years Ago
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I got components from mcmaster-carr to make a pushrod for my truck. They didn't have anything that was an exact fit, but it was easy to modify to fit with ordinary tools.
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By Ted - 10 Years Ago
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You may have a pressure plate that has the ‘fingers’ lower than was originally designed. The original pressure plate was a long finger design and many of those have been replaced with a diaphragm style. A lower finger height or more forward contact point for the throw out bearing can make the clutch adjustment rod on the short side.
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By Daniel Jessup - 10 Years Ago
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Ted I think you nailed it... I did get a remanufactured unit and did take note of where the fingers/arms were located but did not have one from original to compare it with. I think that would explain it. I am going to try to get this all sorted out tomorrow afternoon if I have time. It should not be too hard to extend things a bit or just simply make my own push rod.
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By slumlord444 - 10 Years Ago
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Ted makes sense as usual. I have had to make length adjustments on the rod more than once with Y Blocks when switching things around. Not all clutches are created equal. To me lengthening or shortening a rod is one of those minor modifications that comes up with old cars from time to time.
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By Y block Billy - 10 Years Ago
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Daniel, I have lengthened them by cutting the rod and inserting the two ends into a piece of pipe the length you need and then welding the rod ends to the pipe or sometimes I have threaded the inside of the pipe or use a rod coupling (however they dont come in fine thread but you could re-tap it) and cut it on the threaded part, installed jam nuts and that gives more flexibility for adjustment.
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By charliemccraney - 10 Years Ago
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Another way to correct it, if the pressure plate is actually thinner, is to shim or install a longer fork pivot bolt. The problem there is that there may not be many options. The truck pivot bolts use a 9/16" coarse thread which is not very common for pivot bolts. If the cars are the same, then there aren't any off-the-shelf options to do that.
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By 57RancheroJim - 10 Years Ago
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charliemccraney (6/15/2015)
Another way to correct it, if the pressure plate is actually thinner, is to shim or install a longer fork pivot bolt. The problem there is that there may not be many options. The truck pivot bolts use a 9/16" coarse thread which is not very common for pivot bolts. If the cars are the same, then there aren't any off-the-shelf options to do that. Car bell housings don't use a pivot bolt like the trucks. Back to extending the rod..
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By charliemccraney - 10 Years Ago
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I looked at some on eBay. It looks like it is a bracket which is riveted on. Is that correct? If so, that should be real easy to move. Remove the rivets, make a spacer equal to the difference between installed height of the new and old pressure plate and bolt it back in place. If the transmission might be in the way, countersink the back side and use some tapered head allen bolts so that the heads will be flush with the transmission mounting surface.
It will take a little more work, but I would try to get the clutch fork geometry correct, rather than attempting a fix with a longer pushrod.
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