Great Site.

I had installed a Ford Top Loader 4-speed (1 3/8 spline) behind my 312 and had to grind down the clutch fork to get it to fit around the throw out bearing. There must be a better way.

Has anyone else found a later model clutch fork that will work with the original 292/312 bell housing and attach to a larger throw out bearing.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Bruce



1956 Ford Victoria Hardtop



Fort Worth, TX

Bruce,

Were you modifying a clutch fork for a small input tranny to fit the larger input throwout bearing?  I used the 428CJ clutch forks when using the big input fourspeeds in the car bellhousings but I had to also change the pivot that fastens inside the bellhousing as the later model clutch forks used an integral spring instead of the wire clip that was common on the early models.  I never tried adapting the Ford pickup clutch forks that were designed for the 1 3/8" inputs and those were found on a majority of Sixties three speeds.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted,

Yes, I am modifying a stock 3 speed clutch fork to fit the larger input throwout bearing.

Thanks for the info on the Sixties Ford trucks. Are you referring to trucks with y-block engines?

Bruce



1956 Ford Victoria Hardtop



Fort Worth, TX

I had the same problem.What I did was cut off the fork,widen it,then weld it all back together.Alot of work but it does work fine.I never thought of using a truck fork,would have been much easier.Roy

52Mercury,292,5-Speed

The light truck clutch fork for the 1 3/8" input is forged steel instead of stamped steel.  I have one sitting on an engine with the shorty toploader three speed but couldn't see the fork pivot.  But if memory serves me correctly, the pivot isn't easily adaptable to a car bellhousing.  Until I pull the bellhousing and tranny on that engine, I'll not know exactly what's involved in making one of these work.  Maybe someone else has already done this?

I did some checking though and find that David Kee Toploaders Inc. does offer the stamped steel design large input forks and also the corresponding fork pivot if anyone is interested.  These look to be the same as the Cobra Jet pieces I've used in the past when transplanting big input fourspeeds where they did not originally reside.  Here's the link.

http://www.4speedtoploaders.com/ 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I believe the truck forged arm uses a spherical stud pivot instead of the flat pivot of the passenger car type.  Years ago, I also split and widened a small bearing fork to fit the big bearing when I put a '50 Lincoln T85 OD in my '56.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Thanks for all the input - great ideas. Currently leaning towards the the David Kee solution.

Hopefully I can contribute some meaningful solutions to my fellow Y-Blockers in the future.

Bruce



1956 Ford Victoria Hardtop



Fort Worth, TX