OK, I have always freely admitted that I am no mechanic. It is a miracle that I was able to reassemble my truck at all. I am so close to being able to finally drive my truck, but these little dominoes keep falling. I finally figured out my starting problems after dealing with the fuel pump, carby, and distributor. I am still working on the idle and timing, but the bigger problem now is that the clutch will not release to allow me to shift into gear. I have poured over the Shop Manual with regard to free play on the pedal, but it does not make sense. The pedal is attached to a rigid link rod and that is attached to the fork. Even the slightest touch will move the throwout bearing. I can only assume they mean there should be only 3/4" to 1" movement in the pedal before the throwout bearing begins to disengages the clutch??? How can you tell if this is the case? Do you have to remove the flywheel cover and look at the clutch while the motor is running? If so, what do you look for? I rebuilt this clutch many years ago long before I began to reassemble the body. Is it possible the clutch disk is stuck to the flywheel? Once the flywheel stops, the gears shift easily.
Right On Track Yes to you Q's . The freeplay is felt at the pedal , this is why the pedal return spring is so important . Often the clutch disc will stick to the flywheel from sitting , the cure is to push the truck intil it's in an open street with NO TRAFFIC , warm it up then shut it off , engauge 2nd. gear then start it up with the clutch pedal firmly on the floor , accellerate until the truck's engine is about 2,500 ~ 3,000 RPM's (the ' sweet spot ') then rapidly stamp and release the throttle so it lurches ahead and slows down , lurches ahead , slows down etc. , this will break the clutch free in short order . It is rarely necessary to take anything apart , just break it free and Motor on happily .
American Idle That's what it says on my official retirement shirt. It turns out my idle is just set too fast. That's why it won't let me shift into first. I can shift into 2nd or 3rd. Of course, when I let up on the clutch it lurches forward and stalls. That tells me the clutch disc is not stuck to the flywheel. I just need to get the timing adjusted so I can set the idle properly. Thanks for the suggestion Nate. I have plenty of hills in my neighborhood, but any bicyclist will tell you any downhill is offset by an equal and far more painful uphill. Greg
Looks Like : American Idol in your avatar ! . FWIW , the suggested curb idle speed is about 650 ~ 700 RPM's but I like to keep it lower than that as I use engine breaking a lot , plus of course , less ' crunch ' (none on my rigs) going into gear . YMMV .
When ever mine vehicles would do something like that I would let my teenaged step son and his friends take it out for a drive(see if they could break it) More times than not it would come back fixed by his friends Dad.
A Brave Man Indeed ! By the time my son was 14 , he was given the moniker : "One man Wrecking Crew " by the V.J.L.A. as they'd ignored the fact that he is almost never allowed to operate any of my vehicles and loaned him various cars , trucks and Motos , many were not just old beaters but very valuable machines , nearly all came back in need of repair , mostly engine work from over speeding (he's a professional racer now) but other were simply hammered to death or crashed . Kids and your beloved toys ~ that's a bad mix I won't do ! . OTOH , watching him rip up Willow Springs raceway where he's a track instructor , is kinda fun .
It is good to see your Son has gotten to live his hobby. That step son of mine I have not talked to since the final on his mothers and my divorce. He was a spoiled distructive child back then and his Grand Fathers money made him that way, hopefully his children have helped him by returning the favor.
Throw out bearing There are 2 throw out bearings 1 is longer than the other. Can you guess how I know? If you cant ever fix it you may have the short 1. Hope this is not the problem. A long one when you need the short one gives a slipping clutch.
