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1959 Clutch Replacement

babailey

babailey

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I need to replace the clutch in my 1959 original truck. This truck still has the straight 6 235 and the three speed on the tree.

I am hoping someone here can tell me if the stock clutch is the 9 inch or the 11 inch. I am not sure which I have and have not been able to find a definitive answer online.

I was also looking for tips:
Are the two different clutches interchangeable?
Should I go to the 11 inch clutch regardless of what is currently there?
What are the benefits of the 11 inch clutch?
What is the downside to going to the 11 inch clutch?

Thanks!
 
Thanks for the advice, i will order the 11 inch.

I actually have two friends that want to help with this clutch replacement so it should be a breze!
 
make sure you have a good pilot bushing and an alignment tool.you can get the tool for about $5.00 or and old input shaft with correct spline out of an old trans. make if spline and pilot bushing is square to the world the trans should slide right in. good luck

Bobby
 
How Did It Go

The clutch's diameter depends on the flywheel , this depends on how the truck was ordered .

Since Chevy 1/2 T trucks were price leaders , most were spec'd out with the smallest ( = cheapest) clutch available .

Who knows what's been changed since then though , this is why an experianced Mechanic never orders up the new/rebuilt clutch until it's all apart

Don't forget to clean the old clutch dust out of the flywheel and bell housing and use some good quality grease in the pilot bushing .

This is a super simple job unless you let your drunken buddies screw it up :rolleyes: .

I never mix beer and repairs until the job is done .

Don't for get to drain and re-fill the tranny too , it needs 85W90W Gear Oil in there , fill to the edge of the filler plug , Gear Oil and plastic pumps are cheap @ your FLAPS .
 
Thanks for the advise.

I just plan to tease the friends with beer until the job is done. Plus it is really already too hot in Texas to be drinking much beer right now.

I ordered the original replacement clutch last week. It should arrive sometime this week. I hope to attack this job over the weekend of the 4th.
 
Clutch Job

Cool .

If the new kit comes with a pilot bushing , USE IT ! I know it'll look daunting but it's not :

As soon as you open the package and see the new oillite bushing , drop it into a cup of fresh engine oil RIGHT NOW as it needs to soak a while (days) before installation .

Nowthen : remove the tranny and the old clutch and begin cleaning , use a brush and many cans of _regular_ engine de-greaser , not the stupid (useless) ' steam ' or ' foamy ' types , rinse well and be amazed at how clean everything but you , your (now ruined) clothes and driveway is... if you're clever and use a brush on the driveway , it'll end up cleaner than when you began .

Look at the ol pilot bushing in the middle of the crankshaft , get a broomstick or other bit of wood and hand shave it until it fits smoothly but NOT loosely into it , then pack the bearings' hole with as much grease as you can work in , place the wooden stick in the hole and SMACK it with a dead blow mallet and the old frozen bushing will pop right out like <magic> . really , it will and a new bushing makes the clutch woerk right for another 50 years so do this .

It's out ? good ! now , find a socket that matches the flat diameter of the new bushing and put it on a long extension _backwards_ , use that to hammer the new bushing home until it stops ~ don't tap it , bang it on in there else you'll deform & ruin it .

You killed it ? no worries , your local NAPA or other REAL FLAPS will have one in stock , just take the old one in for matching .

It's all installed ? great ! now , use a CLEAN cloth and some alcohol or other greaseless cleaner to wipe the flywheel *prefectly* HOSPITAL clean before installing the new clutch . wipe the face of the new pressure plate clean too as they're coated to prevent rusting in storage or transit .

Remember to dab a bit of white lithium grease on the clutch fork's ball pivot and the fingers where it holds the T.O. bearing .

To make the job easiesr , take one of the top tranny to bell housing bolts to the Hwe. store and buy a couple 6' long ones and cut the heads off with a hacksaw , hand screw them into the bell housing and they'll serve as tranny alignment pins so you don't hang the tranny's weight on the clutch , either coming out nor going back in ~ this is how most new clutches get ruined before use .

Once the trann is back in and thw two bottom bolts are snug . unscrew these two pins and replace with the old bolts .

Tranny bolts should have internal star washers on them , all four .

OOPS ! I gotta go , the BBQ call just came in .

Bye for now , nore later if you need , just ask - the guys here all know this stuff well .
 
We had the old clutch out in under an hour. Unfortunately, the fly-wheel has heat cracks, so I am betting I do not get to put everything back together today.

I'm looking for a place that might be able to grind the original (the heat cracks don't look too deep).
 
Absolutely no joy! :mad:

I have checked several different locations and the flywheel that they think will fit does not match the measurements of the original flywheel. The parts store around the corner thinks they have found the right part but it will not arrive until Monday. I'm out of town until Thursday so it will be a while before I can measure the last attempt to find the right part.
 
Flywheel Service

Unless it's grooved or has deep grooves worn in it , the tiny heat cracks are normal ~ CAREFULLY remove the various pins out of the flywheel and take it to a Brake Jobber , they'll grind it smooth again , no worries .

NOTE : flywheels are NOT TURNED like brake drums ! :eek: .
 
The old flywheel went 10 rounds with the grinder and still has odd hills and valleys. The shop was afraid to grind any more because of how thin the end result would be. So that is why I'm looking for a new flywheel.
 
Dead Flywheel B.E.R.

Wow , that's really bad .

235 flywheels should be easy to source as these fine engines are being thrown away at an alarming rate .
 
Well, I have now ordered 6 different flywheels, all of which are supposed to fit my truck and I still do not have a match. I keep receiving flywheels with 12.5 inches between the holes or an inset of approximately .75 inches.

The last one I ordered was from e-bay and the picture looked like the flywheel I need. Unfortunately, what was delivered did not match the picture.

My flywheel has 11.5 inches from the center of one clutch plate hole to the center of the opposite clutch plate hole. These holes are inset approximately 1.25 inches from the outside edge of the teeth.

I would be worried that my old clutch and flywheel had been replaced with something else but the replacement clutch that I ordered from our sponsor fits my original flywheel perfectly, so I do not understand why I am having such a difficult time finding a new clutch.
 
when you had the original fly wheel ground .how thick is it now ? I'll check a couple of my sources to see how far you can go. I'll also check my stuff and see if i have a flywheel laying around .that might take a day or two.
Bobby
 
The machine shop I eventually found says the original flywheel was ruined by the Auto Parts store when they put it on a brake disk lathe. I left the original flywheel with the machine shop, I did not need something else to stub my toe on in the garage :)

So, I found a used replacement and have now gotten that one machined properly. I will try to put this all back together on Saturday.
 
Oops !

Flywheels need grinding not turning like a brake drum.....

I am happy to hear you've sourced another flywheel .

There was a complete '58 3600 in the local Pick-A-part two weeks ago , no one stripped anything off the engine and it had the gennie , oil filter and pedal starter complete , dizzy etc. , etc. .
 
Sequili is back up and running. I got all of the parts back in and I did not have anything left over.

I got up early on Saturday, made one last trip to the auto parts store for cotter pins, some replacement lock washers, and gear oil. I managed to get the new flywheel in place and torqued down properly. Holding the flywheel in place one handed and trying to get it properly aligned with the end of the crank zapped all of my strength. I had to go into the house and have some breakfast to re-energize. I had the devil of a time getting the clutch and clutch plate in place (fortunately, I had marked the flywheel and the clutch plate so I would know when I had the two aligned). I had to wait for the son-in-law and the transmission jack before I could re-stab the transmission. My macho son-in-law decided that he could bench press the trans if I would put the bolts in so we did not actually use the transmission jack.

After getting it all together, I started her up and had absolutely no clutch. The old clutch was so worn that the adjustment was as far to one end as it could be. The new clutch has the adjustment as far to the opposite end as it can be. I have a little difficulty/grind putting it into 1st or reverse however, if I move slow, she goes into gear with no grind. Of course, 2nd and 3rd work fine because things are spinning nicely at that point.

So, I now have two running trucks ready for the fall car shows.
 
Basic Clutch Test :

Not to rain on your parade but this really is important and you should do this test ASAP :

Engine warmed up and idling

Park Brake set firmly .

Depress clutch to floor and hold it there during the remainder of this test ~ shift into first gear then s l o w l y move the shift lever from first gear through neutral and into reverse ~ it should (must) make the change silently ~ no grinding nor crunching allowed ! if it makes any meshing noises , you need to go back in and find out why and fix it else you're going to have troubles sooner than you think / expect / like / want .

Did you replace the pilot bushing in the middle of the crankshaft ? that's easy and the # 1 cause of dragging new clutches .

I assume you know to adjust the clutch so there's 1/4" of free play felt at the pedal ? . if it has over 1" of freeplay , that might cause draging & crunching .
 
Yep. I did all of that and I can move from first to reverse without any noise but I do need to move pretty slowly.

I did replace the pilot bushing (actually got a bearing with the clutch kit instead of a bushing).

My real issue is that the entire clutch linkage has a little play/give at each connection. I think I will try to replace all of these parts and hope that when the play is removed, I have a little more adjustment room. If that does not do the trick, then I will create a slightly longer adjustment post.

Thanks for the advise and tips.
 
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