Clutch Fork Replacement.

[TallGuy71]

HI everybody, long time reader and first time poster here. My family is the proud new owner of a 71 440+6, 4 Speed RR. Upon the first drive into town to register the vehicle my Father experienced major clutch slippage in all gears. My first diagnosis was that the fork rod may be adjusted incorrectly. I got under the car and noticed some sketchy things right off the bat. the eye of the fork rod wasn't on the factory "nubbin", and had been installed in one of the other holes using spacers. there was a 2 foot return spring being used connecting not the clutch fork, but the z-bar all the way to the bottom of the power steering pump. I moved the adjustment nut to push back the fork a slight bit, got back in the car and the pedal worked great for a couple pushes and then completely shot to the floor. The adjustment bolt had been completely stripped and shot to the front of the fork rod. So now I'm obviously going to replace the whole thing. I ordered the replacement parts for a 71 BB but i have a few questions. Is it normal for the fork rod no not be in a straight line or will it be at an angle when connecting to the Z-Bar? It seems that the small block Fork Rod has an angled eyelet that would make this geometry correct, but the BB fork rod is straight. I noticed they had the adjustment nut on backwards from what the manual says, if installed properly to you think the fork rod will go back far enough to actually fit onto the nubbin? If anyone has any photos or videos on how to properly adjust the new one once i get it in, that would be a huge help. I still don't know if this is what was causing the clutch to fix, but since it broke, I'll have to take care of this before I do anything else. Thank you so much for your time.

 

[Krooser]

Call Brewer's in Ohio... 4 speed specialists they will have what you need

 

[gkent]

a) the nut is installed backwards
b) get rid of that spring. The correct spring should attach in that little notch in the fork itself - this will keep things snug and will also pull back the fork - not just the linkage.
c) a proper shorter spring will attach to the bellhousing
d) the fork does sit at a downward angle
e) the rod should NOT be bolted to the z-bar, it should be attached at the stud you see and retained with a special spring clip. When properly attached it will allow the rod some freedom to move as everything else moves in their respective directions.
f) that black rubber grommet on the ball stud is pushed too far on, it should be just behind the ball - to keep **** out of the z-bar !

Adjustment ... once all correct parts are installed a 1/8 " gap at the rod and fork is just about right. This should yield about 1" of free pedal travel.

The rod usually has a bend - depending on year/model maybe. I suppose you could do that in a vise - don't bugger up the threads !!.

 

[Sinitro]

Double check the Z-Bar...
Mopar had multiple versions that were the same width but the tab that pushes the rod to the fork was positioned differently. The rod should be parallel to the bell housing to provide straight and proper leverage of the fork...

Just my $0.02..

 

[dadsbee]

Nut is backwards and the wrong style nut.

Fork is wrong, it should have a slight bend on the slotted end, plastic washer and a clip to hold it on the boss. Bolt needs to go and like Stan said... spring is wrong as well.

 

[TallGuy71]

Call Brewer's in Ohio... 4 speed specialists they will have what you need

Will definitely be doing this if I can't figure it out once I get the correct parts. We believe it to be a Brewer built 4 Speed that another shop installed and made some poor decisions. We actually have correspondence verification of the previous owner talking with Brewer's.

 

[TallGuy71]

a) the nut is installed backwards
b) get rid of that spring. The correct spring should attach in that little notch in the fork itself - this will keep things snug and will also pull back the fork - not just the linkage.
c) a proper shorter spring will attach to the bellhousing
d) the fork does sit at a downward angle
e) the rod should NOT be bolted to the z-bar, it should be attached at the stud you see and retained with a special spring clip. When properly attached it will allow the rod some freedom to move as everything else moves in their respective directions.
f) that black rubber grommet on the ball stud is pushed too far on, it should be just behind the ball - to keep **** out of the z-bar !

Adjustment ... once all correct parts are installed a 1/8 " gap at the rod and fork is just about right. This should yield about 1" of free pedal travel.

The rod usually has a bend - depending on year/model maybe. I suppose you could do that in a vise - don't bugger up the threads !!.

All confirmations I was looking for, thank you. I ordered a BB Fork Rod kit that has all these correct parts that you're talking about. From the photos that I've seen in the kits online it seems that the BB kits have a straight rod and SB kits have a bent rod. So I could certainly be wrong.

 

[TallGuy71]

Nut is backwards and the wrong style nut.

Fork is wrong, it should have a slight bend on the slotted end, plastic washer and a clip to hold it on the boss. Bolt needs to go and like Stan said... spring is wrong as well.
View attachment 1955141
View attachment 1955142

Thank you for the pictures! I knew the spring was wrong the second I saw it haha! That's what initially made me start looking for other glaring problems and led me to order a whole new kit to get the right parts.

 

[TallGuy71]

Double check the Z-Bar...
Mopar had multiple versions that were the same width but the tab that pushes the rod to the fork was positioned differently. The rod should be parallel to the bell housing to provide straight and proper leverage of the fork...

Just my $0.02..

Is there a spot with a part number on it I can look for that you know of? The car was a 383 4 Speed car that had the 440 dropped in so Ive been assuming it was the original Z Bar, which we all know can be a dangerous assumption to make.

 

[Sinitro]

Is there a spot with a part number on it I can look for that you know of? The car was a 383 4 Speed car that had the 440 dropped in so Ive been assuming it was the original Z Bar, which we all know can be a dangerous assumption to make.

No idea about part #??
For my 70RR it had the wrong Z-bar that pushed the rod in a sideways direction rather than straight back breaking the mounting stem on the bell housing. Fortunately a local Mopar guru showed me (3) Z-bars all the same width but the mounting tab that pushed the rod were in different locations. I chose the on with the tab closet to the bell housing the rod should be parallel to the bell housing to provide the proper leverage..
But Brewers can provide the part # and proper partner ur year/model Mopar.

Just my $0.02..