Clutch Chatter

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by whb52ford

Wish I would have seen the email about the rear main a few minutes earlier.
I found a used bell housing but it was missing the fork. My fork is welded in the broken bell housing. Anybody have a fork for sale. AB 7515-B?

[whb52ford]

I am really confused now. I went to take the clutch fork out of the old bell housing and it was rivited into the bell housing. When I look at the book it looks like it is held in there by a metal wire/spring. Do I want to cut out what is in the arm now or do I want to mount what I have into the new housing?

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by whb52ford

I am really confused now. I went to take the clutch fork out of the old bell housing and it was rivited into the bell housing. When I look at the book it looks like it is held in there by a metal wire/spring. Do I want to cut out what is in the arm now or do I want to mount what I have into the new housing?

[38 coupe]

Originally Posted by whb52ford

I am really confused now. I went to take the clutch fork out of the old bell housing and it was rivited into the bell housing. When I look at the book it looks like it is held in there by a metal wire/spring. Do I want to cut out what is in the arm now or do I want to mount what I have into the new housing?

From my memory the bracket in your picture with the weld is supposed to be riveted to the bell housing. There should be a wire clip that holds the arm onto that riveted in pivot bracket. I remember being very not impressed with the holding ability of that wire clip since the arm had a tendency to fall out of place until I had the transmission with throw out bearing installed.

[whb52ford]

I think you are correct. I can find the missing spring, but I can't find a used clutch fork. There is one on ebay but it looks pretty beat up. Tried T Bird places but it appears most T Birds were automatic. NPD didn't have one either. Tried The Swap Meet and could not find anything there. Plenty of ones for trucks but they are different. I'm going to call my local junk yards today, but not very optomistic they will have one. Hopefully someone here will have one. This is my daily driver so I'm without a car till I get this fixed.

[Zax40]

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Originally Posted by whb52ford

I think you are correct. I can find the missing spring, but I can't find a used clutch fork. There is one on ebay but it looks pretty beat up. Tried T Bird places but it appears most T Birds were automatic. NPD didn't have one either. Tried The Swap Meet and could not find anything there. Plenty of ones for trucks but they are different. I'm going to call my local junk yards today, but not very optomistic they will have one. Hopefully someone here will have one. This is my daily driver so I'm without a car till I get this fixed.

Are you a member on the HAMB? There is a large group of '52-'54 Ford owners on there that may have what you need. They hang out in the "1952-59 FORD SOCIAL GROUP"

[whb52ford]

I’ll look for that. Did not know that. Thx

[40ford]

Originally Posted by whb52ford

Fort Wayne Clutch does not have one for my car. I have a 52 Ford Mainline. They only go back to 54 Mainline.

Did you call them?What size is you clutch?

[whb52ford]

I found a used clutch fork, got the fork spring from NPD, just waiting for the clutch fork to arrive. Then I have to get it back into the car. I'm thinking I can put it all back in the car, as long as I remember to put the throw out bearing in, and when the fork comes, I should be able to hook it up with the inspection plate removed. I'm just not sure where that fork spring goes or what it does. Book says anti rattle.

[cadillac512]

The spring is what holds the fork onto the angle pivot piece that's riveted to the housing. The ends of the spring fit through holes on each side of the fork and the bump in the center of the spring hooks over the tab that's on the angled pivot. (see it in your pic above). It'll be a LOT easier to install the fork and spring with the housing on the bench.

[whb52ford]

I can tell that the ends of the spring go through the clutch fork, but don't quite understand where or what the center of the spring goes or does. The guy has not shipped the clutch fork yet, so who knows when I will get it. I was thinking of putting the clutch and tranny back without the fork, but do you think that is a bad idea? I'm sure I could catch the throw out bearing with the fork, but the spring is the unknow. Would like to see what it looks like with the spring in.

[cadillac512]

This is looking into the housing from the hole for the transmission.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by cadillac512

This is looking into the housing from the hole for the transmission.

[whb52ford]

Wow, thank you so much for that. I had no idea what I'm doing or what the finished job should look like. Do you think I could do that with the transmission in?

[cadillac512]

I doubt it. The fork likes to slip around when hooking the spring over the tab, and the throwout bearing is also in the way. The spring hooks over that tab from the center of the housing, not the side opening for the fork. I'd have the fork and spring installed in the housing before mounting it on the engine, and I'd have the throwout bearing in place and adjusted snug against the fingers so it won't flop out of place when sliding the transmission in.

[whb52ford]

Well I've got 3 hours trying to get the spring over the tab on the clutch fork. What is the trick. I can't figure it out.

[whb52ford]

I made a loop with some thin wire and was able to pull it through. Wow, glad that is done.

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by whb52ford

I made a loop with some thin wire and was able to pull it through. Wow, glad that is done.

'The things we do for love' (of old fords)

[whb52ford]

Well I still have the clutch chatter. New clutch, new pressure plate, new throw out bearing, new pilot bearing, flywheel resurfaced, new motot mounts, new transmission mount, and new bell housing. Why do I still have clutch chatter?

[38 coupe]

Having been there, it is very frustrating.

Did you get a new clutch disk or a NOS clutch disk? These two responses are from my experiences with my 53 where a new clutch did not get rid of the chatter:

Originally Posted by 38 coupe

I fought clutch chatter in my 53 until I installed a NOS clutch disk. The new one I had lacked the Marcel or had poor friction material, I'm not sure which. Getting an old one rebuilt for Ford back when asbestos was an acceptable material solved my problem.

Originally Posted by 38 coupe

The clutch for a 1954 is probably a bolt in for your 1952. Get a Ford parts catalog that covers the range you are interested in and check what interchanges.
I would consider a NOS disk like this one listed on that auction site: https://www.ebay.com/itm/27629751657...cAAOSwNipjdX81