Mercury Pressure plate problem

[Duke]

In my 32 I am using a 1949 Mercury pressure plate. I just swapped out the 1939 transmission for a fresh 1932 transmission. Both transmissions had the same 1932 clutch arm. I replaced the original 49 Mercury pressure plate with a new one that was supposed to have come from Fort Wayne clutch. I now can not get enough travel for the clutch to fully disengage. I have the clutch set up with no play and there is still not enough travel. Any suggestions before I take it apart and put the old pressure plate back in? What would a shorter transmission clutch arm do? The car has stock pedals.
Thanks

[hueyhoolihan]

i would be looking at the linkage for any adjustability WRT attachment points. any additional leverage might well solve the problem. could be a longer arm or an alternative hole for a clevis pin or something similar.

[big deuce]

I thought the Merc pressure plates were 10", and could not be used with the 32-34 18- trans case, and only a 9" pressure plate would fit? Which flywheel are you using?

[Duke]

9” disk, it is a Chevy flywheel to 283

[big deuce]

You might have to take the new one out and compare the finger height, the new one from Fort Wayne, may have different fingers. I wasn't aware that Merc made a 9" pp that had the 11 5/8" bolt circle like that of the chevy.

[Duke]

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I was able to test drive it a little. Would the clutch not being set up also cause it to pop out of third gear on deceleration? Transmission is rebuilt with all NOS parts.

[big deuce]

Usually with the 3 speed top loaders, the tendency is for it to pop out of 2nd gear. Even nos 2nd gear bushings can have too much play on main shaft. I sent my nors gear and main shaft to Charlie in NY and he made a new 2nd gear bushing to " fit" my main shaft. Make sure shifter detent parts and springs are new.

[Bored&Stroked]

Given the gear sets, synchros, detents, etc - in a 39 transmission, I would not have pulled a 39 transmission and installed a 32 transmission (to me, that is going backwards given the end-result).

You will find that NOBODY will guarantee that their rebuilt early Ford trans will NOT pop out of second gear (this is why I build my own!). There are a few tricks/techniques that some of us use on 39 trans to not pop out of second and even with those, after a few thousand miles, the issue tends to want to creep back in when decelerating at higher RPMs.

If it was mine, I'd have the 39 trans rebuilt with the best parts possible - avoiding as many repo parts as possible. Also, I'd have Charlie NY re-bush the second gear to fit YOUR exact mainshaft (this is important for the 2nd gear issue).

[big deuce]

B&S has nailed it... my comments were centered around the 39 style top loader.

[cas3]

Agree with all the above. Popping out of 3rd gear is very unusual. Could be from a very worn shift tower and related parts, or excessive end play on the main shaft, both of which would cause it to not fully go into gear all the way, and pop out.

[Duke]

I have it all apart again. Called Fort Wayne clutch and the pressure plate is a Chevy plate not the Mercury that I thought it was. This caused all the clutch travel issues. I am wondering if the clutch being set wrong is as causing the transmission not to stay in third? This transmission is all NOS parts and very tight, the only used part is the case and shift lever.

[big deuce]

If it's the angled tower shifter for '32 it only had one spring if I remember for detent, the '39 is the double detent with 2 springs. Start with correction of the pp issue, you know that HAS to be resolved first.

[Flathead Fever]

I was a fleet mechanic for 30-years. In the beginning there were almost 400 vehicles with manual transmissions, we put in a ton of clutches, a coupled of them every week. I'd never let go of the core clutch until the new one was in place and working. When I'd pull the old clutch out, I would set it down flat next to the new clutch and compare its height, the height of the machined part of the pressure plate compared to the new one, and the height of the clutch disc compared to the new one. Every once in a while, I got one that didn't match, and it turned out to be boxed wrong. I'm not saying this is what's wrong with yours, but it does happen. If it worked before with '39 trans I don't think the '32 trans would make a difference. Pretty sure everything is in the same place. I'm not sure if it's just an adjustment problem or something else. I was fortunate to work on vehicles that nobody had messed with them, so I knew the parts all worked together at one time.

[Duke]

Mine was the wrong part. The new pressure plate turned out to be a Chevy unit- close, but close don’t work.

[cas3]

The pressure plate and flywheel issues have nothing to do with the transmission problem

[Duke]

I noticed that my driveshaft is almost flush with the end of my torque tube, it is not inset by 1/4 as normal. I have an original late 32 torque tube and shortened a 34 driveshaft to fit, but must have made a slight error. Could this cause transmission issues? I am also wondering if the ball on the end of my shift lever is not perfect and that is causing issues?

[cas3]

My experience has been the drive shaft sticks out the TT bell by about 1/8"

[Duke]

Thank you, I had a 1947 that I measured and it was inset. So that is not the issue.

[tubman]

Originally Posted by Duke

I have it all apart again. Called Fort Wayne clutch and the pressure plate is a Chevy plate not the Mercury that I thought it was. This caused all the clutch travel issues. I am wondering if the clutch being set wrong is as causing the transmission not to stay in third? This transmission is all NOS parts and very tight, the only used part is the case and shift lever.

Seeing that the Mercury pressure plates are no longer available and the Chevrolet unit almost fits, it might be a good idea for someone to determine what the difference is. Maybe a change of throwout bearing or even a simple spacer might be enough to solve a long-standing "Hot Rod problem".

[kurt v]

try talking to KENTUCKY clutch they may be of more help.