Sticky Shifter

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mullinax95

mullinax95

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Hello my A-bodies brothern!

I don't drive my 67 cuda that much but I do have a battery tender hooked to it and fire it up at least once every two weeks. I usually take it down the rode without beating on it, bring it back home in my garage, and put the cover on it.

Not long ago I installed a new rebuilt 360. At this time I installed new throw out bearing, McLeod clutch and diaphragm pressure plate. All in which I bought from Brewers transmission. Lately I have a noise like the throw out bearings is going bad. With the clutch let out and in neutral I get a "dry bearing noise". With the clutch pushed in the noise goes away totally. I expected the throw out bearing to have lasted longer than this. I doubt seriously that it has 3000 miles on it. If it is going bad I will pay my mechanic to change it out for me. I'm not ready it to do it on the floor of my shop. He has a lift and so forth... that is how he makes a living. lol

Another thing is lately my shifter which is Hurst shifter has became a PITA to get into first gear. It wasn't a new shifter that I installed myself but it came with the car. To be honest it never really shifted that smoothly from day one of me owning the car. I find myself "searching" for first gear and it takes a controlled effort to get it to go in gear. It goes to far left and when I push it forward it misses the slot. I have to go to the right a little bit. So you know this gets old after awhile. I like a shifter to feel tight and not sloppy like this one. I feel like I have a stick sweeping it around in a big drum. LOL

I was told rebuilding a Hurst shifter mechanism is awful ordeal but I bet it would help the poor thing.

Times like this I wished I still had my 727 shift kitted, extra clutched, tear the heck out of second gear, transmission. Of course there was a 383 big block in front of it. :-D

Anyways thanks ahead of time.
 
do you think the noise is from bearing in tranny being dry, You stated when in neutral position it makes noise. Usually if a throw out is going bad it makes the noise when pressure is put against it. Is there any play between the throw out and pressure plate in neutral position so the throw out isn't still touching some.

In neutral with the clutch disengaged still spins the main input shaft. Maybe try some lucas in the tranny.. hard to tell with out being present

with the clutch disengaged the throw out bearing shouldn't be spinning at all to make any noise
 
racerkilla said:
do you think the noise is from bearing in tranny being dry,
Click to expand...

I really don't think so.... I filled it up with oil to proper level.


racerkilla said:
You stated when in neutral position it makes noise. Usually if a throw out is going bad it makes the noise when pressure is put against it. Is there any play between the throw out and pressure plate in neutral position so the throw out isn't still touching some.
Click to expand...

Yes noise is present when the car is in neutral, emergency brake pulled, and the clutch let out. So you're saying "pressure is put against it" that means with clutch pushed in?
The pedal travels 1" before any type of pressure is felt (free play).


racerkilla said:
In neutral with the clutch disengaged still spins the main input shaft. Maybe try some lucas in the tranny.. hard to tell with out being present

with the clutch disengaged the throw out bearing shouldn't be spinning at all to make any noise
Click to expand...

When I push the clutch in the noise goes away with the trans in neutral, emergency brake pulled.
 
The noise is coming from the front bearing in the trans and.or the pilot shaft floating in the crank hole.
 
Yea, I just come across when a throw out bearing goes bad it makes the noise when pushing the clutch pedal. Only time the throw out bearing should be spinning is when clutch is engaged.. So if the noise is happening in neutral, foot off the clutch pedal the throw out shouldn't be spinning. Unless the throw out bearing isn't coming back far enough away from the pressure plate and still spinning some. take off the access plate and make sure bearing fully coming off the pressure plate. I saw you said u have free play in clutch pedal. Do you have a return spring on the fork to pull that back.
 
RedFish said:
The noise is coming from the front bearing in the trans.
Click to expand...

You don't have to be brutally honest!! LOL!


Expensive repair far as parts? Maybe the car needs to be drove some it will go away?

The noise started not long ago but the other day it seemed worse. It's not getting any better another words.
 
front bearing is probably a good guess... the pilot shaft i could see making noise when the clutch is disengaged allowing free play of the clutch disk and etc. But with the clutch engaged locks up the disk to the flywheel making shaft main shaft spin the same speed so the shaft is spinning same speed at pilot bushing.

sorry i have hard time explaining stuff lol
 
racerkilla said:
front bearing is probably a good guess... the pilot shaft i could see making noise when the clutch is disengaged allowing free play of the clutch disk and etc. But with the clutch engaged locks up the disk to the flywheel making shaft main shaft spin the same speed so the shaft is spinning same speed at pilot bushing.

sorry i have hard time explaining stuff lol
Click to expand...

The pilot shaft running out of center can make shifting difficult.
 
I'm wondering if the throwout bearing isn't making some contact when disengaged.

You said you have 1 inch of pedal play, but I'm not sure that with your diaphragm style clutch that the play is an indicator that the t/o bearing is fully disengaging.

Did you remove the over the center spring from your clutch pedal with the mcleod clutch?

Do you have the solid brass pilot shaft insert or the roller bearing insert at the back of your crank?
Just wondering if you have the roller bearing type that may have given up the ghost.

You know I have the identical clutch set up in my 67 barracuda as well.
I just recently removed my over the center spring.

I too heard some of these noises while in gear but the noise seems to have subsided since I removed the pedal spring.

The only problem I am having with mine is that while under heavy load it is hard for me to pull the gear shifter out of first into second.

I saw a tech article in mopar muscle which talked about a modification to extend the pedal to bellcrank (z-bar) rod by 1" to get greater separation.

I have a feeling that my throwout bearing is wearing out and I have a feeling yours might be as well.

I'd get your buddy to pull the trans and inspect that T/O bearing first, then look at other things as mentioned, also look at your driveshaft length and make sure it is not jamming your transmission guts forward during axle wind up which can screw things up like your transmission bearings, thrust bearing etc.

yeah man 4 speeds are fun as hell but a killer automatic sound real good when having 4 speed problems.
I too have thought the same thoughts especially when having issues with all these darn moving parts, linkages and crap.

Good luck Ax and keep us posted.

You always get this crap sorted out, and boy do you get some doozies that we all can learn from.
 
New engine? Did you indicate and align the bellhousing? The noise is present when the clutch is engaged (meaning pedal not pressed) but goes away when it's pressed? Does it stop immediately or do you hear the noise slow and stop? My money is ont he bellhousing is not properly aligned with the crank centerline and it's putting pressure on the input and mainshaft assemblies.
 
cudaspaz said:
Did you remove the over the center spring from your clutch pedal with the mcleod clutch?
Click to expand...

Yes

cudaspaz said:
Do you have the solid brass pilot shaft insert or the roller bearing insert at the back of your crank?
Click to expand...

Brass pilot shaft bushing



moper said:
New engine?
Click to expand...

Yes

moper said:
Did you indicate and align the bellhousing?
Click to expand...

No I installed everything like it was as it was on the old motor. I can't remember exactly why I didn't do the alignment procedure. I do remember that there was no play with the Lakewood bell housing.

moper said:
The noise is present when the clutch is engaged (meaning pedal not pressed) but goes away when it's pressed?
Click to expand...

Yes

moper said:
Does it stop immediately or do you hear the noise slow and stop?
Click to expand...

Stops immediately
 
Well fellas I jacked the car up and looked at what was going on far as clutch adjustment. I didn't have any free play when I push the clutch in so I thought I have/had the throw out bearing adjusted to tight against the pressure plate. I would pull the pedal all the way frontwards to the front of the car and pull the clutch fork toward the back of the car by hand. It there was any play it was very minimum. So I adjusted it to give more movement and found when Im sitting in the car the clutch pedal will travel at least ¾" before feeling any pressure(Im talking total free play). Then as I push further the PP will start to disengage the clutch. I like the "feel" of the pedal before I touched it. I still get a noise "somewhere" in the tranny area ever so often. Clunk, clunk then it totally goes away.

Also on a rating between 1 and 10 being the best far as shifting when I started this post I would give it a 8. Now with the adjustment I made I give it a 6. It is a PITA to find 1st gear.

Yall hit with some info. Im not a manual trans guy at all. The trans I have had in the past have been autos.

Im fixing to go out in the garage and adjust it somewhat back to where I had it since a) it didn't cure the noise like I had hoped and b) it made the shifting more difficult.
 
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDWB_XIwoak"]YouTube - Hurst Competition Plus 4 speed shifter Rebuild Part 1[/ame]
 
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR0hkFT_YmQ"]YouTube - Hurst Competition Plus 4 speed shifter Rebuild part 2a[/ame]
 
Thanks caferacerx

Theres a lot more to it than what most people think to me anyways.

I remember when I had my trans out and my shifter is filthy compared to that one.
 
not hard at all just make sure it all goes back together in the same order it came apart
one thing I like to do when re assembling every thing is to flip the bushing that the shift levers ride on end for end, over time the shift levers wear groves in the bushing on one end, just reverse it and put it back so the good end is where the shift levers ride, that will remove a lot of the excess play, combined with a good cleaning and new grease it will feel like a new shifter
 
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