Clutch Linkage 5 speed

[IN2FORD]

I am running a TKO 5 speed in my truck and had planned on running the American Powertrain hydraulic clutch setup. My problem is that the inner fender on the drives side is right where I need to place the master cylinder. What are you doing for pedal to trans linkage with your 5 speed?

Barry

[motzingg]

the stock pedal has an arm which pulls up on the mechanical clutch rod, over to the right of the brake pedal, i just took that arm off, cut it in half, welded the lower half back on at a 90 degree and positioned it so it would push straight back into the firewall.

Then i drilled it out to size and used a 1/2 " shoulder bolt, through the stock hydraulic clutch push rod eylet.

the stock MC from a '91 f150 was bolted to the firewall using a 3/8" thick aluminum plate sanwich on the inside to spread out the load.

it was accomplished with hand tools in my driveway (not including welder) in about 3 hours. no need to overthink it.

[HIO Silver]

I am running a TKO 5 speed in my truck and had planned on running the American Powertrain hydraulic clutch setup. My problem is that the inner fender on the drives side is right where I need to place the master cylinder. What are you doing for pedal to trans linkage with your 5 speed?

Barry

I'm using the stock mechanical linkage with my TKO-500. Unlike a hydraulic system, it won't leak ... ever.

[IN2FORD]

Do either of you have pics of your install?

Thanks
Barry

[motzingg]

Not a real good ones but :

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LSXJ ... C03055.JPG



If the TKO accepts the mech. linkage, that is probably the most straightforward way to go. I like the feel of the hydraulic clutch, personally, but i'm sure a well adjusted/lubed/good bushings mechanical linkage would perform adequately.

Either way most of my beater/DD cars have gone 200k before the hydraulic clutch components start to go, my ranger lost the MC and the Slave within about 20k miles of each other 190 and 210K respectively. Either way its a pretty simple system and i'm not sweating it, but HIO has a good point, its just something else to fail.

[IN2FORD]

Thanks for the pic. That is exactly what I needed to see.

Thanks
Barry

[HIO Silver]

A pic from a couple years ago....A short-shaft TKO from Modern Driveline and a stock bellhousing & linkage... buh-bye NP-435.

[motzingg]

Yeah i had a better picture of the actual push rod, but its pretty self evident once you get it all apart and look at it.

the clutch rod goes through the whole pedal box from the left to the right, the pedal is welded on the right, and the brake pedal is a tube it slides through in the middle.

the shaft has a flatted round/ double d/ whatever you want to call it on the right hand side, and there is a tab of metal that engages it with the mating feature and nuts and washers that hold it together.

the tab of metal has the hole in it the pushrod (pull rod) hooks into and pulls that rod up through the hole in the floor. The portion that goes onto the shaft is spot welded to a back up plate just to make it stronger i guess and give it the right thickness.

I just cut that pull up arm right at the edge of where that plate was, and placed the cut-off part 90 degrees so it would move in a front-to-back orientation when installed. I tacked it, checked the alignment, and finish welded it. Then i drilled out the hole where the pull rod hooked into, bought a 2.5" long shoulder bolt 1/2 on the shoulder and 3/8 on the thread and bolted it into that hole tightening it against the shoulder.

the clutch pushrod had a precise 1/2" diameter hole through it.

Then i took a chunk of 1/2" hose and used it as a bushing, with a little interference, so the mechanisim wouldn't have any squeaks or jiggles and it would hold the eye of the pushrod out against the head of the shoulder bolt in the right location for the master cylinder.

[IN2FORD]

Thanks for all of the info. I have a master cylinder and mounting hardware from American Powertrain(2nd job) but it requires determining angles and such. The oem master you used seems to be a straight forward install. I may grab one out of a pick and pull just to size things up. All excellent info!!

Barry

[motzingg]

I was quite surprised how well it worked, to be perfectly honest. The OEM M/C was the exact perfect size, the pushrod was the right length within about 1/4" and the arm coming off the pedal was perfect length to throw the clutch.

If it wasn't for that stupid proprietary junk plastic line, it would be perfect.

I know the T-bird manual from the 90's uses the same MC, the mustang might too, in which case i'm sure someone makes a higher quality more expensiver racy replacement unit with the same dimensions. Might want to start there.