Ehhrggg, Standed by a Set-Screw

[patrickt]

Out on a back country road, coming out of a turn, big downshift, and WHOA! my foot must have missed the entire clutch pedal. Nope, clutch pedal went all the way to the floor with NO pressure whatsoever and stays there. Limp to the side of the road and call for a flatbed tow. Got it back to the garage and when I peeked under it here is what I find. Hmmm, tough diagnosis.



Note the set-screw. Bob P. -- any reason I shouldn't Loctite that set-screw so this doesn't happen again?



As a side note the flatbed guy didn't think he could get the Cobra up on his flatbed by pulling it without the cables hurting the front glass (I had pulled off the road UP a steep incline). Sooooo, the only way to get it up on the flatbed was to start it in gear and drive it up on the bed and hit the brakes and kill the engine before driving into his cab. Oh yeah, don't want to do that again.

[madmaxx]

Good job, I hope you went back with loctite.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by madmaxx

Good job, I hope you went back with loctite.

It's still up on the jacks. I put that piece back on, aligned the pedals up properly, made sure it was all working properly, but didn't bother tightening the set-screw yet. My allen wrenches were a good ten steps away and I got dehydrated waiting for the flatbed in today's 95 degree heat. I'll tighten it up with blue LocTite tomorrow unless Bob P. chimes in with a reason not to.

[CHANMADD]

You could have driven it all the way home without the pedal.Just synchronize the revs and the box slips into gear no problem. You should practice shifting without the clutch once you have fixed the car. I have driven in traffic like that more than once .

[blykins]

Crazy flat tappet cams.....

I'm sure the Loctite will fix it...is it easy to get to? Are there 2 set screws? Could you maybe drill through and install a roll pin?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by CHANMADD

You could have driven it all the way home without the pedal.Just synchronize the revs....

Yeah, I know. And for a fleeting moment I considered it... then I called the flatbed.

Originally Posted by blykins

I'm sure the Loctite will fix it...is it easy to get to? Are there 2 set screws? Could you maybe drill through and install a roll pin?

Easy to get to; one set screw. I'm going to come up with something a little extra though that will hold it. It doesn't have to be much to hold it on. I safety wire everything, but I don't see a way to safety wire this.

[RICK LAKE]

Patrickt Pat you can drill and bolt head and safety wire tie it off. I surprised at you not being able to drive home with out a clutch pedal. All those years of driving, gone to waste. Well this will give you something to do in the future. Rick L. ps my CJ% came with a clutch cable for the stock 10.5 clutch. I had to go to a 11.0" and would brak a cable every 2 months. I drove to Pittsburg and back with out. Thank god I had a goos starter for the tolls and gas stops. almost 800 miles.

[strictlypersonl]

Blue Loctite is OK. Red, if you're never planning on taking it apart again...

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RICK LAKE

Patrickt Pat you can drill and bolt head and safety wire tie it off. I surprised at you not being able to drive home with out a clutch pedal. All those years of driving, gone to waste.

I don't even like to park my Tremec in gear. I did think about it though. Now in hindsight flying it up the flatbed in gear probably wasn't the brightest thing to do either. Fortunately, no harm no foul.

Originally Posted by strictlypersonl

Blue Loctite is OK. Red, if you're never planning on taking it apart again...

Blue it is then. As soon as I use Red on anything I regret it shortly thereafter.

[PNJSNAK]

I was told the same thing by a flat bed operator when I needed a lift back home.
I stood on the cable (210#) until the car was on the flat bed then got off.
I did put a towel on the cable under the nose just in case. Don't forget a board for the tires to get the nose up a bit.
Went on no problem. As a matter of fact I had to have it brought home twice that way.
Jim

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by PNJSNAK

I was told the same thing by a flat bed operator when I needed a lift back home.
I stood on the cable (210#) until the car was on the flat bed then got off.
I did put a towel on the cable under the nose just in case. Don't forget a board for the tires to get the nose up a bit.
Went on no problem. As a matter of fact I had to have it brought home twice that way.
Jim

We had one board but we didn't think about standing on the cable. I guess the quick jacks aren't strong enough to pull the car up on flat bed? Bob, whadddayyaa think?

[G.R.]

Quick Jacks= all show,no go on most replicas

[strictlypersonl]

I wouldn't use the quick-jacks. A failure would have unpleasant consequences and you could still damage the body around the tubes.

The safest way to winch the car onto the trailer is backward, using the tie-downs built into the lower control arms. You still might have to pad the chains though. I like to use nylon straps as an intermediate connection wherever it might contact the body.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by strictlypersonl

The safest way to winch the car onto the trailer is backward, using the tie-downs built into the lower control arms. You still might have to pad the chains though. I like to use nylon straps as an intermediate connection wherever it might contact the body.

OK, that's a nugget of gold. Thanks.

[jimw427]

Had to get a flatbed to give me a ride home about 3 weeks ago, my half shaft broke in half.

I am lucky enough to have a solid plate under my nose below the oil cooler opening. So I hooked the chain up on the back half of the frame and the chain ran out right under the steel plate (just how the frame and body mount). However I did purchase a tow strap and plan to find a better way of hooking the strap to the frame in case I ever have to do it again. I am sure the strap will cause less damage then their chains if they make contact. Adding a couple of tow hooks to the frame would work great if I can find the right place.

A 4X4 used as a ramp that the driver had really helped out in getting the nose up.

Good think at least you problem is an easy fix and nothing major. It would be nice if you had enough shaft to get a pin through to make sure it never slides odd again even if you loose the set screw.

Good Luck..

Jim

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by jimw427

It would be nice if you had enough shaft to get a pin through to make sure it never slides odd again even if you loose the set screw.

Yeah, I'm going to fasten something on the outside of the spline that will let me put a little pin through it. Betting it all on that set-screw, even with Loctite on it, isn't all that reassuring. But, now that I know what it is, I could probably put the darn thing back on by just propping a shoe under the clutch pedal to keep it in the right position and then reaching in under the car from the driver's side (once the pipes cool down) and slide the outside of the spline back on just by feel.

[RICK LAKE]

patrickt Pat just a thought, Hoping that this will never happen again, put 2 m arks that line up on the pivot and clutch arm. This way, God FORBID it comes apart you can line up the two parts alot easier. The other thing is to tape a bolt, or allen head to the rod with a cheap allen head wrench. You will not see it but nice to know that you can fix the car if this happens again. Just a thought. Rick L.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RICK LAKE

patrickt Pat just a thought, Hoping that this will never happen again, put 2 m arks that line up on the pivot and clutch arm. This way, God FORBID it comes apart you can line up the two parts alot easier. The other thing is to tape a bolt, or allen head to the rod with a cheap allen head wrench. You will not see it but nice to know that you can fix the car if this happens again. Just a thought. Rick L.

Aligning everything up really only took a minute -- you just position the clutch pedal to be at the same height as the brake pedal and then stick the arm back on the spline and tighten the set-screw. Nothing to it. I have an idea on how to have a safety factor on the arm -- I'll work on it in the next couple of days and then post my results.

[Maurice Butler]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Note the set-screw. Bob P. -- any reason I shouldn't Loctite that set-screw so this doesn't happen again?

The important thing is the clamping pressure on the splines. If you don't have clampling pressure and it is sitting there, the splines can round off and you end up with a bigger problem.

Loctite or lock wire on set screw no more additional devices that don't maintain clamping pressure

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Maurice Butler

The important thing is the clamping pressure on the splines. If you don't have clampling pressure and it is sitting there, the splines can round off and you end up with a bigger problem.

No, there is no clamping pressure on the splines. Note that there is a circumferential groove in the splined post. The set screw passes in to this groove and holds the arm on to the spline that way, not by clamping on to the splines. So long as the set screw does not break off, or back out, the arm will be fastened securely to the spline. Here is a close up that will let you see the groove.