Clutch Fork Positioning on Lakewood Fulcrum Point

[khansmith]

All:
I have a 428 FE with a lakewood bellhousing mated to a 4 speed toploader. I haven't been able to get my clutch to operate right (been 3 months working on it). crawled under to get a picture of my clutch fork going into the bell housing and saw something weird. You know how the clutch fork has a tention mount against the bell housing where a tab goes through the fulcrum that is bolted to the bell housing? Well on mine, the tension mount tab doesn't seem to go all the way through! It looks like it is getting blocked by the bolts that hold the fulcrum. Should the tip of this tab go over the bolts? I put pictures below:

[blykins]

If the throw out bearing is mounted on the fork correctly (should slide on until it bottoms out in the clips I think) and the bearing is centered on the input bearing retainer, then the fork has to be in the right spot.

[khansmith]

Thanks for all the input.

On another note, I have to give kudos to southern automotive. They saw my posts on this subject and they called me up! Convinced me that I could figure this out, etc. What great customer service. Bill is suggesting putting 3 big washers between the bellhousing and the fulcrum. He also confirmed that the tension tab should be over the bolts.

[Rick Parker]

The pivot is usually anchored with round headed rivits to gain clearance near the clip. The surface area of the "foot" of the pivot is necessary to prevent it from rocking as the arm pivots and transfers the force created by the pressure plate. Why do you have "ANY" washers under it? If you need a spacer (such as washers) to move the pivot, (why?) fabricate a small square plate with 2 holes in it to provide the same surface area for the "foot" of the pivot to sandwich between it and the bellhousing. Use black hardened (they all are) button head machine screws instead of typical bolts, or reduce the thickness of the thin the heads on the existing bolts. That will give you the necessary clearance for the clip. Using any sort of spacer her will move the static position of the clutch arm (outside the bellhousing) forward about 3/4-1"and will put additional stress on the fasteners.

Also...the stamped recess in the fork arm is for the pivot to rest in. When it is properly positioned the clip should be completely through the pivot, there is also a recess in the spring to "Lock" it in place too.

[khansmith]

Rick:
The round headed bolt idea is a fantastic one. I will have to research those. Bill at SA suggested using washers as spacers to increase the mechanical advantage in the fork movement to make it easer to activate the clutch.

[khansmith]

Wanted to wait until forum was back up to give an update. Everything is working great now. If you would like to read details with pics, can read it on my blog entry here: http://khansmith.blogspot.com/2007/1...-back-and.html