CLUTCH CHATTER


IHC in the early to mid-fifties.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 8937

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Sun Sep 17, 2017 2:08 pm

CLUTCH CHATTER

My friend drives an "R" pickup. He called me to ask if I might know why his clutch was chattering. -I offered the usual answers that I am familiar with, and his chattering clutch situation continues.
Back in the late 1930s and into the 1940s Ford had a clutch chatter problem that was caused by the torque tube from the differential to the back of the transmission pushed the transmission forward when clutch was let out and the transmission in gear. The relationship of the linkage length between the hard pedal mount at frame and the rubber mounted engine changed the clutch relationship. Ford's answer to this situation was to install chatter bars. There were two bars, one connected on each side of the transmission and the other ends were connected to the frame. This harnessed the engine movement and the problem was solved. I should add this, these Old Fords had an equally complicated throttle linkage to that of the Old IHC.
All of that to say this, It has been my limited experience, with these old vehicles, is the linkages for the clutch and throttle were not well thought out and time and mileage made the fail-point worse.
OK, so Old IHC does not have a torque tube, but, is it possible for the relationship between the rubber mounted engine and the frame hard mounted clutch pedal and or the throttle linkage to change enough to cause chatter? The Old IHC throttle linkage was a bad design when it was new and time and evolution have not been kind to this system. Add to this situation, the throttle pedal is hard mounted to the cab, the cab is rubber mounted to the frame and the engine is separated from the frame by rubber pads. What could possibly go wrong?
I do not remember for sure, but I think he said the flywheel may have been ground. I did ask if the clutch disc may have been bent during installation, the answer was, "not likely." That answer was not reassuring to me.
Our R120 had a galloping start as the clutch was let out in gear. I tried substituting the hand throttle at the start and the galloping situation didn't go away, but became less severe. I replaced the original POS multi piece linkage with a proper throttle cable and a GM pickup pedal assembly from a local Pick-A-Part. New rear motor mounts may have helped in the fix. One of the 14 L&R pickups I have owned had a broken frame. The cab was holding the frame in place. There was no fix for this old road warrior, so it was turned into parts and scrap.
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 8937

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Mon Sep 18, 2017 9:38 pm

Re: CLUTCH CHATTER

Does anyone have any suggestions or fixes for this situation?
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive

Yard Art
Yard Art

Posts: 76

Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2017 9:48 pm

Post Mon Sep 18, 2017 11:49 pm

Re: CLUTCH CHATTER

Lotus had a similar problem on the Europa, as the entire engine/transaxle/rear suspension was rubber isolated from the chassis. The clutch cable was mounted off the chassis, pulling on the fork that was moving around with the motor/trans. The solution was to move the cable mount from the chassis to the motor, allowing the cable to move with the motor and keeping the distance between the cable mount and the fork constant.

If you add in the lever arm of the clutch fork, just a small movement gets multiplied by that lever arm at the clutch. Hard to get a smooth launch of you can't control the action of the fork. Hope this helps.
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Rusty Driver
Rusty Driver

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Joined: Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:10 am

Post Tue Sep 19, 2017 5:33 am

Re: CLUTCH CHATTER

If you can lock the rear axle and get under and watch what happens when torque ia applied. Obviously a lot of caution must be taken for safety.
I get my high on heavy iron, the older and heavier the better I feel.

Yard Art
Yard Art

Posts: 89

Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 5:49 am

Post Tue Sep 19, 2017 6:47 am

Re: CLUTCH CHATTER

Out of adjustment, bad pilot bushing, bad through out bearing, oil on fly wheel, bad front bearing in transmission, clutch binding on shaft, binding linkage. Bad engine / tranny mounts causing engine / transmission to move around under load ?

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

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Location: Lyman, IA

Post Tue Sep 19, 2017 7:20 pm

Re: CLUTCH CHATTER

In addition to all of the above, bad (worn/ broken) damper springs in the disk. Not sure if someone else mentioned it but disk contamination is another problem.

Yard Art
Yard Art

Posts: 89

Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 5:49 am

Post Wed Sep 20, 2017 5:53 am

Re: CLUTCH CHATTER

also I have seen a mouse nest in a pressure plate and would not allow proper clutch movement

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