Mbryson Daily’s driver project ‘91 MJ Comanche

[DaveB]

Still have those RE shocks and a RE adjustable panhard.

 

[Johnny Quest]

i wish i hadn't sold this

but i'm glad that its getting some good lovin!

 

[mbryson]

Waiting for a rear driveline. Tcase has fluid, d44 has fluid, AX15 has fluid. Brakes are WAY meh, but @ebryson can cover that when he swaps in the front axle and drop brackets at school. G8 needs garage today.

 

[mbryson]

So, it’s 2WD now. Needs SERIOUS trimming on the fenders. Clutch doesn’t quite disengage? Kind of hard to shift. Checked the fluid. Need to see if there’s a way to adjust the slave cylinder push rod somehow. Anyway, it does move under its own power which is pretty nice!

 

[mbryson]

Got a couple hours in on this yesterday. Got the “roll bar” secured in the bed. Still having a little issues with the clutch not quite releasing fully. Hard to shift and grabs right off the floor. I’m far from a hydraulic clutch expert.

If this rod was adjustable, I could just make it a little longer and probably be right where I need to be? Plastic end goes against the clutch fork and the ball end (there’s a LOT of jokes here) into the slave cylinder.

All clutch is new, clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing, clutch master/line/slave. I’ve kicked around bending the clutch fork out a wee bit and seeing what that gets me. How hard would it be to get a longer plastic end thingy for the current push rod? Should I just cut weld (keeping that rod straight would be a little challenging) the current rod? I bet 1/4” would make all kinds of difference.

I’m fairly confident there is no air in the master/line/slave. Assembly was pre bled and I’ve gotten no air bubbles out of system yet.

 

[I Lean]

Is that rod a size you could run a die down and thread it? Then add a coupling nut and a couple jam nuts, and you're in business...or maybe just thread one side, weld the coupling nut to the other side. Something like that...

 

[Hickey]

I've had a similar experience to your clutch problems once before. It ended up being mismatched components. The pressure plate I was using was designed for use with an internal slave cylinder, but I was using an external style slave setup. We tried adjusting the length of the rod, but that didn't solve the problem. We simply weren't getting enough travel out of the slave cylinder to actuate the pressure plate correctly.

A custom pressure plate was ordered, and solved the problem.

Maybe this will give you some ideas?

 

[mbryson]

The mismatched components makes tons of sense. I’ll check that out. THANKS

 

[DAA]

Was going to say kind of the same thing. Component mismatch or simply incorrect or incorrectly spec'd parts seems like a pretty plausible explanation. I bought a new pressure plate when doing the clutch on my LJ and it was different enough from the factory that I decided not to take a chance and did not use it. Original was in pretty good shape anyway. Whole clutch was, except for TO bearing was chunked up.

- DAA

 

[mbryson]

Anyone interested in an internal pressure plate with under one mile on it? We’ll be swapping for an external and assume that’ll fix things up?

 

[Bart]

Good luck. I hope that works.

 

[thenag]

On my bronco I thought I had a push rod length issue, I had a friend machine a longer pushrod and it didn't help I never figured out why the longer pushrod didn't do anything. I don't recall what the issue ended up being, I had tons of issues with that setup over the years. (I had a firewall tear, a bellhousing break, I think I even had a clutch fork bend, I remember re-enforcing all three...) So check your bell housing, firewall and fork too.

On our XJ my wife had it before we met, her father replaced the clutch and had a similar issue that you have. I think it was even with a LUK clutch. He told me this story after I had installed a new LUK clutch when putting the stroker in, my LUK has worked fine.

Nathan

 

[gertsch]

What clutch kit are you running? I had issues with over the counter clutch kits. When I went to a centerforce my shifting issues went away and the clutch was easier to push. Almost like it wasn't working it was so easy to push.

 

[mbryson]

New pressure plate/clutch cured all in the clutch dept. Need to go crazy on the front axle situation now. Get drop brackets installed, shocks bought/installed (@DaveB ) and front axle/steering installed.

 

[DaveB]

Parts are hanging out in my garage waiting.

 

[mbryson]

So, @ebryson was going to work on it at the school shop. No problem, right? I decided to just drive it to the school this morning instead of putting it on the trailer and such. Forgot I didn't have front shocks. Kind of an experience getting it there. It was low on gas so I planned my route carefully thinking there was a gas station along the way. As I pulled up to that, I saw the cute little yellow bags on the pump so I headed towards another gas station 4-5 blocks away. Got gas and headed to the high school. It was kind of weird to drive it instead of just work on it.

Anyway, made it to WX high school without incident. We'll see what damage @ebryson can do while he still has shop time to work on it. @DaveB, are you available tomorrow evening? I'd like to swing by and see what sticks. Have a few bucks this time

 

[Greg]

Funny about the lack of shocks... bet it was bobbing all the way there!

 

[mbryson]

Between that and untrimmed fenders, it was an experience

 

[DaveB]

Yes I should be available

 

[mbryson]

Yes I should be available

@DaveB -- I need to run my daughter to the orthodontist this afternoon. How's your Friday afternoon (4-5 pm) looking for me to stop by?