Need advice adjusting clutch

[GG Gregory]

I’ve had my 27 Roadster for a short while now and I’ve noticed that when I need to stop and push the clutch pedal in I can only push maybe 1/2” before it wants to go back into high. I have to really watch or the car will go right into traffic. Is the problem with the pedal linkage or does the clutches need adjustment ? The car doesn’t want to creep when I start it up like some do so figured the linkage was about right.

[Dallas Landers]

With the hand brake lever in the forward position and foot off the left peddle , the car is in high gear. Pushing the peddle about 1/2 way down will give a neutral and pushing all the way down will be low gear. Not sure if I answered your question.

[JohnM]

I think you are starting to engage low gear. Try pulling the brake handle half way up when sitting at a light and keep your foot off the clutch and see if it still wants to go forward. Until you are more familiar with the "sweet spot", it is much safer so you don't hit the car in front of you.

[Norman Kling]

You might have seen this diagram before. If the neutral works with the parking brake in the neutral position and high works with the brake all the way forward and the parking brake works when you pull it all the way back and the engine does not kill, then the transmission is correctly adjusted. However, you might need to adjust the link connected to the low pedal to the clutch lever on the side of the transmission.
It is possible that you are hitting low gear too soon with the pedal. In that case, the low band is likely too tight. It should apply the low with the pedal about 1 " not more than 1-1 1/2" above the floorboard. Sometimes this is impossible if the low cam and low notch are worn. In that case you will not get a true neutral, because the best position of the pedal would be below the level of the floorboard. You need to remove the hogs head on top of the transmission to get to the low notch and cam. It might be possible to access them but almost impossible to do so without dropping something in the transmission, so easier if you remove the hogs head.
Try adjusting according to the diagram first, and if it works, you are home free. If not you might need to replace the low cam and notch.
Norm

[GG Gregory]

I don’t think I explained the problem clear enough. Let me go at it a different way. What I’m saying is there’s almost no clutch travel in high gear. With the hand brake half way low is perfect but once the the hand brake is pushed forward and I’m in high and need to push the clutch to find neutral for stopping or shifting into Ruckstel then I can only apply the slightest foot pressure...1/2” movement or less before I’m back in low gear. I’ve driven other T’s that had better free travel on the pedal. It’s crazy hard to even shift in or out of Ruckstel because of almost no clutch travel.

[Kerry]

Band is adjusted too tight.

[GG Gregory]

Kerry , it was even like that with the worn out cotton linings when I got the car. I installed Kevlar and thought I had it to tight but slightly back the band off and I have almost no low gear. I slowly readjusted until I got low back. The clutch travel didn’t change either way.

[Bill Robinson]

Back in the 90's I read this on one of the forums about a problem similar to yours. This is how it read:

More than once I've had this situation happen- I would follow the instructions book to a
"T" but there was a problem as follows- there was a good free neutral as long as the brake
lever was pulled back to the vertical position. But when the lever was pushed forward I
could barely find neutral in the pedal, and sometimes the transmission would just go directly to
high gear-----------> this is what I would do. Pull the pin from the J-shaped clutch clevis. Turn
the clevis counter clockwise so that the clevis assy gets longer. Count your turns. Turn one
time re-insert the pin. Test drive the Model T. Two to three turns is usually all it takes, but I
have extended it as many as five turns.

[Adam]

I’ve run into something similar twice in the last 18 years that was not an adjustment issue, but something a previous “restorer” caused... There is a lot of advice out there about building pedal cams up with braze to remove all the free-play and repair wear. Some people don’t realize that it IS desirable to eliminate all the play in the brake and reverse pedal cams, but that the low pedal cam should not begin to engage the low band until the pedal has traveled forward maybe two inches. Those two times, I saw the internal low speed pedal cam had been brazed up so the low band began to engage immediately, with no allowance to actuate the clutch first. One car could only be driven well with constant use of the hand lever, and the other car just barely functioned properly if you really got the knack of driving it.

I wonder if a previous restorer has improperly “fixed” the internal low speed pedal cam & notch to eliminate any free play?

[GG Gregory]

Finally someone gets what I’m saying...Thanks Bill and Adam ! Bill I was thinking the linkage could be the problem you spoke about. Adam I had the hogshead off and cleaned and didn’t notice any brazing to the pedal cam, but it could still have been done and I missed it. Thanks again fellas !

[John Warren]

I just ran into a clutch problem that I wish I would have figured out before we put the hogs head back on. When the car was purchased I noticed that the clutch was going over center causing it to want to stay down. After pulling the inspection cover off to inspect, the low band was wore out and was taken up as far as it would go. Proceeded to remove the band to re-line and noticed a broken low drum, so out with the engine. Now the new drum is installed and I did look at the hogs head for wear on the cam, and it looked like it had been replaced. I did notice that the peddle had been heated and bent back towards the driver. After reinstalling it, it did the same thing as before, going over center when adjusted properly. What it ended up being was the rivet that held the new cam on the shaft is loose. Well with a little pressure , the cam twists on the shaft causing the timing of the clutch arm to be off. What it needs is to drill out the loose rivet and put in a new oversize one. What we did for now was to heat the clutch lever on the bottom of the peddle and bent it towards the engine until we were able to get the peddle back in time with the clutch and low band. It worked for now. We will fix it properly when the hogs head comes back off. A worn cam will cause the same symptoms and cause neutral problems.

[Allan]

I believe Adam has the answer. I did just the same thing when I rebuilt the cams/pedal on one of my early cars. The cam/pedal ramp combination needs to allow the pedal some 1.5" of free travel before engaging the low gear band. The brake and reverse bands do need to have that travel eliminated, but not the clutch/first gear pedal. The good news for LHD cars is the pedal notch and ramp are easily replaced, as both components are individual pieces. On our RHD cars , the ramp is part of the pedal. To rectify the wear, the pedal must be removed from the shaft and the ramps rebuilt and dressed.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

[Norman Kling]

The vendors carry new cams and new notches. Install them and your problems should be solved. I have done just that on several cars. My first T had that problem and I would reline the bands and still have problems. Finally fixed the cam and notch. I think you would be much more satisfied with new ones than with brazing up the old ones.
Norm. Remember to rivet the pin on both ends so it won't come out.
Norm

[Allan]

Bang on Norm. Unfortunately, on our RHD cars, the ramps are part of the pedal forging, so we have no alternative to rebuilding the pedal. You blokes get it easy!

Allan from down under.

[Adam]

Every repro low pedal cam & notch I’ve installed needed an hour of careful fitting and grinding to make the ramps fit well and have correct free-play.

[Norman Kling]

Sorry about that I am not familiar with right hand drive cars.
Norm