shifting problem!!

stang_guy_95 · 03-20-2003, 09:33 PM

Yesterday when I went to drive my car I put the clutch in and went to put it in first gear and I really had to force it into gear. It's the same thru all the gears, not just first. The clutch doesn't feel the same either. It is a little harder to push down and it doesn't feel like it's engaging all the way. There is also a clicking sound when the clutch is not engaged and when I have the clutch in, the noise stops. It sound like the noice is coming from the clutch/flywheel. The clutch and flywheel are fairly new as I did an engine swap about 6 months ago from a v6 to v8. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jason.

richd · 03-20-2003, 11:58 PM

I had the same issues...the stock bearing retainer is aluminum and the throwout bearing eventually wears grooves in it. The t.o. bearing starts getting caught up on those grooves making it hard to push the clutch in. The hard shifting is the clutch not disengaging fully. Oh, and your cable is probably stretched and close to breaking. The clicking is the t.o. bearing, probably worn out from the abuse of Ford's poor design (aluminum a bad idea as a friction bearing surface).

hanlonmotorsports.com has pictures of what a bad retainer looks like.

You'll need the following parts to fix your problem:

Throwout Bearing - $20 (not 100% sure of price)
Steel Retainer from Hanlon - $50
New clutch cable - $50 for an aftermarket or $100+ for Ford OEM.

Maybe get a new fork and ball stud if you didn't get one with your clutch. - $20-$30?

Really sucks, sorry you have to deal with the annoyance of that. Take it from me, just do it right the first time. I would just replace the cable and went through 3 or 4 of them. It wasn't until I rebuilt my trans (mostly due to a leaking rear seal) that I replaced the retainer and t.o. bearing. Huge difference. Before the steel retainer I was lucky if a cable lasted 3 months. I did the rebuild in August 2002 and it's still strong.

Good luck,

Rich D.

03-20-2003, 09:33 PM	#1
stang_guy_95 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: michigan Posts: 56	shifting problem!! Yesterday when I went to drive my car I put the clutch in and went to put it in first gear and I really had to force it into gear. It's the same thru all the gears, not just first. The clutch doesn't feel the same either. It is a little harder to push down and it doesn't feel like it's engaging all the way. There is also a clicking sound when the clutch is not engaged and when I have the clutch in, the noise stops. It sound like the noice is coming from the clutch/flywheel. The clutch and flywheel are fairly new as I did an engine swap about 6 months ago from a v6 to v8. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jason.

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03-20-2003, 11:58 PM	#2
richd Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Edison, NJ, USA Posts: 125	I had the same issues...the stock bearing retainer is aluminum and the throwout bearing eventually wears grooves in it. The t.o. bearing starts getting caught up on those grooves making it hard to push the clutch in. The hard shifting is the clutch not disengaging fully. Oh, and your cable is probably stretched and close to breaking. The clicking is the t.o. bearing, probably worn out from the abuse of Ford's poor design (aluminum a bad idea as a friction bearing surface). hanlonmotorsports.com has pictures of what a bad retainer looks like. You'll need the following parts to fix your problem: Throwout Bearing - $20 (not 100% sure of price) Steel Retainer from Hanlon - $50 New clutch cable - $50 for an aftermarket or $100+ for Ford OEM. Maybe get a new fork and ball stud if you didn't get one with your clutch. - $20-$30? Really sucks, sorry you have to deal with the annoyance of that. Take it from me, just do it right the first time. I would just replace the cable and went through 3 or 4 of them. It wasn't until I rebuilt my trans (mostly due to a leaking rear seal) that I replaced the retainer and t.o. bearing. Huge difference. Before the steel retainer I was lucky if a cable lasted 3 months. I did the rebuild in August 2002 and it's still strong. Good luck, Rich D.