Stuck Clutch

[R W Burgess]

Someone spoke of the Corvette on another thread. It brought to mind my '65 coupe that  has a stuck clutch. The car starts and runs nice but I have tried a lot of things to get the clutch to release....cranking engine in gear with clutch down....jacked it off the ground starting it in 2nd gear, slamming on brakes (choked motor out).......tried rocking it with clutch released, etc. I am thinking of starting in gear after stopping traffic in front of garage and running hard down the road and hoping the weight will break it loose. The flywheel housing is solid, no bottom plate. Any suggestions?

[edinmass]

This is an easy one. Just start the car on a nice warm day and let it idle for two hours. The engine heat will eventually work its way to the flywheel, and the expansion of the flywheel will assist in braking it loose. If the heat alone doesn't break it free, then do the usual drive around with the clutch pushed in and snap the throttle. I have done this more than twenty times and it worked for every one of them, pre and post war. Just be patient, it will work. Ed

 

PS. It takes a LONG time to get the entire engine and transmission up to full temp.

Edited May 9, 2017 by edinmass (see edit history)

[R W Burgess]

Thank Ed. I have been patient. This issue is now about 4 months old. I will state here now, as most of us know, you can have TOO MANY cars. The more they sit, the worse they operate, especially in  unheated garage environments. The problem that most of us have when selling off some of them is that they are never worth we think "our babies" are worth.

 

I will try your "let it idle" deal before too long.

Wayne

[edinmass]

Next time I am in the neighborhood I'll stop by and exercise a few of your cars. My 36 Pierce twelve had stuck floats in both carbs this week, it had been sitting for 17 weeks. It's only getting harder to keep up with this new fuel. Ed

[60FlatTop]

I have found that stuck clutches are not always caused by the face of the clutch stuck to the flywheel. The last one I had to fix was a Met and rust had formed on the spline of the input shaft. It would not allow the clutch plate to move on the shaft. We had to lubricate the spline, depress the clutch, and reach with a punch to work the plate on the shaft.

Prior to bringing the car to me the owner had pushed against trees, rocked to car, and gone through a lot of gyrations to free it.

He brought it to me to install a new clutch, but I was afraid the car would break in half if I removed the crossmember, or at least the bolt holes would have moved.

It took half an hour to fix.

Bernie

Edited May 9, 2017 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[R W Burgess]

Bernie, you can not reach or shoot fluid inside the bellhousing because it is solid. Someone suggested drilling a hole in the bottom large enough to put a punch in, but I just can not force myself to do that. 

 

Ed, I have 4 cars down now. A '29 essex with carburetor problems, a 26 Chrysler that had carb problems, now we find that the distributor shaft is worn, the Corvette, an 81 Olds that had its electric drivers window connecting dodinky (ever see one of them?) break allowing the glass to go down into the door. Weather is better now, so things will start to get repaired shortly. I hope.Wait, forgot the 1915 T that had its wheel pass it, plus it has a broken roof bow, darn car trailer, just a few inches too short. 

[60FlatTop]

24 minutes ago, edinmass said:

Next time I am in the neighborhood I'll stop by and exercise a few of your cars. My 36 Pierce twelve had stuck floats in both carbs this week, it had been sitting for 17 weeks. It's only getting harder to keep up with this new fuel. Ed

 

I didn't think the PA 12 had SU's but I checked anyway. It's an old SU joke. The owner pumped fuel up to the SU's after sitting a long time and the fuel pours out all over. In a panic the owner calls his mechanic describing the problem. After a brief discussion the mechanic says "Go back and start it. The car will be OK now." Much the the skeptical owner's surprise, the car starts right up and runs fine the rest of the season. Those SU's tend to stick and once the fuel drains down they drop and float freely.

 

That story is courtesy of Doug Seibert if you know him.

Bernie

[60FlatTop]

4 minutes ago, R W Burgess said:

Bernie, you can not reach or shoot fluid inside the bellhousing because it is solid.

Yeah, I thought of that. One time I got into a big argument with my boss at work. It ended in the mutual agreement that he was the concept man and I was the detail man.

Now you have the concept.

Bernie

[60FlatTop]

9 minutes ago, R W Burgess said:

Bernie, you can not reach or shoot fluid inside the bellhousing because it is solid. Someone suggested drilling a hole in the bottom large enough to put a punch in, but I just can not force myself to do that. 

 

Ed, I have 4 cars down now. A '29 essex with carburetor problems, a 26 Chrysler that had carb problems, now we find that the distributor shaft is worn, the Corvette, an 81 Olds that had its electric drivers window connecting dodinky (ever see one of them?) break allowing the glass to go down into the door. Weather is better now, so things will start to get repaired shortly. I hope.Wait, forgot the 1915 T that had its wheel pass it, plus it has a broken roof bow, darn car trailer, just a few inches too short. 

 

You don't own a boat!

[R W Burgess]

4 minutes ago, 60FlatTop said:

Yeah, I thought of that. One time I got into a big argument with my boss at work. It ended in the mutual agreement that he was the concept man and I was the detail man.

Now you have the concept.

Bernie

*

If it was a modern car, I would cut it in a minute, tie it up with bailing wire whatever, but I can not force that on an original car. You don't know how hard it is for me to change my way of handling mechanical issues! 

[60FlatTop]

"It is a 5 or 6 hour job to pull the transmission, inspect, and repair everything. You could be done by supper! And fix the other stuff tomorrow." Quote from the guy who stripped the spoiler in October because the clear coat was flaky.

Edited May 9, 2017 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[JWLawrence]

When parking a vehicle for a long time, like over the winter months, do it with the clutch pedal pushed down. Something can be rigged to brace the pedal in this position. Works for me. JWL

 

[F&J]

6 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

The last one I had to fix was a Met and rust had formed on the spline of the input shaft. It would not allow the clutch plate to move on the shaft.

 

 

That is not the problem with this Corvette.  Yes a stuck spline will make the transmission impossible to get into any gear with motor running.  But if a spline is stuck, and you depress the pressure plate, now only one side of the clutch disc is in direct contact...the flywheel side. 

 

If it was a stuck spline, and he already did those aggressive trials he posted, it would slip a bit.  Proof would be, start in gear, get on safe road, and full throttle it quickly.  If only one side of disc is dragging due to spline sticking, it will slip like a bad automatic trans. 

 

 

The Corvette drivetrain can certainly handle some brutal attempts that were mentioned.  If it were a WW1- auto, that abuse can snap an axle, which as we know were very weak axles.

 

I like what Ed said about "total heating" of components, and then the road trips tricks.

[Rusty_OToole]

I have dealt with stuck clutches before. Hold the clutch pedal down or prop it down with a stick and slide a knife blade between the clutch plate and flywheel and between the clutch plate and pressure plate. If you want to be sure, turn the engine half a turn and do it again.

 

Usually there is a removable plate on the bottom of the bellhousing. If you can't get access to the clutch any other way you have to take the transmission out.

 

To avoid this happening again cut a stick to go between the clutch pedal and dash board to hold the pedal down in storage,

[Frank DuVal]

I have not seen a Chevrolet belhousing without an inspection plate. Is this a special big block belhousing? 

 

When my Graham stuck and the various tricks mentioned above did not work, taking the inspection plate off and using a pry bar did. Needs two people (one pressing on clutch one on prybar) or something else to operate clutch from pedal or linkage.

[R W Burgess]

7 hours ago, Frank DuVal said:

I have not seen a Chevrolet belhousing without an inspection plate. Is this a special big block belhousing? 

 

When my Graham stuck and the various tricks mentioned above did not work, taking the inspection plate off and using a pry bar did. Needs two people (one pressing on clutch one on prybar) or something else to operate clutch from pedal or linkage.

*

The engine is a 375hp fuel injected 327 made in 1965. no inspection plate!!

[Guest]

2 hours ago, R W Burgess said:

*

The engine is a 375hp fuel injected 327 made in 1965. no inspection plate!!

 Wow!, a '65 fuelie coupe! Wayne, let me borrow this fine vehicle, and I'll fix it for free. Thing is, I'll need to test drive it for a year or so afterwards.......just to make sure everything is working properly, you see.

[Larry Schramm]

18 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said:

I have dealt with stuck clutches before. Hold the clutch pedal down or prop it down with a stick and slide a knife blade between the clutch plate and flywheel and between the clutch plate and pressure plate. If you want to be sure, turn the engine half a turn and do it again.

 

Usually there is a removable plate on the bottom of the bellhousing. If you can't get access to the clutch any other way you have to take the transmission out.

 

To avoid this happening again cut a stick to go between the clutch pedal and dash board to hold the pedal down in storage,

 

Aahhh,  the old "sticking the clutch" trick. I do it on my vehicles also.

[R W Burgess]

On 5/9/2017 at 10:03 AM, edinmass said:

This is an easy one. Just start the car on a nice warm day and let it idle for two hours. The engine heat will eventually work its way to the flywheel, and the expansion of the flywheel will assist in braking it loose. If the heat alone doesn't break it free, then do the usual drive around with the clutch pushed in and snap the throttle. I have done this more than twenty times and it worked for every one of them, pre and post war. Just be patient, it will work. Ed

 

PS. It takes a LONG time to get the entire engine and transmission up to full temp.

 

Ok guys, I will take Ed's suggestion and work some day next week to have this car run for 2 hours to heat things up. I will probably turn the idle up high to keep things real warn, and be nearby to make sure it's not too warm. I met Ed in Philly this year and he seemed like a reasonable intelligent fellow (some of my other friends? Ummmm), so I trust him to know something about this.

 

Thanks for all the help guys. I will report later.

Wayne

[mercer09]

 

Thank Ed. I have been patient. This issue is now about 4 months old. I will state here now, as most of us know, you can have TOO MANY cars. The more they sit, the worse they operate, especially in  unheated garage environments. The problem that most of us have when selling off some of them is that they are never worth we think "our babies" are worth.

 

TOO MANY cars! aint that the truth...............

 

I am just realizing I am a hoarder.

 

[Rusty_OToole]

One more idea. If you are in a place you can drive the car around. Start the car, warm up the engine, parked on a down hill slope if possible. Shut off engine, put it in second gear. Start in gear and drive away. Drive around with the clutch shoved in, gunning the engine. See if it will break loose.

[Spinneyhill]

If it is a manual you should be able to start it in gear as above and then just go for a long drive to get it warmed up. You don't NEED the clutch to change gear if you know the vehicle and keep the revs down. You know what the clutch does so you can manage without, although starting is a bit of a bind at times.

 

Story time. In PNG I came across a local man with a Toyota Dyna truck stuck in gear and not running. Clutch fluid reservoir was on the dash so it was easy to see there was no clutch. So with use of the starter motor I managed to bump it out of gear, turn it to face down hill and start it in first gear. I found a place to turn around without stopping and drove it back to Bialla, about 20 km, changing gear as required. He took my truck, HiLux, early 4WD version with bent front axle. I arrived well before he did and there was a look of utter disbelief on his face when he pulled up beside his truck at the "power station" (big Deutz diesel gen-sets). It must have been like magic to him!

Edited May 11, 2017 by Spinneyhill (see edit history)

[JACK M]

12 hours ago, Spinneyhill said:

If it is a manual you should be able to start it in gear as above and then just go for a long drive to get it warmed up. You don't NEED the clutch to change gear if you know the vehicle and keep the revs down. You know what the clutch does so you can manage without, although starting is a bit of a bind at times.

 

Story time. In PNG I came across a local man with a Toyota Dyna truck stuck in gear and not running. Clutch fluid reservoir was on the dash so it was easy to see there was no clutch. So with use of the starter motor I managed to bump it out of gear, turn it to face down hill and start it in first gear. I found a place to turn around without stopping and drove it back to Bialla, about 20 km, changing gear as required. He took my truck, HiLux, early 4WD version with bent front axle. I arrived well before he did and there was a look of utter disbelief on his face when he pulled up beside his truck at the "power station" (big Deutz diesel gen-sets). It must have been like magic to him!

 

Some of the things that seem logical to us mechanical type seem like magic to some others.

Quite often leads to to many friends. LOL

[padgett]

My answer is to get rid of the stock clutch and get a centerforce. Much easier on your leg. My race car was a 63 fuelie coupe wit Delcotronic ignition. Double drive mag impulse distributer.

[Dave Henderson]

Here's what worked for me;  put the car in low gear and have someone in it holding the clutch down.  Tow it at about 25 mph and have the driver work the clutch in and out.  It may take a couple trys, I had success doing it this way with a car that sat over bare ground for 2 years. 
I wouldn't recommend clamping the clutch down over a long period of time to prevent it from sticking, unless you don't mind the possibility of it slipping afterward due to compression of the pressure plate's springs.

Edited May 13, 2017 by Dave Henderson (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

Once upon a time propping the clutch pedal down was recommended for long term storage by various car companies including Rolls Royce.