Heavy clutch

[pesd]

Hi Gang,

Just getting my 16v out of storage this week, the weather is still not great up here in New England.

The Clutch pedal has always been"heavy" (tough to push in), never bugged me and always fun to drive BUT,

I had foot surgery last year that never healed properly, at the end driving for a few hours last fall my foot was sore and swollen.

Is there any adjustment so it wasn't as hard to push in, thought I would ask, I looked in the manual and didn't see anything.

Thanks 

  

[Hemi Dude]

2 minutes ago, pesd said:

Hi Gang,

Just getting my 16v out of storage this week, the weather is still not great up here in New England.

The Clutch pedal has always been"heavy" (tough to push in), never bugged me and always fun to drive BUT,

I had foot surgery last year that never healed properly, at the end driving for a few hours last fall my foot was sore and swollen.

Is there any adjustment so it wasn't as hard to push in, thought I would ask, I looked in the manual and didn't see anything.

Thanks 

  

The clutch pedal is harder to push in a TC with the 16 valve engine because with all that ‘potential’ power, the clutch pressure-plate has stronger springs to be able to transfer that power (torque) from the engine to the transaxle, without slippage, then on to the driving wheels. 

There is no way to ease the pressure required to push the clutch pedal.

[pesd]

Thanks Hemi,

I'll live with the pain, I love driving my TC, I dont even think about it while driving it's just afterwards.

[Hemi Dude]

1 hour ago, pesd said:

Thanks Hemi,

I'll live with the pain, I love driving my TC, I dont even think about it while driving it's just afterwards.

If you look at my reply, under it you will see 2 Allpar links. If you click on the top one, you can read how I converted my TC to a manual 5 speed transaxle. 

I am not recommending this for you, just to say that the standard clutch pressure with all the other FWD Chrysler transaxles is far less then with the Getrag behind the 16V engine.

I use to own a TC with the 16V engine (the yellow one you see at first) which you can also read about on that link. The clutch and shifter for those Chrysler transmissions are much easier to handle.

If I were to have your problem, I would consider the swap. But then I have been a Chrysler tech for over 50 years, so it would be 'no-sweat' for me except for my age.

[pesd]

Thanks again Hemi,

 I consider the TC a sports car (even though I believe it was built as a "touring car" TC) and as I grew up with cars one  of the things that make a sports car fun is a standard transmission.

when driving the 16v on a nice day and you drop it into second or third , hit the gas and the turbo kicks in, that car takes off, pressed back against the seat and a little adrenaline rush.

Most of the time I baby it, but every now and then its nice to open it up. I'm not sure you would get that kick with a manual trani, though that is adventurous of your conversion, I'll check out your allpar links tonight.

[Hemi Dude]

7 hours ago, pesd said:

Thanks again Hemi,

 I consider the TC a sports car (even though I believe it was built as a "touring car" TC) and as I grew up with cars one  of the things that make a sports car fun is a standard transmission.

when driving the 16v on a nice day and you drop it into second or third , hit the gas and the turbo kicks in, that car takes off, pressed back against the seat and a little adrenaline rush.

Most of the time I baby it, but every now and then its nice to open it up. I'm not sure you would get that kick with a manual trani, though that is adventurous of your conversion, I'll check out your allpar links tonight.

Have no doubt, my TC is plenty quick with it’s stock 2.2L and the 555  5-speed transaxle.

[pesd]

I'm very sure it is, I know you know your cars, you were very helpful to me last spring when I had a blown turbo in my TC and I'm the one who sent you a picture of the original General Lee you used to work on.

Are those TC rims on the Voyager in your allpar minivan post?

[Hemi Dude]

1 hour ago, pesd said:

Are those TC rims on the Voyager in your allpar minivan post?

 

 

As a matter of fact, they are. The rims on my TC currently are from the PT Cruiser

Photo is from Kingman, AZ. Where I was visiting with a fellow TC America friend who was on his way to Ohio in that Smoke Quartz Metallic TC next to mine. It has the 3.0L V6 with a 5 speed transaxle from a Dodge Daytona. Although we visited in the afternoon, he was at his destination the next day and recorded 42 MPG on the trip.

 

[Reaper1]

Admittedly I only drove my 16V car a few blocks and started it a few times, I don't truly remember the clutch being "hard" or even significantly harder than my Shelby Z with a Turbos Unleashed "purple plate" in it. I haven't driven a stock clutch car in over a decade, but one of the big selling points of the TU clutches is the relative "lightness" of the pedal for the amount of clamping power they have. I can 100% tell you that it's much closer to stock than a dual diaphragm plate that is like pressing on a brick wall.

 

Anyway, my point here is I don't remember the pedal being all that bad. It's certainly no hydraulic clutch, but I don't like those for lack of feel.

 

You could see about fitting a hydraulic set-up to the arm. I have seen it done a few times over the years.

[pesd]

Thanks a lot for your input Reaper,

  Other people that have driven the car have mentioned that the clutch is hard / heavy and I've always thought that that was just the way it was meant to be, and maybe it is.

I'm Getting a little older with hip replacements and then some left foot surgery might be my issue, not the mechanics of the car. A couple years ago two months before my dad passed away and left me his TC I convinced him to take it out for a ride, we did and though he could barely get into the car with his mobility issues we were down the road with a glow on his face I will never forget. I'm hoping that I will still be working the clutch in a sports car with a smile on my face at the age of 87. You may think that he shouldn't be driving then, but he was sharp as a tack mentally , we spent most weekends at Lime rock were he was the track medical physician during races but good friends with a lot of the drivers including Paul Newman.

My family (6 brothers and sisters, 20 nieces and nephews)  still meets up there almost every Memorial day weekend, were my brother now races and has started a large sports car restoration shop.

Sorry to get off on a memory tangent, maybe I might reach out to you about the hydraulic clutch set up. Hopefully I'm good for the next two or three summers.  THX