1940 clutch fork noise

[West Peterson]

As I was sitting in my driveway, with the car running, my foot accidentally slipped off the clutch pedal while in gear and with my foot firmly on the brake. Tires made a chirping noise, and the car, of course, died. When I restarted the car, a fast chirping/slash grinding noise became apparent. Has anyone had a similar problem, and are we correct in thinking this is a clutch fork problem?

 

When idling in neutral and stopped, the sound will go away when I push in the clutch.

When going down the road and I push in the clutch, the noise does not stop.

[avgwarhawk]

I would venture a guess a tooth or surface face  on the cluster gear have chipped off. 

[19tom40]

The throw out bearing might be damaged or going bad.

[West Peterson]

20 hours ago, 19tom40 said:

The throw out bearing might be damaged or going bad.

If it's "going" bad, wouldn't it be something where the noise got progressively worse? This happened after one incident.

[avgwarhawk]

2 hours ago, West Peterson said:

If it's "going" bad, wouldn't it be something where the noise got progressively worse? This happened after one incident.

I would believe so.  This is the reason I believed a gear has been broken in some fashion.  These small 3 speeds are fragile.   

Edited January 6, 2023 by avgwarhawk (see edit history)

[19tom40]

I had one go bad and it did not make any noise until shortly before it disintegrated.

 

You may have damaged the bearing when your foot slipped off of the clutch.

 

Drain your transmission and check for metal particles in the gear oil and the bottom of the transmission. If you chipped a gear or damaged a synchronizer, you should see some metal particles.

 

Remove your front floorboard and remove the inspection plate for the bell housing. Start the car and listen for the noise. If it is the throw out bearing it will be noticeably louder. You can see the clutch action through the window.

 

The throw out bearing fork is cast iron and is hard to damage, so it is an unlikely source of noise.

[dougj_nsi@sbcglobal.net]

Inquiring minds want to know?

[Ray500]

Regardless, you're gonna have to go through it transmission and all to get it cleaned out and bad parts replaced.  It's a bear to get it all out, having to drop the rear end to get things away from the bell housing and start the repair process.  Ford must have found it easier to just bolt everything up as a unit, and reverse removing everything to do simple repairs.  If you could just remove the drive shaft and then work on the transmission, overdrive (if you have one) and the clutch plate, pressure plate, and fly wheel along with a new throw out bearing, that would be easy!   But no, you almost have to remove everything to get to a bad bearing.  And you might have damaged the flywheel. The least you need to do is to remove the flywheel and have it reground to make sure the clutch plate fits properly during operations with no chatter.  And by all means get the best bearings you can find, and the proper clutch plate which is different from Ford with more sectors.  You will need a lift to raise the car to the proper level and keep it there during this job!   Been there and done that one!  Good luck with it.  You probably will also have to remove the engine pan to get the flywheel and deal with the rear seal so the engine doesn't leak oil!  

[West Peterson]

Haven't had a chance to do anything yet. My next effort will be to open up the floorboard and remove the inspection plate. I think it's just the return spring. The transmission appears to be from a 1939 Ford. The rear-end is a Columbia two-speed.