Bent pushrod

[Lift]

So I was driving the truck down the road and all of a sudden i Couldn't change gears. Turns out i bent the pushrod. My setup is a t5, stock ford ranger clutch master cylinder and a 280z slave cylinder with braded clutch line. It was really stiff before. When you push the clutch in it pushes out on the firewall just a little. any suggestions would be great thanks.

Murphy's law exist

Update on what happened:

I have a bracket mounted on my bell housing with the slave cylinder mounted on it, i also have a BIG piece of a allthread as my slave pushrod, that is bolted to the clutch fork. What happened is the clutch fork has a wide hole where its bolted, away from the bell housing and towards the bell housing if that makes sense. I left my "custom" pushrod a little lengthy for adjustment reasons so what happened is, the nuts holding the slave pushrod in place on the fork came loose then the slave rod moved in torwards the bellhousing, now if you know what a t5 bellhousing looks like, there is an opening and the rod hit the ledge of the opening making it so nothing could move at all and i guess the weakest thing being the master cylinder pushrod gave out and bent.

My recent question is post #10 Unanswered

 

[RonD]

I assume push rod going from clutch pedal to master cylinder, or is it the slave cylinder push rod?


Tension on a clutch setup with external slave is from the clutch springs and pivot point/length of fork.
Unless you put in stiffer springs it should feel "normal".
The T5 trans setup has been around a lot of years so unless the fork and throwout bearing were assembled incorrectly I wouldn't think the problem is inside the bellhousing.
But it might be worthwhile to pull the slave and see how much pressure it takes to engage the clutch.
And with slave disconnected from the bellhousing see how much resistance is in the clutch pedal>master>slave setup, should be almost none, not sure if it's possible but don't push the slave piston out of the cylinder.

The firewall moving sounds bad, lol, too much of an angle, or bad valve in the master?

 

[Lift]

I bent the pushrod from the clutch pedal to the master cylinder. It takes a lot of pressure to push that pressure plate in.

 

[RonD]

What clutch did you put in?

Shouldn't be that hard to engage.

Custom hydraulics can be touchy, the piston in the master should be smaller than the piston in the slave, this generates more pressure at the slave but less travel distance.
Like brake master(small piston) and caliper(large piston) setups, although not that large a difference in the clutch master/slave.

If your slave has a smaller or equal piston size to the Stock master then it would be hard to press the pedal, if slave piston is smaller then really really hard, that's when they change the clutch pedal geometry to give it more leverage and a bigger push rod, lol.

 

[adsm08]

I bent the pushrod from the clutch pedal to the master cylinder. It takes a lot of pressure to push that pressure plate in.

That would have been a good thing to specify at the beginning. I thought you had a bent valve pushrod since you put this in the V-8 engine section.

 

[Mac]

Custom hydraulics can be touchy, the piston in the master should be smaller than the piston in the slave, this generates more pressure at the slave but less travel distance.
Like brake master(small piston) and caliper(large piston) setups.

With a hydraulic clutch, the master cylinder bore should be larger than the external slave. Most stock masters have a stroke of 1" and the slaves require approx 1.25". A .750" master requires approx .626" bore for the slave. Volume stays the same at both cylinders as does the pressure, it's a closed system.
In a brake system the masterwith a small bore moves a lot further than the calipers so they are larger.
Dave

 

[RonD]

With a hydraulic clutch, the master cylinder bore should be larger than the external slave. Most stock masters have a stroke of 1" and the slaves require approx 1.25". A .750" master requires approx .626" bore for the slave. Volume stays the same at both cylinders as does the pressure, it's a closed system.
In a brake system the master with a small bore moves a lot further than the calipers so they are larger.
Dave

Good info, about clutch systems and throw distances.

Yes, volume and pressure in the system is constant, input and output pressure and throw distance is what changes with piston sizes.
Example:
1 inch diameter master piston to 6in diameter slave piston
Slave piston has approx. 9 times the surface area of master.
1 lb of input force on the master would produce 9lbs of output force on the slave.
But slave would move less distance, it would be a 9 to 1 ratio, 9inch movement of master would only move larger slave 1 inch, but with 9 times the force. i.e. the floor jack, or brakes

I never really thought about the clutch master slave piston sizes, but it does make sense if you need longer throw distance at the slave, and as long as they are close to the same size the input pressure aided by the leverage of the pedal isn't a big difference

 

[Mac]

1 inch diameter master piston to 6in diameter slave piston
Slave piston has approx. 9 times the surface area of master.
1 lb of input force on the master would produce 9lbs of output force on the slave.
But slave would move less distance, it would be a 9 to 1 ratio, 9inch movement of master would only move larger slave 1 inch, but with 9 times the force. i.e. the floor jack, or brakes

Actually the ratio is 36 to 1 in your example. Have to compare the square of each radius to get the area comparison. Still trying to figure out what caused the bent push rod. Just finding out where and what is bound up is the problem. Having the firewall flex/move is a common problem with the stronger V-8 clutch. Some even crack so they are re-enforced.
Dave

 

[Lift]

Ok i still have not fixed the problem BUT i well explain what happened since some of you are curious about it.

I have a bracket mounted on my bell housing with the slave cylinder mounted on it, i also have a BIG piece of a allthread as my slave pushrod, that is bolted to the clutch fork. What happened is the clutch fork has a wide hole where its bolted, away from the bell housing and towards the bell housing if that makes sense. I left my "custom" pushrod a little lengthy for adjustment reasons so what happened is, the nuts holding the slave pushrod in place on the fork came loose then the slave rod moved in torwards the bellhousing, now if you know what a t5 bellhousing looks like, there is an opening and the rod hit the ledge of the opening making it so nothing could move at all and i guess the weakest thing being the master cylinder pushrod gave out and bent.

 

[Lift]

Sooooo get a 92 4.0L 7/8" bore clutch master? I believe the one i have right now is off a 85 2.9L Ranger or w.e im using an 79 280z slave cylinder or something like that, its the one everyone recommends. I bled the system again and got all the air out and pushed the clutch all the way to the floor and it did not move the slave cylinder enough to disengage the clutch. So im starting to think that i need to get a different master cylinder? Im not sure the diameter of the slave and master i have now, but i totally understand what your saying about hydraulic force. good info thanks.

 

[dangerranger83]

I'm disengaging a full size clutch with my stock master, 85 unit. My trans is a fullsize external slave. At first it just released of the floor but alt of bleeding, pumping and driving, realises where one would want. A bit harder to push then a stock ranger setup but I'm use to it by now and don't notice until I drive my buddies ranger.

Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Riq21]

Brother, all you need to do is shorten the rod. When I first fit mine I thought the same thing, that you needed some megga adjustment on the end of the rod. I trimmed mine down substantially from the initial cut until it fit just right. probably only have 3/4 of an inch extending past the clutch fork. What I also learned is that due to the pressure and pre-load that you need to run this setup,you do not need a nun on the front to the rod. Just do your locking with two opposing nuts on the push side of the clutch fork. I have been running mine like this for a year with no slippage or issues of any sort.