clutch bleed, adjustment question

[Buzzmobile]

Thanks for the help up front. I have slave that went out today and I want to have someone run me down on the proper way to bleed and adjust a NON hydraulic clutch. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I just don't want to mess anything up again and have another tow truck ride!

[Tim Brewer]

Well really, you don't bleed a non hydraulic clutch. If you can bleed it, it's a hyd.clutch. It sounds like you do have a hyd. clutch and the procedure for bleeding is the some for brakes. Even though you may have a mechanical T.O. bearing, you still bleed the slave cylinder that operates it.
Tim

[Buzzmobile]

OK, it was late last night and a little bit of a trying day. Lets try this again. How do you bleed and adjust a hydraulic clutch that is a NON hydraulic throuw out bearing


Like how far in should the plunger be when I bleed. All the way out? All the way in? How do I adjust the length on the rod conncting the arm to the slave? That kinda business. When I initially set the rod length, should the plunger in the slave be mostly to the rear of the car?

thanks
Buzz

[Eljaro]

Remember a nice way to bleed the slave clutch cylinder: push in the rod inside the slave several times until all the air bubbles come out in the reservoir (someone watching for the bubbles while you push), push the cylinder back out with the clutch pedal.
I do not know how the NOS cylinder looks like , but if it has a rod that PUSHES then the rod should go in as far as it will go without topping out at the bottom of the slave cylider. That way you will have all the travel available for your clutch. If the clutch disengages too early, well shorten the rod and the fluid will fill up the space and you will have less travel.

[DonC]

Buzz:
The clutch slave cylenders are often spring loaded to the extended position and the adjusting rod can be pushed back in until it bottoms out. This is where you start your adjustment.
Once the rod is bottomed out adjust the length until you have about 1/8 of an inch free travel in the fork that controls the throw out bearing. You want to insure that the clutch is fully engaged when the pedal is all the way up.
DonC

[HSSS427]

I had to replace the slave on mine, and am a one man show. Using a MityVac pump makes it easy to do by yourself. You can pick them up at almost any parts store and they're good for bleeding and testing all sorts of vacum stuff. Follow the guideline on the plunger from the prior post, then hook up the vacum hose to the bleed nipple, pump up some vacum in the line, and then crack it open just a bit. You'll get a bunch of bubbles at first, but just keep it slightly open and keep the pressure up around 5 pounds. Eventually the bubbles will get fewer and larger and then you'll get little or no bubbles. When that happens, tighten it back up. Like someone said, just like doing the brakes. Top off your fluid and check that the clutch pedal is firm. Then you can adjust the length of the rod like DonC said. Only trick I found is to make sure your vacum line has a tight seal around the nipple, or air will get pulled in from the outside and the bubbles will never end, and you'll run through all the fluid in your system. Also make sure all your lines are tight so you're not getting air or fluid leaks.
Hope that's what you're looking for.