'66 Cj5 Tux Resto-mod

Yes. The spring hooks to a hole in the top of the clutch fork and to bracket that bolts to one of the bellhousing front cover bolts. Easy enough to make the bracket:


I made a bracket for my '71 and a spring for a newer Jeep seems to fit fine: https://www.kaiserwillys.com/clutch-fork-return-outer-spring-fits-76-86-cj

 

Yes, it goes from the little hole in the fork to a tab under a bellhousing bolt.

 

Thanks you guys. Mechanically to me it seemed like it should be there and I wonder why it wasn’t when I bought the Jeep.

 

Funny, we both went out and crawled under the jeeps.

 

You guys are the best! I have a bottle of scotch for you whenever we meet up!

 

I’ll bet Fireball didn’t. He is very organized and has files of pictures labeled and cross referenced.

 

Hah! Scott knows me too well. It was in my build album for the '71.

That said if I didn't already have a picture I would have ran out to the shop to take one.

 

Hey guys. So I can't quite seem to get the clutch fork to stay on the "mushroom" pivot head. It appears as if the upper spring tang seats correctly and snugs around he post, but the other one does not, and thus the fork keeps sliding off. Obviously this would be bad while driving.

I suspect that the issue is from a poorly fitting spring clip on the new reproduction clutch fork. I wish in hindsight I had cleaned and re-used the previously installed clutch fork, but we installed a new one a year ago, and so that horse is already way out in the pasture.

I’ll add some pics later with the borescope camera.

Wondering what can be done about this? Any suggestions? Could I install a second spring in the return spring hole that pulls the fork outwards and keeps it in place? Should we make a tool that can slide in there and try to bend the clip so it is more snug?

 

Unfortunately, I think you might need to pull it to change that fork. Sometimes that clip gets messed up when you mate the motor and trans. It's definitely something to keep an eye on while doing that.

 

I was afraid you were going to say that

 

Here’s a pic of the situation:


man’s a pic of the old one that shows what it should look like:

part of me is hopeful that I can maneuver it in such a way so as to bend that tang to where it should be….I really don’t want to have to tear out carpet and pull the trans over this!

 

Well I tried just about everything I could think of to pry that other tang back on the pivot mushroom but no luck. I even managed to pull the entire fork off the throw out bearing at one point…I nearly panicked that it was going to fall down into the bottom of the bellhousing, but I got it back on and managed to get the fork back at least half on.

Interestingly the throw out bearing lip is deformed. Seen here with the fork off the bearing:



And after I slid it back on:

 

Something got forced. It's not good. I think the writing is on the wall. Welcome to the club, my jeep that I was driving 2 days ago has the brand new rear end all apart on the floor.

 

Agreed. Unpleasantries like undoing what you just did are part and parcel with the hobby.

 

Ok so what’s the smartest plan of attack to get to replace the fork and throw out bearing with the least impact to body, engine, and wiring?

I’m thinking I’ll cut the carpet in such a way as that it can be seamed with gorilla tape when replaced with minimal effect. Then pull the trans tower, then remove the driveshafts and lower crossmember, and then the trans/transfer should come out the bottom right? Or is it better to cherry pick from above?

 

Either works fine. When I did mine, I used a hoist from the top. It has the advantage that you can lower the drivtrain all the way to the floor and drage it out from under a 2.5" lifted Jeep without jacking. The disadvantages are needing to pull up all the floorboards (not just the shift tower) and needing to estimate the balance point of the assembly so it hangs flat on the hoist.

I used a couple transfercase bolts and one transmission cover bolt on mine and it was pretty good. The left rear chain did interfere with the floorboard right as things came loose:


If you have access to a transmision jack, pulling it out from underneath shouldn't be too difficult either. It would be really difficult without a transmission jack because the whole assembly is so awkward and unbalanced.

 

well, hey - at least I’ll have seamed carpet now so I don’t have to take the fuel tank and seats out ever again.

 

You could almost put some nice edging on it and use the floorboard bolts/washers to hold down the removable center section.

 

If by “nice” you mean “gorilla tape” a sounds like a plan. I’ll probably grommet the holes in a couple spots and put stainless fender washers under the floor pan bolt heads.

I’m trying to see that this is a good thing, the carpet should be removable regardless.

 

That works. I was thinking more along the lines of this sort of thing: