Clutch Linkage

Mechanical or Hydrolic.... What are some opinions?
BTW... jeep will be used 80% around town.

 

MECH is much easier to adjust and work on, A LOT less messy also! Bleeding a hydo system is lot of work, time mainly, nothing....nothing...nothing...bamb its bled.

 

I understand that out on the trail if something were to happen with the hydraulic system I could be SOL... the same with my steering or brakes.... but what about the driveability of both systems? Is one system better than the other or easier to use?

 

mechanical (factory type) can bind or even come off during severe body/frame twist.
Hydraulic and cable type won't.
any of the three fail, you can drive it, you just have to be careful while driving as you can't easily shift gears or disengage when coming to a stop.

edit: I don't care for hydraulics.

 

On my both my previous Jeeps, if you hang one front front wheel and stuff the other, the clutch no longer works. This is not as much a problem as it might seem, since you are typically in 1st low range and you can stop the engine and restart it in gear.

I never made the bellcrank come off though.

Nonetheless, either hydraulic or cable will continue to function with the frame flexed, while mechanical often won't. Cable sounds ideal, if you could find a durable cable to install and could carry a spare.

 

Thanks for the input.

 

for reference a cable clutch can fail too. which is why i put hydraulic in my dads 72. i believe it was crown parts for a cj7. minus the hole for the master and making a pushrod, it bolted up like as if it always went there

 

djljeep do you have any photos of your setup?

 

I am not sure but i will try tomorrow morning. if i don't get it tomorrow it'll be towards labor day as i am heading off to school 3 hours away on friday...

buttt..... i can tell you how i did it in detail. i drilled a hole in the fire wall right next to the primary wiring grommet. my hole slightly overlapped the grommet, but this jeep isnt pretty, and it needed to move in a few hours. it could have been done prettier. i found there was already a hole towards the top of the pedal on the 72 that i hooked the rod on the master to with relative ease. If you look at the bell housing ( at least on the 4.2 i know nothing about the 304s) i think it is where the normal linkage would bolt to the cj7 slave bolted right to it lined up with the clutch fork like it was supposed to be like that. the only thing i had to do there was make a pushrod that was a few inches longer then the cj7 one. at the time i used a piece of fiberglass rod but after watching somebody else in my club get stuck in 1st gear all day from breaking his 3/8 rod pushrod, i may beef it up. hooking up the cj7 clutch line is the only problem ive had. i had to bend the line to get it to work and at some point i must have cross threaded it because i spent all of jamboree adding fluid and starting it in gear from it leaking. But now that its all settled in, i think its fine. It will never bind, the cable will never break or loosen up (oh that was a fun day) just make sure to carry extra brake fluid to refill in case you have a problem. If i were doing it on my 73 or just doing it again knowing what i know now i am confident it would only take a couple hours and save all those hours of "fetch the clutch linkage"

 

got a few pictures, i reiterate it was a get it done, not pretty job





this is where it connects to the pedal again there was already a hole there. I believe it to be the hole that the mech. linkage would hook to except this is a 72 and never had mech linkage...

 

Hydraulic, easy to bleed and adjust never binds up and has never let me down. Plus a easier pedal.

 

do you remember what year 7 or trany style it was from???wanting to do the same to my rig

 

I dont know what year 7 the stuff was meant for it was brand new replacement parts, i was under the impression it was generic. frankly i didn't buy the parts i was just told to put them on. the tranny on the 5 is a regular intermediate T14 to my knowledge.

 

I have problems with my mechanical clutch linkage. When the frame flexes, it comes apart. Should I replace it with a cable, or is there something else I can do to make it work? Would cable or hydro be easier to use, and install?

Thanks for help!

 

Shouldn't come apart. There is some lateral adjustment fot the bell crank brackets, which may make it stop coming apart. You could also look at the parts to see if they are badly worn. New pivots, boots and other parts of the linkage are available from the Jeep specialty sellers.

 

It has come apart on me many times, when the frame really flexes, sometimes it was in a pretty hairy spot. I am older now, and doubt that I will get into to many of those spots very often, but I don't want to face the issue if possible. I have adjusted the bolts to really tighten it up, but even then it does sometimes come apart. Would I be better off replacing the mechanical pieces, or replacing it with something else?

I also found this, do you think this would be a good idea?

http://www.earlycj5.com/technical/clutches/

I

 

As reference... have owned my 1972 CJ-5 since delivery and has always had the Mechanical linkage. I agree with regard to the Hydraulic superior service... especially when the ol body/frame do their severe flex. I always know I will be on my back, in the mud to secure the clutch fork to linkage... always. Hopefully an hydraulic system will be in the 72' Grunt's future.

Thanks for a great post subject. Semper Fi!

 

http://www.earlycj5.com/technical/clutches/

Has anyone else tried this? It seems really simple, but good.