Engine Stay Cable

O.k. I have read and researched everything I think I ever want to know about this mysterious cable. I don't want to know anything more. From what I gather it's like putting scotch tape on a GE J79 engine to hold it to the wing of a Phantom F-4 II. We don't want that engine to come off when it hits mach 2.2. Thank God for that tape. O.k. Where can I get one for my '57 CJ5? You never know when I might hit mach 2. -G

 

Is that what it is called? are you talking about the cable that goes from the bellhousing to the crossmember, left side of vehicle mabey 1/4 inch dia. or so. I always wondered about its purpose.

 

Engine stay cable. From what I've gathered it prevented the engine from flying forward into the radiator especially during hard braking. It attaches to the throwout lever through the hole in the bell housing. You can get one through Walcks Four Wheel Drive. Awful lot on information on this throughout this site. I've learned all I ever wanted to learn about this.

 

R) So theres a cable other then the clutch cable in under there ?

 

Hmm... It is attached to a metal "tab" that is bolted on top of the tranny mounting hole. The bolt goes through the tab then the tranny mounting hole, the adapter , then into the threaded bellhousing hole. Not the throwout lever , a.k.a. clutch release fork. This tab is held in place by one of the tranny mounting bolt's , the lower left mounting bolt, said bolt is slightly longer to accomadate the thickness of the "tab". Clear as mud ?

 

Appreciate the correction. So the thowout lever is permanently attached to the inside of the bell housing via one of the bell housing bolts? Sure would like to see a picture of this if possible. Thanks. -G

 

The throwout lever a.k.a."clutch release fork" pivots on a" ball stud"inside the bellhousing. The lever is retianed onto the ballstud by a flat spring-metal retainer. The fork of the lever engages into the groove of the throwout bearing inside the bellhuosing , the other end is what you see protruding out the bellhousing and this end is attached to either a clutch cable , mechanical clutch linkage , or a chain release mechanism such as the one that "Advanced Adapters" manufactures. Kind of confusing untill you get into it, then it will make total sense. A picture is worth a thousand words , unfortunately I dont have the ability to post one up right now. I am sure that someone here (Glenn) can come up with a picture or a copy of an exploded view. Happy veterans day--Semper Fi

 

when my engine restraint cable broke, i used some hardened threaded rod and a helm joint to make a new one.

 

I see that Glenn got some pictures for you to referance. His setup is a littie diferant as how it "mounts" to the bellhousing although it performs the same "function" as my setup does. I run a 225 V-6 and a T-86 tranny in my Jeep .Hope this helps you. And thanks for the pic's Glenn ! OZ

 

Here is what I have. My question is, what angle should the steel tab at bellhousing bolt be? Also what is the tightning torque? Notice that on the ball end where it attaches to the fork on the cross member, it is very unlikely used to keep the engine from moving forward. Considering the thickness of the fork metal I would rather believe it is for backup (reverse) chatter and thats why I would think the angle of the cable from b-housing to cross-member might be somewhat critical. Any ideas? Could my thinking be all that wrong?

 

Walt , I agree with you. My setup looks very much like your pic's. I too can't imagine the ball attachment point at the crossmember stopping the forward inertia of the engine,trans and X-fer case in a hard stop or front end collision. I aligned the tab to obtain the straightest forward position of the cable that was possible to achieve with the original parts.I tightened it untill I saw ever so slight forward deflection of the crossmember attachment point. So far so good , no clutch chatter in any gear.

 

I believe you have it OzFin and was figuring on doing it that way. Good to get other suggestion tho. You never know what genius might chime in with some specs. Where is Tim on this.

 

I don't know what the problem is but the pictures aren't downloading...crap!

 

You are absolutely correct Glenn , my drivetrain is not original to my Jeep. So my setup is the "differant" one. I used the phrase hard stop rather loosley... as in "I drove into that hole and made a hard stop at the bottom", not that I would ever do that (rubbing forhead while remembering the wound I received one day while wheeling). Seems like the hardened threaded and helm joint mentioned by 66CJ5 would work too. Hopefully LMGOLDSTEIN will be able to get your pictures downloaded for veiwing as your setup represents his application. I should have looked at his profile to see what his powerplant was before I described the 225V-6 style .

 

That is what that fork on the tranny crossmember is for? It's gone on my '60. Don't remember one on the old CJ2A, either. Did the pickup have one, too? Don't rightly remember the arrangement on the old '51 I ran around in during college.