Lakewood bellhousing clutch fork/spring issue

[andrewwoz]

Having trouble keeping the throwout bearing off the clutch fingers after getting the motor and trans back into the car with the lakewood bellhousing

Setup - 69 b body, 440 big block, passon hemi OD a833, lakewood bellhousing, 11" billet flywheel, mcleod twin disc clutch.

After struggling with the ball stud location on the lakewood bellhousing and finally making a custom bracket to get the z bar working correctly I am running into issues with the TO bearing not pulling away from the clutch fingers, the clutch fork seems to pull off/away from the pivot, I am wondering if the spring tab/retainer is worn out? I have the return spring in one of the holes on the bellhousing and its pulling it pretty straight so I think that is alright. I can pull the fork back and it stays and leaves a gap but cycling the clutch leaves it back in contact. The TO bearing moved nicely on the bearing retainer, I did apply a very light coat of grease.

Just wondering if anyone else has ran into this.

Here are some photos

Fork off pivot

TO bearing contacting fingers while fork is off pivot

After pulling fork back onto the pivot

TO bearing pulls away from fingers

 

[pnora]

Most likely its from the bracket you made. Does not look right to me. Is the pedal returning? Is there an over center spring on the pedal? Give it some more free play. For what its worth the bearing rides on the fingers on hydraulic clutch applications.

 

[andrewwoz]

Most likely its from the bracket you made. Does not look right to me. Is the pedal returning? Is there an over center spring on the pedal? Give it some more free play. For what its worth the bearing rides on the fingers on hydraulic clutch applications.

What doesnt look right exactly? The bracket I made corrected the bracket on the lakewood bell that had the ballstud way out of whack, I made a jig on the stock bell that I then transfered to the lakewood to make the bracket and locate the ball stud in the same location.

Pedal returns fine, over center spring is gone as I'm running a diaphragm clutch. I have tried it adjusted loose but when I pull the fork back I end up with like over 1/2" gap between the fingers and bearing

 

[pnora]

What doesnt look right exactly? The bracket I made corrected the bracket on the lakewood bell that had the ballstud way out of whack, I made a jig on the stock bell that I then transfered to the lakewood to make the bracket and locate the ball stud in the same location.

Pedal returns fine, over center spring is gone as I'm running a diaphragm clutch. I have tried it adjusted loose but when I pull the fork back I end up with like over 1/2" gap between the fingers and bearing

It looks like the bracket is to wide and possibly binding on the web of the fork. Where is the return spring attached? If you take the rod off does the spring pull it of the fingers?

 

[padam]

I can’t say what your problem is, but with my Lakewood setup, the clutch fork pivot was too far from the centerline.
I tried a couple of different pivots but ended up making a custom pivot.

 

[Daves69]

What doesnt look right exactly?

I believe @pnora is referring to the pivot possibly being too wide for the fork.

Pull off the fork spring.

Verify the pivot is in the fork relief radius.
Do the fork tips contact the release bearing pads fully? (post 5)
The fork should swing freely on the pivot and pretty much stay where you leave it. A tight fork retention spring "tab" may try to influence position slightly, but it should hold the fork against the pivot throughout the motion.

I have tried it adjusted loose but when I pull the fork back I end up with like over 1/2" gap between the fingers and bearing

And does it release the discs at full pedal?

 

[Bird 426]

It does look like the fork pivot has some conflict.

 

[padam]

Looking at the pics a little closer, it looks like the fork is not hitting the pivot in the right spot, the groove where it is supposed to. I may be wrong as its hard to see.

When I first installed my Lakewood, the throwout bearing actually slipped off one side of the fork, it was a mess.

I got a pivot from Lakewood (Holley) where the pivot point lines up with the bolt holes. (Red Circle) This seems close to the right position. However with my heavy clutch it collapsed almost immediatly.

Then I installed the homemade piece (Green Circle) which worked ok for the rest of the season, but I still wasn't satisfied it was right.

Last year I made the two on the left from solid steel (they aren't quite finished in the photo) and installed one, and no more issues.

That Lakewood bellhousing has been around long enough that you would think these issues would be worked out. Sadly they are not.