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Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
my clutch had too much freeplay so i adjusted it. didnt last long maybe 15 miles and needed to be adjusted again. somethings not right here i havent had to adjust it for at least a year. nothing looks cracked, loose or worn and it wont hold the adjustment. i may use this opportunity to revamp the z bar that has poor geometry to begin with. although i do want to get to the source of the problem. this one has me stumped

My guess is a cracked weld on one of the z-bar
levers

bingo, the crack was behind the upright lever so i couldn't see it. odd thing though. i adjusted it again this morning, pressed the clutch about ten times and it seemed off but useable. drove out and a mile later it finally failed. driving home with no clutch was interesting. lol. i was starting to believe it was a bad disc, then i looked again and there it was the zbar tube ripped. yanked it beefed it up and were back on the road again.


I've attached a pic of one of my z bar failures (I've had two virtually identical) on my '63. They were 'aftermarket' repro's.
Note the weld did NOT fail. It is a classic crack propagation failure. Where did the crack(s) come from? Likely from the WAY too much weld (heat) applied to the 'pipe' section.
I do not know how yours failed nor do I know how you 'beefed' it up. If you failure was like mine, AND you welded 'MORE' on it, I would not be surprised if you have a recurrence of the failure some time in the future.
A couple of properly sized, and well placed spot welds, would be sufficient on 'virgin' steel (not previously cracked) sections.
Or, find a NOS (or used GM) part. Those are not OVER welded.
Just a thought.
Pete
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Attachment: failed_cross_brace.jpg (1.2 MB) 0 View(s)
obviously theres a hundred different versions that will differ in length diameter and arm lengths and angles,
so you will need to find a replacement or repair your existing z-bar if its damaged,yeah,
it could be fabricated from scratch rather easily if you have the correct tools and skills

https://www.summitracing.com/search/part-type/clutch-linkage-components?page=1

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/tips-on-mig-welding.14225/#post-72253


http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...oughts-on-a-welder-purchase.15648/#post-93766
g7946_det1.jpg


calipersaa.jpg


OPG-PZ00808.jpg




one more in an endless list of reasons
to own a decent MIG OR TIG WELDER

:DAND KNOW HOW TO USE IT:rolleyes:
 
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