A short, but painful update.� Well, not too painful.� The transmission rebuild went well.� The new pressure plate, clutch, and bushing were installed also.� I re-installed the drivetrain and my temporary seating.� Time for a test drive.
The engine fired right up.� I attempted to slide her into 1st gear...and...grrrr grr gr....gear grind.� The clutch would not disengage.� I diddled around with the clutch cable for half a day.� Nothing I did helped.
I finally realized that the drivetrain needed to be pulled again.� Anyone else notice how good you get at stuff like this when you have to do it two or three times in a row?
Anyway, after reading a bunch of threads, I found that any of a number of things can cause this.� Not wanting to have to pull the drivetrain again, (3 times was enough) I decided to address every possible issue. The result of this choice is that I have no idea what my original problem was.
I installed a new pivot fulcrum and clutch fork.� The new clutch disc had a very slight warp. The old disc was, well, pretty new, so I put it back in.� The bushing was pulled, then slid onto the input shaft.� It seemed a little tight, so I reamed it out a bit.�
I re-installed the drive train and my temp seating. I fired up the engine, then pushed in the clutch. I let out a sigh of relief, then took the chassis for a spin.�
Everything went fairly well except shifting into 2nd gear.� Synchros work great, but the shifter just won't throw the gear far enough to keep it engaged.� It just barely catches, but occasionally slips out.�
I inspected the shift fork and found some decent wear groves on both sides of the fork.� The wear is even, but I am missing 3/64" of material.� I don't know if this is enough to cause my problem, but I decided to get a new fork anyway.� I will also trim some material from the poppet groove, as described in the Willys memo we have all seen recently.
This will probably be the last project I do on Whitey for a while.� In preparation for the Fall Colors Tour, I have a number of small projects planned for the OD Willys.� New brake shoes, valve adjustment, new fuel pump, oil change, etc...
Tim