<VV> shimming the pivot ball-pilot bushing

[Frank DuVal]

A growl when letting out the clutch is 90% of the time the pilot 
bushing/input shaft grinding against each other.

A growl when holding the clutch pedal on the floor is a throwout bearing 
noise.

A growl when NOT stepping on the clutch pedal is the input bearing in 
the transmission/input shaft to output shaft bearing/countershaft 
bearings. My 84 F-150 has this issue. Again.

You still have to separate the engine and tranny to see what's wrong, 
but my money is on a bad pilot bushing.

Those constant contact throw out bearings seem to have a good track record.

I've never shimmed a pivot stud (ball).

Frank DuVal


On 4/18/2013 10:25 PM, judynrandy at comcast.net wrote:
>
> With all that talk about clutch cables, I can say it has helped me in 2 ways.  1.  It brought to light the need for me to check out the clutch cable  in "Rusty" (Our '60 winter daily driver), and to obtain a spare cable or two as I have none.  2.  Since i've owned the vehicle, the clutch hasn't worked "correctly".  It's almost impossible to get any free play in it.  The person I bought the throw-out bearing from said it was acceptable for use.  It was a newer style bearing and could take the "running all the time due to poor adjustment".  Well, the bearing is only  9 months old, and only has about 4,000 miles on it and has begun to "growl" when letting the clutch out every now and then.  Since that growl usually means its' going bad, i guess i'm looking at replacing it this summer while I have the chance.
>
>     So, at this point, I have to ask if anyone has any other recommendations for a throwout bearing.  And once obtained, should it be shorter than its' supposed to be, what's the best procedure to "shim" the pivot ball.  It sounds pretty straightforward.  But is it?  Thoughts and opinions welcome.
>
>
>
> Randy (Cap'n) Hook
>
> '60 700 4dr 84-soon to be "64 110" /4spd
>
> '63 ragtop 110/pg
>
> '65 monza 4dr 84/pg