OK, so this is my first CAMARO T5 lcutch install. Got it all bolted up and the bellhousing on. Well, when you hook up the slave to the bellhousing, its like the T/O bearing isnt lining up correctly. And when you press the clutch pedal, the Clutch fork/TO bearing move off-center and dont depress all the Pressure plate teeth

Here's what I gotta ask...is it supposed to do this and what keeps it centered is the tranny's TO Bearing Retainer????

Reason I ask is because on my Fox body 5.0 cars, I can get the tranny up in there and we depress the clutch pedal to pop it in the last inch or so or incase the clutch dish is off by a mere tad......and the TO bearing would NEVER ofcenter.

The TO bearing, pressure plate and clutch disc are new and right for the tranny. SAME clutch fork and bellhousing thats always been in the car.

I appreciate any help

 

A GM clutch works exactly the same as a F*rd clutch, as far as that goes. They both copied the same design.

Line the clutch up as well as you can, with an alignment tool Stab the transmission in as far as it will go without using any force. Then WITHOUT LETTING GO OF IT, have somebody push the clutch pedal in, while you stab it the rest of the way.

 

The clutch is lined up. So am i right and without the tranny in, the clutch fork has a good amount of free movement in it?

Actually, the GM and ford setups are a lil differant.

With a Ford cable clutch, it PULLS the clutch fork in and presses the PP in. On a GM, the slave cylinder pushes the clutch fork in t press on the PP.

On a Ford, the pivot ball is on the Pass side of the bellhousing while on a Camaro is on the drivers side.

 

I know that those 2 tiny details are different.

The whole idea of how the clutch is built, however, came from somewhere else (Borg-Warner I think it was, after they realized that their patent on farm discs was no longer that cash cow it had been...). The direction that the fork makes its lever action in, is insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

The clutches work exactly the same way. If the trans won't go in, it's because the disc isn't aligned.

Yes, with the trans not there, the TOB can wander all over the place; because the clutch gear bearing retainer, which is part of the transmission, isn't in there to hold it still. Just put it where it goes, it'll sit there easily enough to slide the trans through it; then once the trans is in, have someone push the clutch pedal while you hold up the trans, to let the disc slide around freely in there, so the tip of the clutch gear can find its way into the pilot bearing.

 

gotta make sure the clutch disk has the same amount of teeth as the trans and make sure the throw out bearing is on the trans shaft good. it could be it just need a good clutch bleeding.