Hey fellas, check out these pictures. Do you think my clutch kit is done? I can't shift into any gear. With the car on, I push in clutch pedal, attempt to slap into anything, and I receive all grind.

 

Clutch looks fine, did you check fork movement? make sure it moves enough distance to engage clutch. Clutch looks to be in good condition.

Javier

 

Yeah we checked for fork movement. Flywheel appears to be goo too. The center picture above isn't at the best angle. One side of the clutch plate has been shaved down quite a bit. Thinking about taking it to Autozone and comparing it to a new clutch plate to compare thickness. By the way my clutch kit is a dual friction Centerforce. My motor is a 383 and I have my stock T5.

 

It all looks good I have the same clutch loose to measure, I wouldn't even bother, something else is gone spooky. trans shifts fine into all gears out of the car? I am not a 3rd Gen nut but I do know T-5s and clutches built over 500 Mustang units, did you inspect the fork to see if maybe it is cracked in the middle? maybe looks like it moves plenty on the outside but inside no go? inspect the pivot point also. put ur hands on it and get nosy with it...

Javier

 

With the car OFF, I can shift into everything easy. With the car ON, I receive grind when trying to get into any gear. If the car is off, and I TRY to start it while in 1st gear, the car will jerk forward and not completely turn on.

 

Hard to pinpoint the source, one thing that brings back memories is cutting down the flywheel too many times will cause that issue you have, certain amount of shims between the crank and flexplate puts the flywheel back in the correct location.

Javier

 

Tough to tell with your pics.
The puck side does look angled on the puck at the top of the picture but it could just be the picture. If CF is using a Marcel setup within the disc section, that's probably fine but again, can't tell.
The PP might have issues. Drop by a place that relines truck brakes and clutches to see if they can see anything bad going on or if it's rebuildable.

 

Thanks for your help guys. Just not sure at this point.

I don't think its my tranny because for ALL gears to go bad on the same day is not likely.

Flywheel looks good.

I went to Autozone and compared a new, stock clutch with my centerforce, and they were just about the same in thickness.

Fork has proper movement from what we can tell.

Maybe my master cylinder is no good? But again, it was a 2 month process that went from first signs of trouble, to I can't get into any gear.

 

clutch release is pretty simple.

Degrease the hydraulic pieces underhood and under-car. Dust them with talcum. Drive a tiny bit; watch for leaks.

Pull back the dust rubber inside on top of the master; dust it and check for leaks. Inspect the pushrod fitment over the pedal stud; some are plastic-bushed.

Wear on the fork but especially on the ballstud and backing out of the ballstud are things to watch for.

Bellhousing bolts backing out can cause that issue. I used some greasy used ones once and that happened.

Bleeding the hydraulics isn't a bad idea but isn't as big a deal on a T5 3rd gen as other apps.

 

did you have throwout bearing mounted on fork correctly?

 

To save me the trouble of posting my pic AGAIN...

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...anny-swap.html

 

You think maybe I have a bad throw out bearing??? Maybe my master/slave cylinders have gone bad??

 

No. No.

What did you learn from the other thread?

 

It was just a thought. Here is another: Last year when we dropped in the 383 we also put in a new (yet STOCK) flywheel. Maybe the 383 was too much for it and shaved it down just enough to gradually make shifting harder and harder and eventually impossible.

JMD above mentioned using shims between the flywheel and the motor. Perhaps that would make for better contact and allow me to shift?

 

JMD mentioned it and it is know to be an issue is the ball stud. If the slave is moving enough and the clutch does not release the ball stud may be backed out. You may not be able to see it. If it is the fork appears to move as supposed to but the release bearing is not pushed enough to disengage the clutch.
With a good clutch, fork and related parts and hydraulics that would be my next guess. Other wise it would seem to be a tranny issue and I do not think that is the case.

 

I'm gonna try using an adjustable pivot ball, along with a flywheel shim. I'm also gonna see if they have a taller throw out bearing.

All three of these items are not easily found, I believe, so if you guys have any part #'s that would be great.

 

Well, I want to entertain the idea that the faulty component is my TRANNY.

What are the general signs that a T5 is dead? What symptoms appear leading up to?

 

"Hey, my clutch isn't releasing"
"You might look at this, check for that and replace this and that."
"I'm going to do something else, new thence and pretty much everything but what you've suggested."
"Don't worry about anything you suggested or that I said I was going to do; I'm not going to update you on that. But help me grasp at straws (again)."

^ ^ ^ ^ Your threads, in a nutshell. Good luck.

 

I'm not as well versed in cars as you are, sir, but I do know better than to get into a quarrel. I would appreciate it if you tried answering my latest question. What symptoms indicate that a tranny is truly done?

 

Back in the mid nineties I broke 13 t-5s in one year, I built so many of them I can do it in the dark now.

Spin the main shaft in each gear get back to us...


Javier

 

Ranchopower, we shifted through all gears fine. Fork looks good, as does the release bearing. Big bro thinks the tranny is ok. Hydraulics are also good. Were thinking that the centerforce df clutch just isn't compatible with my stock $40 flywheel. But I went through a whole year of decent shifting, and for it to gradually reach the point of all grind and zero shifting ability, is weird. Or perhaps not weird, but definitely difficult for a novice like me to pinpoint the culprit.

It's been all speculation on my part thus far. I guess I have to spend a little cash and just get dirty and see what happens. I'll probably buy a new, stock clutch kit at Autozone along with a new stock flywheel.

 

If you put the car in first and hold in the clutch and start it and it lurches forward then the clutch is not releasing...as simple as that. Your trans is fine so long as you didnt grind it into oblivion. There are 4 things you need to check:

Clutch hydraulics...is there a leak or is there air in the system
Clutch fork...damaged or bent
Clutch pivot point...did it loosen up on you? I had that happen once
Throwout bearing...mounted correctly.

If you go over all these and still cant find anything then you can start grasping at straws. But wait until you have exhausted these before you go on. The car obviously shifted fine before so something changed. What is it? Oh and a stock flywheel is perfectly fine and yours looks good.

 

Subroc put it as plain as can be about the clutch releasing.
If the hydraulics were moving normally, fork is good, and release bearing is good then I would try again to tighten the pivot ball stud. As the problem appeared gradually it describes what would happen if it did back out. It has been mentioned on this forum many times. It is always the last thing anyone wants to believe and almost nobody can tell that it has backed out or could cause the problem.
With the tranny out it would only take 5 minutes to check it. Make sure to use a socket type tool to check it.

 

Hey fellas thanks for helping my brother leedavidalan out. I figured since im the one mainly doing the work for him i'd create an account an try and answer some of the questions being asked. So here goes:

First thing we checked was the hydraulics. They were operating within spec. Everything was bleed and the fork movement was measured, which was also within spec. The second thing we checked was to make sure that the pivot ball hadnt backed out, which it hadnt. Next the fork is brand new, and TO bearing correctly installed. Manually moving the fork (with tranny out of course) you can see it move smoothly up and down the main shaft, nothing binds. I think that about covers the questions that subroc asked.

Im really stumped on this one fellas.

 

I just had a thought after reading your response. Now you have me grasping at straws too. Are you running a pilot bearing or bushing? If it is getting hung up on the input shaft of the trans then pushing in the clutch will NOT stop the internals of the trans from moving and thus cause you to grind. Im really grasping at straws on that one though. I was pretty certain it was going to be one of the 4 things i mentioned earlier but this one just came to me.

 

We're running a bushing. As far I can tell there was no hang up or binding on the input shaft. Matter of fact I remember mating the trans to motor rather easily, it slipped right in.

 

hmmmm im going to keep this in the back of my head but as of now im out of ideas.

 

Any more ideas fellas?

I got a new, stock clutch and tried it again but nothing. I still get grind in every single gear. Clutch is not disengaging. Clutch pedal feels as it should, slave pushrod (basically a bolt that we installed that is longer than the factory pushrod) is travelling within spec, after that I can't see inside the bellhousing to see whats happening there.

Help!

 

I had one car I did, new clutch, cable, quadrant cut the flywheel, the usual yet the dang thing would not work, it all felt fine but scratch gears. Car left guy was pissed.The only thing that made any sense was the flywheel was unknown cause it was used and it was cut down, cut the wheel down more than .075 and the PP starts getting further away from full pivot of the fork, A cheap fix is a spacer ring that goes between the crank and flywheel, put the Fwheel back in it's place or just get a new flywheel...

 

I once had that problem too, but I don't think that a shaven down FW is my issue this time around. The one I have now is about a year old with maybe 3K miles on it. It's a cheapo FW that I got for $40.

I do, however, have a FW shim that I got on ebay for $20. Think I should install it??

 

You have a 383 which is substantially more power than the stock engine. You are spending $$ on cheap parts to try to fix a problem. Before you spend money on cheap parts, spend a little more replace the Flex, Plate, Pressure Plate and Throw Bearing with quality parts. There has been alot of good advice offered throughout this thread, and you are determined to fix this but haven't said if you have looked at what others are saying might be the cause..

 

I have heeded every piece of advice on this thread, and have read every single word with care, as I REALLY miss my car. I definitely have NOT purchased the priciest of parts though. Maybe I'll start with a better TOB, and I'll install the FW shim that I have while I'm at it.